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ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED: What It Means and How to Fix It

ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED means your browser couldn't find an IP address for the domain — DNS lookup failed. How to tell whether the problem is a typo, your own network, or the domain's DNS records, and the fixes for each, including for a domain you just connected to your app.

ERR_NAME_NOT_RESOLVED is Chrome's way of saying: "I asked for the IP address of this domain, and got no answer." Before a browser can load a site, it uses DNS to turn the name into an IP address. That step failed.

Other browsers say it differently: Firefox shows "Hmm. We're having trouble finding that site", Safari says "Safari Can't Find the Server". A closely related Chrome error is DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN.

Step 1: Is it you, or the domain?

Run a lookup from your terminal:

nslookup yourapp.com
# or
dig yourapp.com
  • You get an IP address back → DNS works for the domain; the problem is probably your browser or network cache.
  • "NXDOMAIN" or "can't find" → the domain has no record (or doesn't exist).
  • It times out → your DNS resolver or network is the problem.

Also try a different network (your phone on mobile data) or a public checker like dnschecker.org to see what the rest of the world gets.

If it's your computer or network

  1. Check the spelling. A typo can point to a nonexistent domain — or to someone else's real site.
  2. Flush your DNS cache:
# Windows
ipconfig /flushdns
# macOS
sudo dscacheutil -flushcache; sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder
  1. Clear Chrome's DNS cache: open chrome://net-internals/#dns and click Clear host cache.
  2. Switch DNS resolver to a public one like 1.1.1.1 or 8.8.8.8 in your network settings.
  3. Turn off VPNs, proxies and ad-blocking DNS temporarily — they sometimes block or break lookups.
  4. Restart your router.

If it's your domain

This is the common case right after you connect a new domain to your app.

  • No A or CNAME record exists. Check your DNS provider. The root domain (yourapp.com) usually needs an A record pointing to your server's IP; www usually needs a CNAME or another A record. (DNS Records Explained)
  • You added yourapp.com but are visiting www.yourapp.com (or the other way round). Each name needs its own record. (www vs non-www)
  • The nameservers point somewhere else. If your registrar's nameservers are set to Cloudflare, records added at the registrar are ignored — add them in Cloudflare.
  • The change hasn't spread yet. New records usually appear within minutes, but caches can hold old answers for the record's TTL. (DNS Propagation Explained)
  • The domain expired. Check your registrar — expired domains stop resolving.

If it's an API call in your code

The same failure shows up as getaddrinfo ENOTFOUND api.example.com in Node.js. Check the URL in your environment variables for typos, a missing protocol, or a hostname that only exists on another network (like a Docker service name used outside Docker). (Environment Variables Undefined)

The summary

  • The domain name couldn't be turned into an IP address.
  • Use nslookup to see if it's your network or the domain.
  • For your own domain: check the A/CNAME records, the nameservers, www vs root, and expiry.

EasySpawn tells you exactly which DNS records to add when you connect a domain, checks they resolve, and issues HTTPS automatically once they do. See how it works or join the waitlist.

Related: Connect a Custom Domain to Your App · This Site Can't Be Reached · What Is a Domain Name? · ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED

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