Whitelabel

Whitelabel settings let a community present Zeeker social surfaces under its own domain and compact brand identity.

What changes

When visitors open your configured custom domain, the header uses the logo and name from Admin Center → Whitelabel. Visiting the same community through zeeker.com/z/... keeps Zeeker branding in the site header, navigation drawer, platform welcome, and sign-in prompt. The community's avatar and cover still appear in its community card.

Published whitelabel embeds use their separate, verified branding configuration. The short whitelabel name is also used in compact labels such as Name's Community, Name's Chat, and Name's Discussion.

The public operator name can contain up to 120 characters.

Prerequisites

• Your community must have Whitelabel access enabled. If the controls are locked, follow the access prompt or contact Zeeker support.
• You need access to your domain's DNS settings (at your registrar or DNS provider).

Choose a subdomain — root domains will not work

Whitelabel requires a subdomain, for example:

community.example.com
social.example.com
forum.example.com

Root domains cannot be whitelabeled

You cannot use a root (apex) domain such as example.com or example.co.uk. DNS does not allow a CNAME record on the root of a domain — a CNAME there would conflict with the domain's required NS and SOA records, and most DNS providers reject it outright. Providers that offer workarounds (ALIAS/ANAME/flattened records) are not supported by Zeeker's routing.

The Admin Center blocks saving a root domain for this reason. Use a subdomain instead — for example community.example.com — and, if you want example.com itself to lead to your community, set up a redirect from the root to the subdomain at your own hosting or DNS provider.

Step 1 — Save your domain

Open Admin Center → Whitelabel → Domain & DNS, enter your subdomain (for example community.example.com), and select Save domain.

Saving prepares both DNS records together. You may briefly see Preparing both DNS records while the certificate validation record becomes available. The page refreshes this status automatically. Wait for the complete pair before changing DNS; there is no routing-only first step.

If setup has not started, select Check DNS to start it. Do not change or repeatedly remove and re-save the domain while its records are being prepared.

Step 2 — Add two DNS records

Once both records are ready, select Copy all records for the complete instructions. The routing target is always zeeker.com; the certificate validation name and target are specific to your domain. Use the values shown for your community, rather than the placeholders below.

First confirm the DNS zone matches the zone you edit at your DNS provider. The suggested zone can be changed for a delegated subzone. It must be a parent of your custom domain, not the custom domain itself.

For example, for custom domain community.example.com in DNS zone example.com:

Type	Name / Host, relative to example.com	Value / Target	Purpose
CNAME	community	zeeker.com.	Routes visitors to Zeeker
CNAME	_xxxxxxxx.community	_yyyyyyyy.acm-validations.aws.	Proves domain ownership so HTTPS can be issued and renewed

If your provider appends example.com automatically, enter the relative Name / Host values above. If it requires a complete name, use the separately labeled Full hostname: community.example.com and _xxxxxxxx.community.example.com in this example. Do not append the zone twice.

The targets are complete DNS names, not names within your own zone. The final dot in the examples marks an absolute target; some provider forms accept or remove it automatically. Do not append your zone to either target. Keep the leading underscore in the certificate record's Name / Host.

Use TTL 3600 seconds if unsure. Other provider-supported values, such as 600 seconds, are also valid; the TTL does not have to match a fixed Zeeker value. For both records, choose DNS only with any proxy switched off. Do not flatten the certificate CNAME.

Save, apply, or publish the zone at your DNS provider. A correct-looking row in its editor does not mean the public DNS servers have received that change. Zeeker may still see an old or missing record until the zone is published and cached answers expire.

Step 3 — Check DNS and finish activation

After publishing both records, select Check DNS. Zeeker checks the routing CNAME and the certificate validation CNAME separately, then starts or continues certificate and CDN setup.

• Check DNS checks the published records and advances setup. Select it again when the page asks you to continue, for example after the certificate has been issued and the domain is ready to attach to the CDN.
• Check status refreshes progress without requesting a certificate or starting a deployment. Use it while the certificate or CDN is still processing.

Certificate issuance and CDN deployment can take several minutes or longer. Follow the reported state rather than a fixed activation deadline. A temporary DNS lookup failure means the check could not finish; it does not mean your saved record values changed.

If an unused certificate request timed out before the domain was attached to the CDN, first publish the exact validation CNAME still shown on the page. Check DNS can then restart that initial certificate setup safely. While restarting, keep both records and wait or use Check status; select Check DNS again when prompted to continue. Other certificate errors, including problems with certificates already in use, may require Zeeker support.

Step 4 — Go live

The status turns Active when Zeeker verifies that your community's CDN configuration is ready and your custom domain serves successfully over HTTPS. Open https://community.example.com to check the visitor experience.

Keep both DNS records after activation. The routing CNAME sends visitors to Zeeker, and the certificate validation CNAME is needed for automatic HTTPS renewal. The validation row stays visible after activation so you can check it later.

Status meanings

Status	Meaning
Not configured	No custom domain has been saved yet.
Preparing both DNS records	The domain is saved and the complete record pair is being prepared. Wait before adding DNS records.
Waiting for DNS	Domain saved, but the CNAME record is missing or has not propagated yet.
Waiting for certificate DNS record	The TLS certificate validation record has not been added (or has not propagated) yet.
DNS check unavailable	A public DNS lookup failed. Retry the check without changing the saved instructions.
Restarting certificate setup	An unused initial certificate request timed out. Keep the records and follow the continuation prompt.
Activating	Certificate or CDN setup is still processing. Use Check status, or Check DNS when prompted to continue.
Active	The domain is live and serving your community over HTTPS.
Disabled	A domain is configured, but whitelabel is switched off for the community.

Branding

The Branding tab keeps the brand fields together:

Field	Used for
Name	Display text in social and embed headers. Maximum 120 characters.
Header logo URL	Light-theme header logo on the configured custom domain and published whitelabel embeds. Separate from the community avatar.
Dark header logo URL	Optional dark-theme logo; falls back to the light header logo when omitted.
Favicon URL	Browser icon on whitelabel social pages.

Troubleshooting

• Only a preparation message appears after saving — wait for both records. The page refreshes the preparation status automatically; do not add a partial routing record. Copy all records becomes available when the pair is complete.
• Your DNS editor looks correct, but Check DNS sees an old or missing record — confirm you saved or published the correct zone. Check the relative Name / Host against the displayed DNS zone, avoid a doubled suffix such as community.example.com.example.com, and allow existing DNS caches to expire.
• Routing does not match — point the routing CNAME at zeeker.com and switch the provider's proxy off. An unrelated CDN hostname or a shared CDN IP address does not establish correct Zeeker routing.
• Certificate validation does not match — copy the exact validation owner and target from the page. Keep the owner's leading underscore. If your provider rejects a leading underscore in the target value, AWS permits omitting that value-only underscore; the owner's underscore must remain.
• A DNS lookup could not be completed — retry Check DNS or Check status. A resolver failure is different from a missing or incorrect record.
• The certificate request timed out — publish the displayed validation CNAME, then select Check DNS. Only an unused timed-out request from initial setup can be restarted this way; follow the page's progress or support guidance for other errors.
• DNS is correct but HTTPS is not ready — review certificate and CDN progress. Use Check DNS if the page asks you to continue setup, and Check status while a deployment is processing. A redirect or a certificate warning is not proof of active community delivery.
• Save is blocked with a root-domain message — you entered an apex domain such as example.com. Use a subdomain instead (see above).

Removing a whitelabel domain

Clear the domain field and select Save domain, or switch whitelabel off. Remove the two CNAME records at your provider only when you no longer intend to use that custom domain. If you are pausing and plan to resume, keep both records.