# Your own domain — the one piece you actually own (Kit 5)

Kit 3 gave you a foundation (Cloudflare). Kit 4 gave your AI your storage. This one gives all of
it a real address: your own domain, bought in a minute, pointed at everything you've built, and
run by Claude with a single key.

A domain is the one thing in your whole stack you genuinely own. You rent the server. You subscribe
to the software. The domain is yours — the address everything points to, and about the cheapest
business asset you'll ever buy. Everything from here (your site, your email, your CDN from Kit 4)
hangs off it.

Where I buy them: Porkbun. Not a sponsor, just what I use. About ten dollars a year for a .com,
WHOIS privacy included free (so your name and home address aren't sitting in a public database),
and a clean API. That API is the whole point. The throughline of this series: you hand your AI a
scoped key and the boring stuff becomes one sentence. Give Claude your registrar key and "check if
this domain is free, buy it, and point it at my Cloudflare account" is a single instruction, not
twenty minutes dodging checkout upsells.

Namecheap and GoDaddy both work too. Namecheap is a solid, popular pick with the same clean-API
idea; GoDaddy reopened its API to single domains in 2026. I just land on Porkbun for the price and
the free privacy. Different tool, same job — use what you like. Already own a domain somewhere else?
You don't need to move it. Skip to the "point it at Cloudflare" step and Claude does the rest.

And since you're already in there from Kit 3: Cloudflare sells domains too, at cost, right inside
the same account. Honestly that's the easiest path of all — buy it there and it's already wired to
everything, nothing to point. Totally fine to do it that way. I keep mine at a separate registrar
on purpose, for one reason: your domain is the one thing you truly own, and I don't want it living
inside the same account that runs my infrastructure. If anything ever happens to that account (a
lock, a billing dispute, a mistake), a domain held somewhere separate can be re-pointed elsewhere
in minutes — it's your escape hatch, and I don't keep the escape hatch inside the building. That's
a small trade of convenience for independence, and it's worth it to me. If you'd rather have it all
in one place, buy it on Cloudflare and you're done.

## Which domain should you buy first?
Before you buy anything, a minute on *which* name to register, because this first one is your hub.

- **Already have a business or a brand idea?** Buy that. Easy.
- **Don't yet?** Buy your own name. Either way the goal is the same: one primary hub with a real
  presence on it — a simple page, plus the basics like a privacy policy and terms.

Here's why that matters more than it sounds. The moment you start signing up for the tools we've
been using, some of them ask for your website and your terms before they'll hand you a key. A hub
page, connected to either your business or your name, is what clears that. You want it to already
exist when they ask.

And if you *do* have a company, point this at the company. It becomes the home base your other
sites hang off, and it's the thing platforms want to see when you apply for API keys and they ask
"what's your brand." One domain, one presence, and the rest gets easier.

You don't need to be incorporated for any of this. A business name you run under your own name
works fine. I run both a personal site and a business across a dozen-plus domains, but that's a
different scale — this is just the one fundamental you build everything else on. Personal name or
business, either one is golden. I'm not telling you how to structure it, and none of this is legal
advice; it's just what's worked for me. Pick one and plant the flag.

## Prerequisite
- The Cloudflare account from Kit 3 (its API token lets Claude add the domain and read back the
  nameservers automatically).
- Kit 1's terminal setup, so Claude Code can actually run these steps for you.
- That's it. Claude installs anything else it needs.

## How to use it (any OS)
Two ways — both end with Claude doing the work:

- **Quick:** hit Copy, open Claude Code, paste this in, and say the line below.
- **Most reliable** (let Claude read the whole file): hit Download, then tell Claude:
  *"read ~/Downloads/domain-setup.md and set it up with me."*

Either way, say:

> "Help me buy a domain and connect it to my Cloudflare foundation. I use Porkbun. Walk me through
> creating an account and a Porkbun API key (an API key + secret), then store it safely. Use the
> API to check whether the domain I want is available and tell me the price. The actual purchase is
> a quick checkout I do on Porkbun's site, so guide me through it and make sure WHOIS privacy and
> auto-renew are ON. After I own it, have me switch ON 'API access' for that specific domain in
> Porkbun (each domain has its own toggle, and nameserver changes won't work over the API until it's
> on). Then add the domain to my Cloudflare account from Kit 3, read back the two nameservers
> Cloudflare assigns, and set those as the domain's nameservers at Porkbun so Cloudflare runs my
> DNS. Turn on the registrar lock. Tell me when the nameservers have propagated. Ask me for anything
> you need, and tell me exactly which clicks are mine."

## The mental model: two jobs, one domain
Buying a domain and running a domain are two different jobs, and it trips people up. Keep them
straight and the rest is easy.

