How to manage domains and DNS in Kiravo

The Domains tab on your website is where you control every domain pointing at the site — your primary domain, subdomains, and aliases — and every DNS record for those domains. It’s also where you decide whether Kiravo or an external provider handles incoming email for each domain, and where you enable DKIM signing for outgoing mail.

To open it, click the Domains tab in the top menu bar of your website’s dashboard. The table that opens lists every domain attached to the site, with its DNS status, document root, and a ⋮ menu for each row.

Pointing a brand-new domain at Kiravo for the first time happens in your Client Area, not in the control panel. See Point your domain to Kiravo for that.

Add a subdomain or domain alias

Click Add domain at the top right. The form has two tabs:

Subdomain

For a related but separate site sharing your main domain name (e.g. blog.yourdomain.com, staging.yourdomain.com, shop.yourdomain.com). Each subdomain can have its own document root.

1. Switch to the Subdomain tab (selected by default).
2. In Domain, type the prefix only. The parent domain (e.g. .yourdomain.com) is appended automatically. To create blog.yourdomain.com, type blog.
3. In Document root, choose the folder this subdomain should serve from.
4. Click Add.

The subdomain is created and shows up in the Domains list. Its DNS is configured automatically because the parent domain’s DNS is already pointing at the server — no nameserver change needed.

Alias

For another whole domain that you want to serve the same content as your primary site (e.g. yourdomain.net and yourdomain.io both serving yourdomain.com’s content; a misspelling or trademark variant).

1. Switch to the Alias tab.
2. In Domain, type the full alias domain. A www. prefix is shown automatically.
3. Redirect to the primary domain (optional) — tick this if you want visitors of the alias to be 301-redirected to your primary domain. With it off, the alias serves the same content under its own URL.
4. Click Add.

Note

Alias domains usually need their own nameserver change at the registrar. Unlike subdomains (which inherit DNS from their parent), an alias is a separate domain registered separately. Point its nameservers at Kiravo just like you did for your primary domain — see Point your domain to Kiravo.

Manage DNS records

To open the DNS editor, find the domain in the list, click its ⋮ menu, choose Manage, then click DNS records in the sidebar. You’ll see a table with every record currently configured for that domain.

What each column means

• Type — the record type. Common ones: A (IPv4 address), AAAA (IPv6 address), CNAME (alias for another hostname), MX (mail server), TXT (free-text data, used by SPF, DKIM, domain verification), NS (nameserver).
• Host — the hostname this record applies to. @ means the domain itself (e.g. yourdomain.com); www means the www subdomain; mail means mail.yourdomain.com, etc.
• Value — what the record points at.
• TTL — Time To Live, in seconds. Controls how long DNS resolvers cache the record. The default of 3600 (1 hour) is usually fine; lower it to 300 if you plan to change the record soon and want propagation to be fast.

Add a DNS record

1. Click Add record at the top of the table.
2. Choose the Type from the dropdown.
3. Fill in the Host — use @ for the domain itself, or a subdomain name like www, mail, api.
4. Fill in the Value — what the record points at.
5. Set the TTL — leave at default unless you have a reason to change it.
6. Click Add to save.

Edit or delete a record

Each row has actions to edit or delete the record. Editing opens the same form as adding, pre-filled with the current values; saving overwrites the record. Deleting removes it.

Caution

Deleting the wrong record can take down your site or email. Before deleting anything, copy the record’s values somewhere safe — that way you can recreate it if something breaks. The records most likely to cause trouble if removed are: A for @ (the site won’t load), MX for @ (mail stops being delivered), TXT records used by SPF / DKIM (your sent mail starts failing spam filters).

Auto-configuration for Gmail and others

The Auto configuration helper sets up the records needed for common third-party services without you having to type them. The most common use is configuring MX, SPF, and DKIM for Gmail / Google Workspace so a domain can use Google for email while still being hosted at Kiravo.

1. Click Configure now in the Auto configuration card.
2. Choose the service to configure.
3. Confirm the records to be created.

Enable DNSSEC

DNSSEC adds a cryptographic signature to your DNS zone, protecting visitors against “man in the middle” DNS spoofing attacks. To enable it:

1. In the domain’s management sidebar, click DNSSEC.
2. Toggle DNSSEC on.

Note

DNSSEC requires support from your domain registrar. Enabling it in Kiravo generates the signing keys; the registrar needs to publish a corresponding DS record at the registry level for it to actually work. The panel shows you the DS record values to copy into your registrar’s DNSSEC settings. If your registrar doesn’t offer DNSSEC, the feature can’t be enabled end-to-end.

Mail routing and DKIM

Two settings on each domain’s management page control how email works for that domain: Mail routing (who handles incoming mail?) and DKIM (cryptographic signing of outgoing mail).

Choose between local and remote mail

In the management sidebar, click Mail routing settings. Two options:

• Local mail — Kiravo’s servers receive inbound email for this domain and deliver it to the mailboxes you’ve created on the site. Pick this if you want to use Kiravo’s email service.
• Remote mail — Inbound email for this domain is handed off to a third-party email server (such as Gmail / Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Fastmail, ProtonMail). Pick this if your team’s email lives outside Kiravo.

Save the change.

Caution

Switching to Remote disables mailboxes hosted at Kiravo. If you’ve already created mailboxes on this domain via the Emails tab (see Manage emails), they stop receiving mail. Don’t switch to Remote until you’ve fully migrated mailbox contents and have the external provider’s DNS records (MX, SPF, DKIM) in place — the Auto configuration helper above can set up the Gmail records for you.

Enable DKIM and mail routing

DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) adds a cryptographic signature to every outgoing message from your domain. Receiving servers (Gmail, Outlook, etc.) use the signature to verify the message really came from your domain — which dramatically improves deliverability and helps prevent spoofing.

To enable it:

1. In the management sidebar, click Email authentication (DKIM).
2. Toggle DKIM on.

The panel generates the signing keys and publishes the corresponding TXT record in your DNS zone automatically. Within minutes, outgoing mail from your Kiravo mailboxes (or, if mail is remote, mail handled by Kiravo’s outbound path) starts being signed.

If your domain is set to Remote mail, the receiving provider (Gmail, Microsoft 365) handles DKIM itself — you’ll set DKIM up there and add the provider’s DKIM TXT record to your DNS via Auto configuration. Kiravo’s DKIM toggle only applies to mail Kiravo actually sends.

Note

Why DKIM matters. Without DKIM, Gmail and Outlook are increasingly likely to throw your outgoing mail into the spam folder — especially mass mail, but also one-off business mail. DKIM is one of the three pillars (along with SPF and DMARC) that today’s mail providers use to decide whether to trust a message. Turning it on costs nothing and helps every mail your domain sends.

Delete a domain

To remove a subdomain or alias from the website, click its ⋮ menu and choose Delete. The domain registration at your registrar isn’t affected, but Kiravo stops serving it until you re-add it.

Caution

Deleting a domain is permanent in this panel. If the subdomain had its own files (separate document root), deleting the domain doesn’t delete the files — but the URL stops working. If you’re unsure, just disable related apps instead, or take a manual backup first.