If our team asks you to turn off Cloudflare's proxy while troubleshooting your website, update the A record for your main domain and the CNAME record for www. Both records should show DNS only with a gray cloud when you are finished.
Cloudflare will continue to host your DNS. Website traffic will go directly to us, bypassing Cloudflare's proxy. Learn about Cloudflare's proxy status.
1. Open your domain's DNS records
- Sign in to the Cloudflare dashboard.
- Select the account and domain for your website.
- In the sidebar, select DNS > Records.
Find the A record for your main domain (such as yourchurch.org, sometimes shown as @) and the CNAME record named www or www.yourchurch.org.
Example: the A record and www CNAME both have the proxy turned on. The domain and record values are blurred.
2. Turn off the proxy for the A record
- Find the A record for your main domain and select Edit.
- Under Proxy status, click the toggle beside the orange cloud to change Proxied to DNS only. The cloud should turn gray.
- Keep the existing name and IP address, then select Save.
If the record already shows DNS only, it is already set correctly.
3. Turn off the proxy for the www CNAME
- Find the CNAME record named
wwwand select Edit. - Change Proxy status from Proxied to DNS only, just as you did for the A record.
- Keep the existing name and target, then select Save.
Only the proxy status needs to change. Leave your IP address, CNAME target, TTL, nameservers, and email records as they are. See Cloudflare's instructions for editing DNS records.
4. Confirm both records show DNS only
Check the Proxy status column for both records:
| Type | Name | Proxy status |
|---|---|---|
| A | Your main domain / @ | DNS only (gray cloud) |
| CNAME | www | DNS only (gray cloud) |
Cloudflare's example shows the two statuses: orange means the proxy is on; gray means it is off. The example uses blog and shop records to illustrate the icons. Your main-domain A record and www CNAME should both match the gray DNS only status. Screenshot source: Cloudflare.
Allow a few minutes, then visit your website both with and without www. Cloudflare's proxied records normally have a five-minute cache lifetime, but local DNS caches can take longer to update. Learn about DNS caching.
Next Step
Reply to your Church Plant Media support ticket to let us know when both records show DNS only.