Custom Handle

Learn how to create a custom handle so you aren’t stuck with handle@bsk.social. This walk through will allow you to change your name from <handle>@bsky.social to your own DNS like <handle>@im.dope

Overview: You will need some basic understanding of how to access your websites DNS settings(I will be using SquareSpace as an example). If you are unsure how to access your providers DNS settings, please take the time to research it for your specific provider. If you are unsure what you are doing, this can get a bit tricky if you’re just guessing.

How To:

Settings

Head over to your providers site or your local server. Click the Settings Gear. The main purpose of this is getting to your DNS data, if you know how to do this, you can skip a few steps.

Domains and Email

Click Domains & Email

Domains

Click Domains

Domain

Click the domain that you are looking to replace the @bsky.social part of your handle with. Mine is johnbull.wtf

DNS

Click the DNS tab

Custom Record

You are going to need to create a custom record, this will allow BlueSky to verify and update your handle. This step is critical to get right.

Host: _atproto

Type: TXT

Priority: N/A

TTL: 4 hrs

Data: Now this part is where you make unique to you. Right now that did=did:plc blah blah blah is essentially my username behind the scenes to BlueSky. You will need to find yours and put it in that value.

Discover your DID

If you do not know how to find your DID through bsky, you can use other websites to find it easily. Something like: https://ilo.so/bluesky-did/ works well.

You will need to copy this value and paste it in to the DATA portion of your Custom Record.

On To BlueSky! Settings

You’ve done the hard part! Now time for the fun part. Click the Settings tab in BlueSky.

Account

Click Account

Handle

Click Handle

Have my own domain

Click ‘I have my own domain →’

Change Handle

This is where you will need to put your custom domain. This will be your website. This is the part that replaced the @<bsky.social> part of your handle. Mine is johnbull.wtf.

As you can see under the DNS record, it should match what you put in your domains Custom Record part.

Enter Domain

Enter your domain. Once you are done, click Verify DNS Record.

Congratulations!

If you get ‘Domain Verified!’ you have successfully updated your Handle on BlueSky.

warning: it can sometimes take a little bit for your handle to update. One time I even had ‘Invalid Handle’ as my username for an hour. It’ll fix itself! Promise!