Custom domain edge binding broken — CNAME target returns "Application not found"

Question

**Project:** Fan Intel (`931554b3-7a4a-4a95-98c9-53a70d7460ad`)  
**Service:** fan-intel (`8f2da41b-cc8e-4205-8c04-86e4bcc9a5f4`)  
**Environment:** production (`1bbd9da8-5027-439d-a77a-3d004ba78b4d`)  
**Domain:**`www.fan-intel.com`  
**Latest CNAME target:**`msdof7l3.up.railway.app`

**Issue:**  
Service domain works perfectly: `fan-intel-production.up.railway.app` returns 200 OK.  
Custom domain CNAME target `msdof7l3.up.railway.app` returns `{"status":"error","code":404,"message":"Application not found"}`.  
SSL certificate stuck at `VALIDATING_OWNERSHIP` for 12+ hours.

**What we've tried:**

* Deleted and re-created the custom domain 6+ times (each generates a new CNAME target, all return "Application not found")
* Fresh deploy via `railway up`, then added domain after deploy succeeded
* Redeployed service multiple times
* DNS verified correct via Google DNS (8.8.8.8), Cloudflare DNS (1.1.1.1), and GoDaddy API
* HTTP-01 ACME challenge path returns 404 — no challenge ever initiated
* Service binds to `0.0.0.0:8080` (confirmed in deploy logs)

**Same issue as:**[Custom domain infer.chrisshaw.me — stuck cert + "Application not found" on CNAME target](https://help.railway.com/threads/custom-domain-infer-chrisshaw-me-stuck-cert-application-not-found-on-cname-target)

Edge router is not binding the CNAME target to the service. Could you check the edge binding?

0x5b62656e5d · Accepted Answer

You need to add the verification TXT records for your domain.

Additionally, you should also be adding records for `@` if you wish to use `www`.