From Zero to a Live Site on a Custom Domain — Without Touching DNS

Let me tell you about my favorite kind of afternoon project: the one that should be a pain, but isn't.

The story goes like this. I built a little website, published it, and then thought, "you know what this deserves? A real domain." Normally that's where the fun ends and the DNS headache begins — A records, CNAME entries, TTLs, the whole rabbit hole. It's a lot, especially if you don't dream in DNS.

So I did the lazy-genius thing: I let an AI assistant do the DNS work for me.

Here's the plan: stand up a site on GitHub Pages, buy a dirt-cheap domain, and then wire the two together using GitHub Copilot CLI and a Namecheap skill. The best part? I never touched a single DNS record by hand. Let's go!

Step 1: Build the site and publish it with GitHub Pages

Every story needs something worth sharing, so let's start there.

First, a public repository:

Then I just asked Copilot to create a landing page and turn on GitHub Pages. No clicking through settings menus — I described what I wanted, and it did the work:

And just like that, the site is live on a github.io URL. Great start — but a little plain. Let's give it a proper address.

Step 2: Buy a (very) cheap domain

For this blog I grabbed one of the cheapest TLDs out there: .click.

Final damage? USD $2.00 — about CAD $2.46. Two bucks. For a real domain. I'll take it.

Now I own a domain and I have a site. Time to introduce them.

Step 3: Wire it up

This is the part I usually dread. Here's where the AI assistant earns its keep.

Flip on Namecheap API access

First, we need to let Namecheap's API in. Head to Profile → Tools, scroll all the way down to Business & Dev Tools, and click Manage under Namecheap API Access.

Shortcut for the impatient (that's me): log in and go straight to https://ap.www.namecheap.com/settings/tools/apiaccess/ (heads up — this URL may change down the road).

On that page, three quick things:

1. Toggle the API to ON.
2. Add the public IP of the machine that'll talk to the API to the Whitelisted IPs list.
3. Copy that API Key and stash it somewhere safe. You'll want it in a minute.

That's it — Namecheap is now scriptable.

Install the Namecheap skill

Now let's give our AI assistant superpowers. Enable the Namecheap skill.

On a machine running GitHub Copilot CLI, it's a one-liner:

gh skill install brunoborges/namecheap-skill namecheap-dns --scope user

The first time you ask Copilot something like "list my Namecheap domains", it checks that the skill is wired up. On that first run, it'll ask for your username:

Type it in. Then it asks for the API key (told you you'd need it):

And boom — Copilot hands back the list of domains in your account:

Easy peasy. 🎉

Point the domain at GitHub Pages

Now the moment of truth — connecting that fresh domain to the site:

It'll check in with a question or two before changing anything (good — I like an assistant that asks before it rewrites my DNS):

And then it does the heavy lifting — swapping the parking records for GitHub Pages' A records and the www CNAME. This is the exact part I usually dread, and I just… watched it happen:

It even handled the repo side, adding a CNAME file with the custom domain:

Step 4: Did it actually work? Let's verify

Of course, Copilot doesn't just claim victory — it checks. It confirmed the domain resolves:

…and that the site returns a healthy HTTP 200:

Want the receipts? The entire Copilot CLI session is right here: https://gist.github.com/brunoborges/167c988a0c4c16b8ccffca995ae98ce2

I bought the domain at 11:21:27 AM EDT.

And the site was live at around 11:35 AM EDT. Do the math — that's roughly 14 minutes from "I own nothing" to "it's on the internet with HTTPS." 🚀

So, was it worth it?

Honestly? Yeah. Building a GitHub Pages site, buying a domain, and wiring up a custom domain with HTTPS — start to finish in about 14 minutes, and I didn't touch a single DNS record myself. The combo of GitHub Copilot CLI and the Namecheap skill turned a classically fiddly chore into a quick conversation.

Give it a shot, and let me know how it goes! 🇧🇷