Cloudflare · with Mailaholic
How to set up business email on a Cloudflare domain
The short answer
Add your domain in Mailaholic, then in Cloudflare open the domain’s DNS → Records and add the records Mailaholic shows. If Cloudflare Email Routing is on, add the new records first and then disable Email Routing, which removes its own MX and SPF records. When every record is green in Mailaholic, create your mailboxes.
Before you start
- A Mailaholic account, with your domain added under Domains. The dashboard then shows the exact records for your domain.
- Access to the place where your domain’s DNS is managed. That is wherever its nameservers point, which is not always where you bought it.
- Access to the domain in your Cloudflare dashboard.
The records you will add
Mailaholic shows the exact values for your domain. For a domain like yourdomain.com they look like this:
| Type | Name | Value | Priority | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TXT | _mailnest-verify | mailnest-verify=… (your own code, shown in the dashboard) | — | Step 1 only: proves the domain is yours |
| MX | @ | mx.workaholicdevelopers.com | 10 | Brings incoming email to your mailboxes |
| TXT | @ | v=spf1 a:mx.workaholicdevelopers.com ~all | — | SPF: lets our server send as you |
| TXT | dkim._domainkey | v=DKIM1;… (your own key, shown in the dashboard) | — | DKIM: signs every message you send |
| TXT | _dmarc | v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:… (shown in the dashboard) | — | DMARC: reporting, starting in monitor mode |
Step by step
Add your domain in Mailaholic
In Mailaholic, add your domain. It shows an ownership record: a TXT named
_mailnest-verifywith a code that is unique to you.Open DNS records
In Cloudflare, select the domain and open DNS → Records, then click Add record.
Prove ownership
Choose TXT, enter the name
_mailnest-verify, paste the value from Mailaholic and save. Then confirm it in Mailaholic.Add the mail records
Add the MX record (name
@, mail servermx.workaholicdevelopers.com, priority 10), then the SPF, DKIM and DMARC TXT records. MX and TXT records have no proxy switch, so there is nothing to turn off.Turn off Email Routing if you used it
Email Routing locks its own MX and SPF records. Cloudflare’s advice is to unlock them and add your new provider’s records first, then disable Email Routing under Email Routing → Settings, so no mail is lost in between.
Wait for green, then go
Mailaholic re-checks each record live. When all are green, create your mailboxes and send a test.
Check that it worked
- Mailaholic checks each record live and marks it green or red, so you can see what still needs fixing.
- Most changes show up within an hour; some providers take up to 24–48 hours.
- Once all records are green, create a mailbox and send a test email to a Gmail or Outlook address, then reply to it.
Checked October 2026 against each provider’s own help pages. Menus move — if a label differs on your screen, look for the nearest match.
Problems and questions
Mail still goes to my old provider
SPF shows red
DKIM shows red
Cloudflare won’t let me edit the MX record
Does Cloudflare’s orange-cloud proxy affect email?
How fast do Cloudflare DNS changes work?
Sources: developers.cloudflare.com/email-routing/setup/disable-em..., developers.cloudflare.com/dns/troubleshooting/email-issu...
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