How do I go live on Flywheel?

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!

Table of Contents

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

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.

1. 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.
   
2. Fill out the domain information:
   • Enter the URL in the Domain field
   • Check the box to set the domain to Primary (if this will be your site’s main URL)
   • By default, the www version of the domain will be added (uncheck the box to skip this step)
   • Select Yes for “Have you purchased this domain?”
   • Click Next

   Note

   In the background, our system will automatically update all appropriate URL references in the database to this new primary domain.
3. If your domain supports Domain Connect, you’ll be prompted to enter your DNS provider credentials so Flywheel can configure your DNS records. If your domain doesn’t support domain connect, you’ll need to point DNS manually.
4. Alternatively, if you’ve already added your domain to the list, but haven’t set it to primary yet, now’s the time! On the intended domain, click the 3-dot menu and select Make Primary.

Add any secondary 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 secondary 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 Overview tab.

Remember, if your domain supports Domain Connect, you can skip this step, Flywheel has already updated your DNS records for you!

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.

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

Optional: Enable Simple SSL

Once your domains have propagated, you can add free SSL certificates via Flywheel’s Simple SSL for added security and an SEO boost! For instructions, check out this help article: How do I add Simple SSL to my site?