Guides
The handoff checklist: what you should own when a site goes live
Launch day is messy when nobody wrote down who owns DNS, email, and the registrar. Use this split before you announce.
A site can be live and still be a liability if logins and invoices live in one person’s head. Handoff is the boring list of who owns what after the URL works.
This is not the full launch sequence — that is what to expect when you launch. This is the keys on the hook version.
Split ownership on paper
| You keep | We hold (Launch / hosting / Care) | Shared |
|---|---|---|
| Registrar login | Hosting box, TLS, deploy from publish | DNS records — we set them; you can see them at the registrar |
Mailbox (hello@yourbrand.com) | MX/SPF notes, not the mailbox itself | Who is allowed to reset DNS |
| Invoices for domain and email | Hosting and Care invoices | Annual reminder before domain expiry |
| Source of truth for facts — hours, prices, team, service area | The live pages once you send copy | A 15-minute content pass each quarter |
| Analytics / ads logins | Uptime monitor on the live URL | Whether Care is on or you watch the ping |
If a row is blank, fill it before you post the URL on social. “We’ll figure it out next week” is how domains expire on a Tuesday.
What Launch is for
Launch registers or transfers the name (when scoped), stands up separate hosting (Domain Hosting, Managed WordPress, or Custom), hands off DNS, and smoke-tests pages, forms, and mobile. You keep editing in the DevThunder builder when that fits the stack.
Launch is not a mailbox host and not a toggle that puts yourbrand.com on the builder tenant inside the app. Public visitors hit hosting; the editor stays on DevThunder. Details: recommended stacks.
Day-of smoke tests (15 minutes)
Do these from a phone on cellular, not the office Wi‑Fi that cached the old site:
- Homepage, one inner page, contact — all HTTPS, no mixed-content warnings.
- Submit the form to an inbox a human reads.
- Tap the phone number and the map (if you have them).
- Confirm
wwwand apex both land where you meant (redirect, not two different sites). - Open the padlock. If the browser argues, stop the announcement.
After the first week
Write down where you edit, where visitors browse, and where email lives. Those three sentences prevent the 2am “who has the registrar login?” thread.
Then pick a rhythm: DIY weekly pass, or Care ($79/mo per site) so someone else catches TLS and downtime. Pricing · Request Launch
Related: Domain Hosting · Business email on your domain
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