Requesting Your Starter WordPress Site

Overview

A starter site is a new managed WordPress install provisioned under sites.stretchmedia.ca — for example acme-studio.sites.stretchmedia.ca. You choose a professional name, StretchWP checks that it's available, and you submit a request that the Stretch team reviews before provisioning. You can point your own domain at the site later.

The approval step is deliberate: no WordPress site or client account is created until your request is approved. This keeps the managed fleet clean and lets the Stretch team provision your site with the right hosting, SSL, and core plugin set from day one.

Steps

1. Open the starter-site request form. From the Sites launcher, choose New site (or use the request link in the empty state when your workspace has no sites yet).
2. Enter a proposed site name. Type the name you'd like — for example Acme Studio. StretchWP normalizes it into a URL-safe key (acme-studio) and checks availability against the registry.
3. Review the availability result. You'll see whether the name is available, plus a set of professional suggestions (such as acme-studio-site, acme-studio-web, acme-studio-media) if you want alternatives. Only available, valid names are suggested.
4. Add your contact details. Provide your email (required) and, optionally, a business name, contact name, and any notes about what the site is for.
5. Submit the request. StretchWP records the request with the status pending review and creates a tracked submission for the Stretch team. You'll receive a request received confirmation email.
6. Wait for approval. Once your request is approved and the site is provisioned, it appears on your Sites launcher and you can open its control panel.

Naming rules

Starter-site names must be:

• 3–48 characters.
• Lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens only. Spaces and symbols are converted automatically, and an ampersand (&) becomes the word and.
• Not a reserved word. Names such as admin, www, mail, staging, support, wp, wordpress, dashboard, api, billing, and login are blocked because the platform uses them.
• Professional. Names containing spam or abuse terms are rejected.

Example: Requesting the name Bright & Co. Bakery is normalized to bright-and-co-bakery. StretchWP checks that key for availability and, if it's taken, offers alternatives such as bright-and-co-bakery-studio.

Example

Dev submits Harbor Cafe and sees it's available as harbor-cafe. He adds a second option, harbor-cafe-web, in case the first is reserved by the time the Stretch team gets to it, enters his email and business name, and notes "replacing our old Wix site." He submits and gets a confirmation email with a request reference. Two hours later the site is approved and harbor-cafe.sites.stretchmedia.ca appears on his launcher, already carrying the StretchWP core plugin set.

Tips

• Propose up to two names in one request. Submitting two options up front reduces back-and-forth if your first choice is already reserved by the time the team reviews it.
• Put context in the notes. Telling the team what the site is for — a migration, a new brand, a landing page — helps them provision it correctly.
• The starter hostname is temporary by design. Build on …sites.stretchmedia.ca first, then attach your real domain when you're ready to go live. See Connecting your custom domain.

FAQ

My name was rejected. Why? It was too short or too long (must be 3–48 characters), used characters other than lowercase letters/numbers/hyphens, matched a reserved word, or contained a blocked term. Try one of the suggestions StretchWP offers, or pick a different business name.

How long does approval take? Requests are reviewed by the Stretch team. You'll get an email when your request is received, and again once it's approved and provisioned. If it's urgent, mention that in the notes.

Can I change the name later? The starter hostname is fixed once provisioned, but it's only a working address. Your public identity comes from the custom domain you attach, which you can choose independently.