Domain claim fails with "TXT record not found" even though TXT is publicly resolvable

Subject: Domain claim fails with "TXT record not found" even though TXT is publicly resolvable

Hello Vercel team,

I am trying to claim synesisaion.co.ke, which Vercel says is linked to another Vercel account.

Vercel instructed me to add the following TXT record:

Host:

_vercel.synesisaion.co.ke

Value:

vc-domain-verify=synesisaion.co.ke,b662ccd86e9a078a6f36

I added this record at my DNS provider, Hosting.com.

The domain's nameservers are:

Google Public DNS now successfully resolves the TXT record and returns the exact verification value requested by Vercel.

I have also waited several hours and retried Verify & Claim, but Vercel continues to return:

"TXT record not found: The verification TXT record was not found."

Could you please investigate the domain's existing association with the other Vercel account and manually release/claim the domain if necessary?

I can provide screenshots of the DNS configuration, WHOIS nameservers, and Google Public DNS result.

Thank you.

The domain troubleshooting guide can help with most custom domain configuration issues. You might be able to use that guide to solve it before a human is available to help you. Then you can come back here and share the answer for bonus points.

https://vercel.com/docs/domains/troubleshooting

vercel.com

Troubleshooting domains

Learn about common reasons for domain misconfigurations and how to troubleshoot your domain on Vercel.

Hi Marlik,

I’d verify this against the authoritative nameservers directly, not only Google Public DNS. Public resolvers can show a cached/partial view, while the claim check may still fail if the authoritative DNS answer is different or inconsistent.

Try checking each authoritative nameserver directly:

dig TXT _vercel.synesisaion.co.ke @ns1.stableserver.net +short
dig TXT _vercel.synesisaion.co.ke @ns2.stableserver.net +short
dig TXT _vercel.synesisaion.co.ke @ns3.stableserver.net +short
dig TXT _vercel.synesisaion.co.ke @ns4.stableserver.net +short

Each one should return the exact value Vercel requested:

vc-domain-verify=synesisaion.co.ke,b662ccd86e9a078a6f36

A few small things that can cause this even when the record “looks” correct:

- the TXT was added at _vercel.synesisaion.co.ke.synesisaion.co.ke by mistake
- one authoritative nameserver has the record but another does not
- the value has extra quotes, spaces, or a copied smart character
- the DNS provider UI expects only _vercel as the host/name, not the full hostname

If all four authoritative nameservers return the exact TXT value and Vercel still says “TXT record not found,” then I’d post those dig outputs in the thread. At that point it sounds less like normal propagation and more like the domain-claim flow needs someone from Vercel to check the existing association.

Vercel’s domain ownership flow is described here: https://vercel.com/docs/domains/working-with-domains/claim-domain-ownership

vercel.com

Claiming Domain Ownership

Learn how to claim ownership of a domain that is registered with another Vercel account by verifying DNS ownership.

Subject: Domain claim fails with "TXT record not found" even though TXT is publicly resolvable

Hello Vercel team,

I am trying to claim synesisaion.co.ke, which Vercel says is linked to another Vercel account.

Vercel instructed me to add the following TXT record:

Host:

_vercel.synesisaion.co.ke

Value:

vc-domain-verify=synesisaion.co.ke,b662ccd86e9a078a6f36

I added this record at my DNS provider, Hosting.com.

The domain's nameservers are:

Google Public DNS now successfully resolves the TXT record and returns the exact verification value requested by Vercel.

I have also waited several hours and retried Verify & Claim, but Vercel continues to return:

"TXT record not found: The verification TXT record was not found."

Could you please investigate the domain's existing association with the other Vercel account and manually release/claim the domain if necessary?

I can provide screenshots of the DNS configuration, WHOIS nameservers, and Google Public DNS result.

Thank you.

https://vercel.com/docs/domains/troubleshooting

vercel.com

Troubleshooting domains

Learn about common reasons for domain misconfigurations and how to troubleshoot your domain on Vercel.

Hi Marlik,

Try checking each authoritative nameserver directly:

dig TXT _vercel.synesisaion.co.ke @ns1.stableserver.net +short
dig TXT _vercel.synesisaion.co.ke @ns2.stableserver.net +short
dig TXT _vercel.synesisaion.co.ke @ns3.stableserver.net +short
dig TXT _vercel.synesisaion.co.ke @ns4.stableserver.net +short

Each one should return the exact value Vercel requested:

vc-domain-verify=synesisaion.co.ke,b662ccd86e9a078a6f36

A few small things that can cause this even when the record “looks” correct:

- the TXT was added at _vercel.synesisaion.co.ke.synesisaion.co.ke by mistake
- one authoritative nameserver has the record but another does not
- the value has extra quotes, spaces, or a copied smart character
- the DNS provider UI expects only _vercel as the host/name, not the full hostname

Vercel’s domain ownership flow is described here: https://vercel.com/docs/domains/working-with-domains/claim-domain-ownership

vercel.com

Claiming Domain Ownership

Learn how to claim ownership of a domain that is registered with another Vercel account by verifying DNS ownership.