This document explains how to create a project in the Serial Subscriptions integration portal. A project represents one product or environment that will run its own Serial Subscriptions instance after you add a subscription and provisioning completes.

Before you start

• Sign in with an account that belongs to an organization (see Sign up if you still need an account or organization).
• Roles: Creating a project requires one of Owner, Admin, or Platform admin. Other roles can view the project list but will not see New project. If you created your Serial Subscriptions account and created your organization, you are the Owner of that organization, so you can create projects unless your role was changed later.

Open the create form

1. After you sign in, open the Projects page (home). The heading shows your organization name and Projects.
2. Select New project (top right). If the control is disabled, your account does not have permission to create projects.

Fill out “Create a new project”

Project name (required)

Enter a short name for the project (for example the name of your app or product). This label appears in your project list and dashboards.

Domain: alias vs your own domain

You have two related ideas to understand:

• Domain alias (provided)
  After your instance is provisioned, the platform assigns a domain alias—a hostname on Serial Subscriptions’ infrastructure that points at your new instance. You do not need to configure DNS for this alias; it is ready for you to use as soon as provisioning finishes. Your project list shows this value in the Domain Alias column.

• Your own custom domain (optional)
  If you want subscribers to open Serial Subscriptions at an address on a domain you control (for example account.example.com), enable Use my own domain and enter the full web address (hostname) subscribers will use—the same hostname you will configure in DNS later.

  • Example: account.example.com (a subdomain label plus your registered domain).
  • The form expects a full hostname with at least one label before your root domain (not just example.com).
  • If you skip this, you can add or change it later in project settings.

Subscription plan choice

Choose how you want to pick a plan after the project is created:

• Add default “Development” subscription plan (no credit card required) — Recommended to try the platform quickly. You can change plans later.
• Choose from all subscription plans — You will be sent to the full pricing page for your organization and project.

Select Create project.

Add a subscription

After the project is saved, you are taken to Subscription required. A subscription must be attached to the project (including the free Development plan) before your dedicated Serial Subscriptions instance can be provisioned.

Development plan

Choose Choose Development Plan (no credit card required) to subscribe with the default Development plan.

Other plans

Choose Choose from All Plans to open pricing and pick any available plan.

You complete checkout on the Serial Subscriptions billing site (linked from this page). When finished, return to the Projects page to watch status update.

Verify your custom domain (before provisioning finishes)

If you use your own domain (you enabled Use my own domain at create time or added it under project settings), you must prove that you control the domain and point your hostname at the platform. That happens through DNS verification on the Verify Domain page (Verify in the project row when Domain Status indicates verification is required).

Do this before your Serial Subscriptions instance finishes provisioning when you can: the sooner DNS is correct, the sooner your custom hostname can go live. If the project’s Status is already provisioning, DNS checks and some verification controls are temporarily unavailable until provisioning completes—wait for that to finish, then open Verify again and run Check DNS verification.

What you are proving

1. Domain ownership (TXT) — You add a TXT record at the apex of your registered domain (the same Domain value shown on the verify page, with host @ at most DNS providers). The record value is a unique token the app displays—copy it exactly from TXT record value.

2. Traffic routing (CNAME) — You point your full Serial Subscriptions hostname (host label + domain, e.g. account.example.com) at the platform’s domain alias using a CNAME target (the hostname shown next to your Domain Alias on the project). Do not use A or AAAA records on that same hostname; use CNAME only.

Both the apex TXT step and the hostname CNAME step are required. The verify screen shows them as 1. Apex domain (TXT) and 2. Hostname (CNAME).

How to confirm

• Open Verify Domain from the project list when Verify is available.
• After saving DNS at your provider, use Check DNS verification. The app re-checks public DNS; propagation often takes a few minutes, so retry if needed.
• When checks succeed, Domain Status moves toward verified and messaging confirms that DNS is configured.

If Platform domain alias is still being assigned or Validation token not ready yet appears, wait briefly, refresh the page, or save again from Edit project—the TXT token and CNAME target must be shown before DNS can succeed.

If you only use the provided alias

You do not need this DNS workflow for the domain alias the platform assigns: that hostname is already on Serial Subscriptions infrastructure. Custom-domain verification applies only when you want subscribers to use your domain.

Provisioning and access

When a subscription is active, the platform provisions your Serial Subscriptions instance in the background.

• On the Projects list, Status shows provisioning with a progress bar while work is in progress.
• The list polls automatically so you do not need to refresh the page constantly.
• When provisioning is finished, you will receive an email with instructions to sign in to your new instance. Use the link in that message to access your environment.

Until provisioning completes, some actions (such as Edit or Delete on the project) may be unavailable.

Using your hostname

• Provided domain alias — Use the Domain Alias hostname (and the link in your email) to reach your instance without any DNS changes on your side.
• Custom domain — After you complete the Verify your custom domain steps earlier in this document, subscribers can use your own hostname (for example account.example.com).