How do I go live on Flywheel?

Updated on December 21st, 2020

When you’re ready to present your spiffy new site to the world, there are a few steps to take on Flywheel to ensure the launch goes smoothly. Keep scrolling to learn how to take your site live!

Note

This is the standard guide to go live on Flywheel. If you’re working with a WordPress multisite installation, follow the guide here instead.

If your site currently exists at another host and is frequently updated (for example, e-commerce sites accepting new orders), you will want to complete a content refresh to your Flywheel site prior to following this guide.

1. Disable Privacy Mode
2. Add or update your site’s primary domain
3. Add any additional domains
4. Point DNS for your domain(s)
Note: DNS guides
Note: DNS propagation times

Disable Privacy Mode

Remove the password protection for your site so visitors won’t be prompted to enter credentials to view it. This also allows search engines, like Google, to crawl your site.

On the site’s Flywheel dashboard, navigate to the Overview tab.
On the Privacy Mode card, toggle the switch to Off.

Add or update your site’s primary domain

Sites on Flywheel require setting a single primary domain that additional domains will redirect to. If you have multiple domains, set this one up first.

If you haven’t added your domain yet, head over to the Domains card in the Flywheel site’s Overview tab, and click the (+) icon to add the domain you’d like to point to Flywheel.
A box will pop up. Enter the domain name in the URL field, and set the domain to primary. You can add the www version of the domain by ticking the box. Click Add Domain.

In the background, our system will automatically update all appropriate URL references in the database to this new primary domain.
Alternatively, if you’ve already added your domain to the list, but haven’t set it to primary yet, now’s the time! Click on the ••• menu and select the domain.

Add any additional domains

At this point, go ahead and add any additional domains by following the method above (don’t set these domains to primary, of course). All non-primary domains will automatically be configured with a 301 redirect to the primary domain.

Point DNS for your domain(s)

Now that you’ve configured your site on the Flywheel side, it’s time to log in to your domain’s DNS editor and point your domain(s) to the site’s IP address, which is displayed on the Domains card.

Note

DNS guides: For more information on how to point DNS, please check out these fine help articles:

Note

DNS propagation times: DNS by nature can take 24-48 hours to fully propagate across the entire internet, though it’s generally much quicker. This depends on the record’s TTL (Time To Live) value. If your DNS host allows you to adjust TTL, it’s best to set it to the minimum value at least 24 hours before you plan to go live to ensure the fastest propagation. For more information, check out this help article: What is TTL?

Getting Started

New to Flywheel? Start here, we've got all the information you'll need to get started and launch your first site!

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Features

Flywheel hosting plans include a ton of great features. Learn about how to get a free SSL certificate, set up a staging site, and more!

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Platform Info

All the server and setting info you'll need to help you get the most out of your Flywheel hosting plan!

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Site Management

Tips and tricks for managing your sites on Flywheel, including going live, troubleshooting issues and migrating or cloning sites.

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Developer Hub

Learn how to connect, deploy, and more with SSH on Flywheel's platform.

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Local

View the Local help docs

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How do I go live on Flywheel?

Note

Table of Contents

Disable Privacy Mode

Add or update your site’s primary domain

Add any additional domains