What is the Family Chat Custom Domain Addon?

This addon gives your ElfHosted Family Chat a domain you own, so everyone's address looks like @mia:chat.yourfamily.com instead of the default <your-username>-matrix.elfhosted.com.

Choose your domain before your family creates accounts. A chat server's name is part of every account on it and can never change. Adding a custom domain later starts a fresh, empty Family Chat under the new name. Your old one is kept, and removing the addon brings it back, but accounts and chats don't move between them.

How to set it up

1. 📝 Pick the subdomain you want, for example chat.yourfamily.com.
2. 🌐 Create a CNAME record pointing it to <your-username>-matrix.elfhosted.com.
3. 🚫 Make sure any CDN or proxy (such as Cloudflare's orange cloud) is off for that record. We terminate TLS ourselves.
4. 💳 Subscribe to this addon and enter your domain in the required cname field on this page.
5. 🔒 We issue a Let's Encrypt certificate and switch Family Chat to your domain, usually within a few minutes. Your family then signs in with your domain as the server address.

Requirements

• An active Family Chat subscription on ElfHosted.
• A domain you control, with the ability to set CNAME records.
• No CDN or proxy in front of the CNAME.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does my setup page move?
No. Your private setup page stays at your ElfHosted address, behind your ElfHosted login. Your family only ever uses your own domain.

Can I switch domains later?
You can, but each domain is its own separate Family Chat, with its own accounts. That's how Matrix works, so pick the one you'll keep.