How to Get Your Own Domain

Want a custom domain like yourname.dino.icu for your project? Hack Club gives every member free subdomains through the hackclub/dns repo on GitHub. All you have to do is open a pull request.

Never done that before? This guide walks you through it step by step.

What You'll Need

• A GitHub account
• A deployed project you want to point your domain to (a website, app, etc.)

Step 1: Fork the Repo

Go to github.com/hackclub/dns.

Click the Fork button in the top right corner. This creates your own copy of the repo under your GitHub account.

Step 2: Edit the File

After forking, you'll be on your copy of the repo. You can edit files directly in your browser.

Open the dino.icu.yaml file and click the pencil icon to edit it.

Find the right spot alphabetically based on your subdomain name and add your entry:

yourname: # [email protected] U012AB345CD
  - type: CNAME
    value: your-deployment-url.vercel.app.

• Replace yourname with the subdomain you want (e.g., hello gives you hello.dino.icu)
• Replace your-deployment-url.vercel.app. with where your site is hosted. Don't forget the . at the end!
• If you're using an IP address instead of a domain, change type: CNAME to type: A
• Add your contact info in the comment: an email address, Slack member ID, or both

Step 3: Commit Your Changes

Scroll down and you'll see the Commit changes section. Write a short message describing what you did, like "Add yourname.dino.icu".

Make sure "Create a new branch for this commit and start a pull request" is selected, then click Propose changes.

Step 4: Open the Pull Request

GitHub will take you to the pull request page. You'll see your changes compared against the original repo.

• Add a title (e.g., "Add yourname.dino.icu")
• Optionally add a description
• Click Create pull request

That's it! Someone with contributor access will review your PR and merge it. Once merged, your domain will go live.

Vercel Users

If your site is hosted on Vercel, you'll need to verify the domain by adding a TXT record too. Vercel will show you a verification value. Add it like this:

_vercel:
  ttl: 600
  type: TXT
  values:
    - vc-domain-verify=yourname.dino.icu,abc123def456

Common Record Types

Tips

• Add your entry alphabetically. Find where your subdomain name fits in the file and insert it there.
• Keep changes small. One subdomain per PR. Don't bundle unrelated changes.
• Be patient. Maintainers are volunteers. Give them a day or two to review.
• Check for errors. Some repos have automated checks that run on your PR. If they fail, read the error and fix it.