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How to Use a Custom Domain for Your Bluesky Handle

Posted Nov 18, 2024, Updated Nov 19, 2024
Tags: bluesky, dns, domains, hosting, social media

Even though I'm not really active on social media these days, after hearing about so many people making the move from X to Bluesky in the past couple of weeks, I finally decided to check it out, and so far I've been pleasantly surprised with the experience.

One of the first things I noticed was that you can use a custom domain for your Bluesky handle, which I thought that was pretty cool, so I decided to give it a try. Not only was it super easy to setup, it really makes your profile stand out.

Once setup, instead of using @gregchetcuti.bsky.social for my Bluesky handle, I can use @greg.ca, which is a lot shorter, cleaner, and depending on your domain, more memorable.

This is what your profile will look like without a custom domain:

Bluesky Profile

And this is what your profile will look like with a custom domain:

Bluesky Profile - Custom Domain

Alright, let's begin.

First, login to your Bluesky account. Then in the left-hand menu, click on Settings.

Main Menu

In the middle of the screen, click on Account.

Change Handle screen #1

And then click on Handle.

Advanced Menu

On the Change Handle screen that pops up, click on I have my own domain.

Change Handle screen #1

On the new Change Handle screen:

  1. In the Enter the domain you want to use field, enter the domain you want to use.

  2. Copy the TXT record value, in this example is would be did=did:plc:asd2l5vbpz5bn7esditwnsdf.

  3. Login to wherever you manage the DNS records for your domain, and create the TXT record _atproto.YOURDOMAIN with the value you copied in step 2.

Your DNS TXT record should look something like this:

DNS TXT Record

You can try to click on Verify DNS Record right away, but it may take a bit of time for the DNS record to propagate, so you might need to wait a bit before you try to verify the domain.

Change Handle screen #2

Once the DNS record is verified, you'll see the below, "Domain verified!" success message. When you see this message, click on Update to YOURDOMAIN.

Change Handle screen #3

If you don't have access to your domain's DNS records, you can also use a custom domain with Bluesky by creating a text file and hosting it on your domain.

You'll need to create the file:

/.well-known/atproto-did

The contents of this file should contain nothing but the value you copied in step 2 (in the example, did=did:plc:asd2l5vbpz5bn7esditwnsdf).

Once you've uploaded the file to your domain, click on Verify Text File.

Change Handle screen #4

Once the text file is verified, you'll see the below, "Domain verified!" success message. When you see this message, click on Update to YOURDOMAIN.

Change Handle screen #5

That's it, you can now enjoy Bluesky with your fancy new custom domain!

Bluesky Profile - Custom Domain

And now that you're all setup, feel free to give me a follow, even though I literally haven't even posted there yet and probably won't be very active.

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