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Review DNS records

Cloudflare can automatically scan for common records and add them to the DNS zone for you, or you can add records manually. These records show up under your domain on the DNS > Records page of the dashboard.


If you add a zone via the API, you can manually invoke the quick scan with the Scan DNS Records endpoint.

Since the quick scan is not guaranteed to find all existing DNS records, you need to review your records, paying special attention to the following:

  • Zone apex records (example.com)

    More about zone apex records

    Zone apex refers to the domain or subdomain that you are adding to Cloudflare.

    Usually, the zone apex record makes your domain accessible by visitors. In this case, the necessary record type (A, AAAA, or CNAME) and its content will depend on the provider that hosts your website or application.

    If you are using Cloudflare Pages, refer to Custom domains.

    If you are using other providers, look for their guidance on how to connect domains managed on external DNS services. Then, make sure you have the records required by your hosting provider on your DNS records table at Cloudflare.

  • Subdomain records (www.example.com or blog.example.com)

    More about subdomain records

    Most subdomains serve a specific purpose within the overall context of your website. For example, blog.example.com might be your blog, support.example.com could be your customer help portal, and store.example.com would be your e-commerce site.

    Even if you do not require specific subdomains, you might want to set up at least the www subdomain. It will usually point to the same content as what you have on the apex domain (example.com) or use a redirect. Having a DNS record on the www subdomain helps guarantee that a visitor who types www. in front of your domain address on their browser can still find your website or application.

  • Email records

    More about email records

    Depending on your business needs, you can configure DNS records so that you can use your domain to receive emails, receive and send emails from your domain, or prevent others from sending emails on your behalf (spoofing).

    Below are some examples of what those DNS records might look like. The exact values for your DNS mail records depend on your email provider. If you have issues, review the Troubleshooting and contact your email service provider to confirm your DNS records are correct.

    TypeNameContentProxy statusTTL
    Amail192.0.2.1DNS OnlyAuto
    MXexample.com5 john.mx.example-server.testDNS OnlyAuto
    TXT_dmarc"v=DMARC1; p=reject; sp=...DNS OnlyAuto
    TXT*._domainkey"v=DKIM1; k=rsa; p=..."DNS OnlyAuto
    TXTexample.com"v=spf1 ip4:..."DNS OnlyAuto

If you want more control over which DNS records are imported and how, import a zone file.