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Q & A DNS Records · September 11, 2026

Why does Cloudflare show my A record as flattened?

Cloudflare’s CNAME Flattening applies to CNAME records at the zone apex (root domain), because DNS doesn’t allow CNAME at the apex per RFC. When you set the root domain to a CNAME target in Cloudflare, Cloudflare resolves that CNAME to A/AAAA at query time and serves flattened records instead. This is standard behavior and correct. It only applies to apex CNAMEs — subdomain CNAMEs work normally. Doesn’t affect any other records (TXT, MX, DMARC). Look up your A record’s actual served values with the A record lookup tool.

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DNS Record Types Explained
DNS records are the building blocks of how the internet resolves domain names to servers. Each record type has a specific job: routing web traffic, delivering email, proving domain ownership, or preventing spoofing.
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