Verifying your domain

Before CloudPress will host mail for a domain, it has to know the domain is really yours. For most orders that means publishing one DNS TXT record and clicking a button. This guide walks through that step, from the record we show you to the moment your mailspace finishes being created.

This is a one-time check per domain. The record only proves ownership — it isn't part of mail delivery, and you can remove it afterwards: We only use this record to confirm ownership. You can remove it once your domain is verified. DNS changes can take a few minutes to propagate.

When you'll be asked to verify

We skip the TXT step only when the domain is registered with us — by this workspace or another in the same billing family. That's the one signal that proves you control the domain without our having to ask you for anything. Hosting the domain's DNS zone with us is deliberately not enough on its own: creating a zone needs only edit access and a valid TLD, so it can't tell a real owner from someone who typed in a domain they don't control.

So, in practice:

Steps

1. Open the verification page. In the workspace sidebar, choose Mailspace. The row for the new mailspace carries an Awaiting verification badge and its button reads Verify domain instead of Manage. Click it. (Any other page belonging to an unfinished mailspace redirects here too, so you can't get lost.)

   The page is titled Verify example.com under the pretitle Mailspace, with Back to overview at the top right.

2. Read the setup progress. The left card, Setup progress, is a four-step stepper — Ordered, Verify domain, Setting up, Live — with the current step spinning. While ownership is unconfirmed it reads Add the DNS TXT record below to confirm ownership and the card header says Checking automatically….

   The card beside it lists three facts: Verification (DNS TXT record), Status (a pill reading Verifying, Setting up, or Live), and Last checked — Not yet checked until the first attempt.

3. Copy the verification record. Lower down, the Verification record card holds exactly one row, with columns Type, Name / Host, and Value:

   Column	What it holds
   Type	TXT
   Name / Host	_mailspace-verify — with Full name: below it showing the whole host, e.g. _mailspace-verify.example.com
   Value	A long random token, unique to this mailspace

   The host is always the fixed prefix _mailspace-verify joined to your mailspace's domain. Use the Copy value button rather than retyping the token.

4. Add the record at whoever runs your DNS.

   • If we host the domain's DNS, add it in the DNS editor — see Managing DNS. Choose TXT, put _mailspace-verify in Record Name (the zone name is appended for you), and paste the token into Content.
   • If your DNS is elsewhere, add the same record with your DNS provider: a TXT record, at the host shown as Full name, with the token as its value. Provider interfaces differ — some ask for the full host, others for just the _mailspace-verify label, and the field holding the value may be called something other than "value" — so match the three pieces above rather than looking for identical wording. If you're not sure, your provider's own documentation for adding a TXT record is the place to check.

   If your provider splits the value across multiple strings, that's fine: we compare the token against each string and against the joined result.

5. Click Verify domain now. Back on the verification page, use the Verify domain now button. We query public DNS resolvers straight away — not a local cache — so a record you added a moment ago isn't hidden behind a stale negative answer.

   • On success the page reloads with Domain verified — we're setting up your mailspace account now.
   • If the record isn't visible yet you'll see We couldn't find the verification record yet. DNS changes can take a few minutes to propagate. Nothing is lost — wait a little and try again.
   • If the lookup itself fails you'll see We couldn't complete the DNS lookup. Please try again shortly.

   You don't have to sit on this button. We re-check every pending domain on our own every five minutes, and the page says so: We also re-check automatically every few minutes, so you can safely leave this page and come back later.

6. Wait for the mailspace to be created. Once ownership is confirmed the same page keeps going on its own. The header changes to Creating your mailspace account… and the side note reads example.com is verified. We're creating your mailspace account now — this usually takes under a minute, and this page updates on its own. You don't need to refresh.

   Once the domain is verified, Verify domain now is replaced by Retry setup for the whole creation phase — not only when something has gone wrong. Clicking it re-runs the setup; there's no second DNS check to pass. If something does go wrong, the status reads Setup paused and the stepper flags the step it stopped on.

7. Continue to the mailspace. When it finishes, the header reads All done, the status pill reads Live, and the page offers Continue to your mailspace account: example.com is ready. Your mailspace account has been created on the mail server. Continue to add mailboxes and finish setting up its DNS. That button lands you on the domain's mail DNS records page when those records still need setting up, and on the mailspace overview otherwise. On the Mailspace list, the row's button is now Manage.

If it still won't verify

• Check the host, not just the value. The record has to sit at the full name shown on the page. In an editor that appends the zone for you, enter only _mailspace-verify; in one that wants the whole host, enter _mailspace-verify.example.com.
• Give it time. Both the page footer and the failure message say the same thing — DNS changes take a few minutes to propagate. Last checked on the facts card tells you when we looked; every attempt, successful or not, updates it.
• Leave it and come back. The automatic re-check runs every five minutes. It does stop sweeping a mailspace that has been sitting unverified for a long time, but the Verify domain now button keeps working — one click and the check runs again.
• Adding a second domain later works the same way. A domain added to an existing mailspace that we can't confirm you own gets parked with its own Verification record card and its own Verify domain now button, on a page also titled Verify example.com.

Changed your mind

While a mailspace is still waiting to be set up, the verification page also offers Cancel order. It asks you to confirm your identity with your passkey or password, if you haven't recently, then shows Cancel this mailspace account? with the warning You'll be credited for anything you've paid, and this mailspace account (example.com) will be removed. This can't be undone. Anything actually charged for the mailspace comes back as workspace credit and the mailspace stops renewing.

Once setup has finished, this button is gone — a live mailspace is removed through the normal deletion flow instead. See Deleting and restoring a mailspace.

Over the API

There is no API call that triggers a verification check. Publish the TXT record and the automatic re-check picks it up.

What the API does give you is the record itself. GET /api/mailspace/{id} returns a verification block — txt_prefix, txt_host, txt_value — for as long as the domain is awaiting verification. It disappears as soon as ownership is confirmed, so treat its absence as "nothing to publish", not as "not ready yet". The list and detail payloads also carry needs_domain_verification, verified, and provisioned flags you can poll.

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $CLOUDPRESS_TOKEN" -H "X-Auth-Account: $ACCOUNT_ID" \
  "https://my.cloudpress.com/api/mailspace/$MAILSPACE_ID"

See Mailspace for the full payload and error list.

Next steps

• Finish the domain's mail DNS records — the MX, SPF, DKIM and DMARC entries mail delivery actually needs. If we run the domain's DNS, see Managing DNS; otherwise add them at your DNS provider.
• Create your mailboxes — see Managing mailboxes.
• Set up your mail app — see Connecting a mail client.