A custom domain for a mini app: how it works
On the Pro and Studio plans an app can open at your own domain. Here is what it takes, what happens to the certificate, and what a custom domain will not do.
What to do
The domain is entered in the editor, after which a record is added at your registrar. The certificate is then issued automatically — nothing to buy and nothing to renew.
The service address, apps.build-mini.app/apps/<slug>/, keeps working. A custom domain does not replace it but joins it, so old links do not break.
What changes in Telegram and in MAX
In Telegram the menu button moves to the new address on the next publish — the platform does it with your token.
In MAX the address has to be changed by hand in the partner cabinet: they have no API method for it. Worth remembering in advance if the app is already published there.
A custom domain and the browser
A custom domain on its own does not make the app a website. Without “Works as a site”, a browser at your domain shows the "opens in a messenger" screen with a link to the bot.
With it switched on — in the Publish dialog, next to the address and the domain — the same screens open in a browser: each has its own address, title and description, plus a sitemap and a link preview image. A visitor signs in with a code confirmed inside the same app in Telegram or MAX. One-tap sign-in needs the app’s short name, created with /newapp in BotFather.
Other questions
- Which plans include a custom domain?
- Pro and Studio. The right is checked on the server, so a request from a plan without it is refused before you go and edit DNS.
- Do I need to buy a certificate?
- No, it is issued automatically once the DNS record propagates.
- Can I point my main website domain at the app?
- Technically yes, but think twice: without “Works as a site” a browser at that address shows the "opens in a messenger" screen rather than your site. A subdomain is the usual choice.