Workflow: onboarding customer domains with Cloudflare for SaaS
Guide Workflow: onboarding customer domains with Cloudflare for SaaS: Set the fallback origin Configure the fallback origin before the first customer: it answers for custom hostnames with no dedicated origin. # Workflow: SaaS customer domain onboarding ## 1. Use this when you hit exactly this in Workflow. Not for different errors or different tools.
TL;DR: Set the fallback origin Configure the fallback origin before the first customer: it answers for custom hostnames with no dedicated origin. # Workflow: SaaS customer domain onboarding ## 1. Verify it serves your app correctly for an unrecognized hostname. ## 2.
Fix
Set the fallback origin Configure the fallback origin before the first customer: it answers for custom hostnames with no dedicated origin. Expected: this specific failure stops.
Verify it serves your app correctly for an unrecognized hostname. ## 2. Expected: the value or setting is exactly right, nothing ambiguous.
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. Expected: this specific failure stops.
Set the apex expectation early Customers will ask for their root domain. Expected: this specific failure stops.
DNS forbids CNAME at the apex; supporting it needs the apex-proxying Enterprise add-on. Expected: this specific failure stops.
Details
Workflow: SaaS customer domain onboarding ## 1. 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. 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.
When to use
You hit exactly this: Workflow: onboarding customer domains with Cloudflare for SaaS in Workflow.
When not to use
A different error, or the same symptom in a different tool. This page only covers the failure above.
Compatibility
Workflow.
Edge cases
- Alert on hostnames that sit unvalidated: a customer who breaks their validation record later degrades silently. ## 4.