1. **The registrar (Porkbun) is who you buy it from.** It's the shop, and the record that says you
   own it. Your yearly ten dollars goes here. This is also where you set the domain's nameservers.
2. **The DNS host (Cloudflare, from Kit 3) is who runs it.** Nameservers are the pointer: they tell
   the internet "ask Cloudflare where this domain goes." Once you point Porkbun's nameservers at
   Cloudflare, every record (your website, your email, your `cdn.` subdomain from Kit 4) is managed
   in the one control panel you already set up — and Claude already has that key.

So the chain is: **you own it at Porkbun → it points at Cloudflare → Cloudflare points at your
stuff.** Claude wires the whole chain because you handed it both keys.

## What it sets up

**1. A Porkbun account + an API key.** In Porkbun: Account → API Access → turn API access on and
create a key. You get an **API Key** and a **Secret API Key**. That pair goes to Claude (stored
safely, never in a file you commit). Now "is this domain free, and what's it cost?" is a question
Claude can just answer.

**2. The domain, bought right the first time.** Claude uses the API to check availability and show
you the price, then walks you through the actual purchase. Heads up: the buy itself is a quick
checkout *you* click on Porkbun's site (registrars don't sell brand-new domains over the API), and
Claude stands right there telling you which buttons to hit. Two settings on from the start:
- **WHOIS privacy ON** (free at Porkbun, and on by default). Without it, your name, address, and
  phone go into a public database the moment you buy. Keep it on.
- **Auto-renew ON.** A lapsed domain is the one mistake that takes your whole setup down and can
  get the name grabbed by someone else. Set it and forget it.

Then, one toggle people miss: in that domain's settings, switch **API access ON for that specific
domain** (Porkbun gates it per-domain). Until you do, Claude can price and check names but can't
change this domain's nameservers over the API. Claude will remind you.

**3. The connection to Cloudflare.** Claude adds the domain to your Cloudflare account from Kit 3
(via the API if that token can create zones, otherwise it's a 30-second "Add a site" click it walks
you through) and reads back the two nameservers Cloudflare assigns you (they come as a pair and
look like `aiden.ns.cloudflare.com` and `olivia.ns.cloudflare.com`). Then, with the Porkbun key, it
sets those as the domain's nameservers. If anything has to be done by hand, Claude gives you the
exact two values and tells you where they go, so you're pasting, not guessing. That single step
hands DNS to Cloudflare, and now your tunnel, your CDN, and your email all live in one panel.

**4. The locks.** Registrar lock ON at Porkbun (stops an unauthorized transfer out), and 2FA on
the Porkbun account itself. Claude turns on what it can and tells you the one or two clicks only
you can do.

**5. Confirmation.** Nameserver changes take a little while to propagate. Claude checks and tells
you the moment Cloudflare is authoritative for your domain. Then you're connected.

## Security — the part not to skip
- **Guard the Secret API Key.** Env var or your secret store, never hardcoded, never committed.
  It can buy and move domains, so treat it like a credit card.
- **2FA on the registrar account.** This is the account that proves you own everything downstream.
  Lock the front door.
- **Registrar lock ON.** It blocks a transfer-out until you deliberately unlock. Leave it on
  except the day you're intentionally moving a domain.
- **Auto-renew ON + a card that won't expire silently.** The cheapest disaster to avoid.
- **Rotate if in doubt.** A Porkbun API key is one click to revoke and reissue. If it ever leaks,
  kill it and make a new one.

## If Claude needs the exact specs
Porkbun has a REST API (base `https://api.porkbun.com/api/json/v3/`), authenticated by putting your
`apikey` + `secretapikey` in the JSON body of every POST. Test with `/ping`. Check availability and
price with `/domain/checkDomain/{domain}` (or `/pricing/get`). Buying a brand-new domain is not in
the public API, so that step is the web checkout. Once you own the domain and have switched API
access ON for it, set nameservers with `/domain/updateNs/{domain}` (send the two Cloudflare
nameservers) and read the current ones with `/domain/getNs/{domain}`. The Cloudflare side uses the
Kit 3 API token: create the zone (or add it in the dashboard), read `name_servers` off the zone, and
set exactly those two at Porkbun. Point the apex nameservers at Cloudflare, and don't mix in the
registrar's own DNS.

## Make it stick
Key in your secret store, WHOIS privacy and auto-renew on, registrar lock on, nameservers at
Cloudflare. From then on, buying and pointing a domain is a sentence to Claude — the next one, and
the one after that, all land in the same foundation automatically.

You're done when: you own the domain at Porkbun, its nameservers point at your Cloudflare account,
Cloudflare is authoritative (Claude confirmed propagation), and privacy + auto-renew + lock are all
on. Your foundation finally has an address.

That's Kit 5. You own the one piece of the stack that's actually yours — and your AI runs it.

Next up: the small server your site actually lives on, and then we put something online.

-- Cliff (connectwithcliff.com)