Workflow: onboarding customer domains with Cloudflare for SaaS
# Workflow: SaaS customer domain onboarding
## 1. Set the fallback origin
Configure the fallback origin before the first customer: it answers for custom hostnames with no dedicated origin. Verify it serves your app correctly for an unrecognized hostname.
## 2. Customer adds the hostname
Your onboarding flow calls the API (or the customer uses the dashboard) to add their hostname as a custom hostname on your zone.
## 3. Customer completes validation
The customer proves domain control via DNS at their provider. Your system polls the hostname status until it is active; do not send the customer live until then. Alert on hostnames that sit unvalidated: a customer who breaks their validation record later degrades silently.
## 4. Set the apex expectation early
Customers will ask for their root domain. DNS forbids CNAME at the apex; supporting it needs the apex-proxying Enterprise add-on. Tell customers this during sales, not during onboarding.
## 5. Operate
Monitor per-hostname status continuously. Renewals and revalidation are your problem to track, not the customer's to remember. Keep the customer's CNAME target stable: changing it breaks every customer at once.
## Checklist
- Fallback origin verified before customer one.
- Validation status checked in code, with alerts.
- Apex story documented for customers up front.Find related guidance
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