How to change your nameservers (point DNS at Staticbot)

Table of Contents

• What are nameservers?
• Why delegate DNS to Staticbot?
• Before you switch (checklist)
• Where to find your Staticbot nameservers
• How to change nameservers by registrar
  • Namecheap
  • GoDaddy
  • Cloudflare (Registrar)
  • Porkbun
  • Name.com
  • IONOS
  • Squarespace (Google Domains)
  • Bluehost
  • HostGator
  • Hostinger
  • AWS Route 53 (Registrar)
• ⚠️ Disable DNSSEC before you switch
• Verify the change
• General Notes

What are nameservers?

Nameservers are the servers that answer DNS questions for your domain — "what is the IP for www.example.com?", "where does email for example.com go?", and so on. Every domain points at a set of nameservers (usually two to four, like anna.ns.cloudflare.com), and whoever runs those nameservers controls all of the domain's DNS records.

When you change your nameservers, you hand authority over the whole zone to a new DNS provider — this is called nameserver delegation. It is different from adding a single record (a CNAME, ANAME, or redirect) at your current provider: instead of editing one record, you move the entire domain's DNS to a new home. The change is made at your domain registrar (where you bought the domain), not in your old DNS control panel.

Delegating to Staticbot points your domain at a Cloudflare zone that Staticbot manages for you. From that point on, Staticbot is your authoritative DNS — it keeps the records your app needs correct automatically, and you never touch raw DNS again.

Why delegate DNS to Staticbot?

For apps hosted on Staticbot (Cloudflare Worker apps), delegating your nameservers is the recommended way to connect an apex / root domain — and the only clean way to get the bare example.com working over HTTPS. When Staticbot manages the zone it can:

• Serve the apex over HTTPS — the root domain gets a valid certificate and an automatic apex → www redirect, which registrar URL-forwards can't do reliably (they're usually HTTP-only). See the apex → www redirect guide for why that matters.
• Keep records correct automatically — no manually copying CNAME / ANAME targets or cert-validation records; Staticbot writes and maintains them for you.
• Import your existing records first — Staticbot scans your live zone and copies your current records (including email / MX, TXT, SPF, DKIM) into the managed zone before you switch, so mail and other services keep working.
• Give you one place for DNS — add subdomains, verification records, and future apps without going back to your registrar.

Before you switch (checklist)

Changing nameservers moves everything — website, email, subdomains — to the new provider at once. Anything not present in the new zone stops resolving. Run through this first:

• Let Staticbot import your records. On the deployment page, use the "copy records" / mirror step so your existing records (especially MX and TXT/SPF/DKIM for email) are carried into the managed zone before you change nameservers.
• Disable DNSSEC at your registrar. If DNSSEC is enabled, switching nameservers without turning it off first will make the domain fail to resolve. See the DNSSEC section.
• Note your email / MX records. Double-check that any Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, or mailbox provider records made it into the managed zone.
• Expect propagation. A nameserver change can take anywhere from a few minutes to up to 48 hours to be seen everywhere. Plan the switch for a low-traffic window.

Where to find your Staticbot nameservers

Staticbot generates a unique set of nameservers for each domain. Open your deployment in the Staticbot app and find the domain / DNS card for your custom domain — when the recommended action is "delegate nameservers", the exact nameservers to enter (usually two to four values ending in ns.cloudflare.com) are listed there. Copy those into your registrar using the steps below. Enter them exactly as shown, and remove any old nameservers so only the Staticbot ones remain.

📝 How to change nameservers by registrar

The exact wording differs per provider, but the pattern is always the same: find the domain's nameserver setting, switch it to custom / "use my own" nameservers, replace the defaults with the Staticbot values, and save. Below are precise steps and help links for common registrars.

Registrar not listed? Look for a section called "Nameservers", "DNS", or "Name servers" on the domain's settings page and choose the "custom" / "use my own nameservers" option. If you only see a DNS records editor, you're in the wrong place — nameservers are set on the domain itself, at the registrar.

⚠️ Disable DNSSEC before you switch

This is the single most common way a nameserver change breaks a domain. DNSSEC cryptographically signs your DNS. If it's enabled at your registrar and you move nameservers to a provider that publishes different signatures, resolvers reject the mismatched answers and the domain goes down with a SERVFAIL error — even though your records are correct.

Always turn DNSSEC off at your registrar first, wait for that change to propagate, and only then change the nameservers. The setting is usually under "DNSSEC", "Security", or "Advanced DNS" on the domain's page. If you're not sure whether it's on, check that section before switching — if there's no DS record / DNSSEC is "off", you're fine.

Verify the change

After you save the new nameservers, Staticbot will detect the delegation once it propagates and flip the domain's status to managed — the DNS card updates on its own. To confirm sooner, you can check the delegation yourself:

• Run dig NS example.com +short (or nslookup -type=ns example.com) and confirm it returns the Staticbot nameservers.
• Or use a public checker like whatsmydns.net to watch the NS change roll out across regions.

Until the new nameservers are seen globally, some visitors may still hit the old DNS — this is normal during propagation and resolves on its own.

💡 General Notes

• All-or-nothing: nameserver delegation moves the whole zone. Make sure every record you rely on (web, mail, subdomains) is in the new zone before switching.
• Enter all of them, exactly: add every nameserver Staticbot lists, spelled exactly, and remove the old ones. A partial or misspelled set causes intermittent failures.
• Cloudflare-registered domains are special: you can't delegate them elsewhere — use Staticbot's "Connect / Push to Cloudflare" path instead.
• Propagation: allow up to 48 hours; it's usually much faster. Lower TTLs beforehand don't speed up an NS change much, since it's driven by the registry.
• Reversible: if you ever leave, just point the nameservers back at your old provider — you keep ownership of the domain the whole time.

Related: How to add a CNAME record · How to add an ANAME/ALIAS record · How to redirect the apex to www · Custom domain overview