The safe no one walks off with when they leave

One single place, outside anyone's head, holds the three documented keys and who can open them.

By Yodai · Published September 6, 2026 · Updated October 12, 2026

5 min read

Your business partner leaves, you switch web agencies, or one day you need to get into the domain and the person who bought it isn't picking up the phone. Before anything else, it helps to know who holds each of the three keys today: who bought the domain, who points the addresses where your website and email live, and who manages the email accounts.

But knowing who holds the key isn't the same as being able to use it the day you need it. If that password lives only in that person's head, on a sticky note on their desk, or in their personal email, your business depends on that person picking up the phone. Today you decide where that information lives, so you never have to track anyone down.

What goes inside the safe

You're not just keeping track of three passwords. For each key, you're keeping track of four things: who the provider is (the registrar where the domain was bought, who handles DNS, or who hosts the email), what account you log in with, how two-factor verification works, and who else, besides you, can get in today.

Without those four pieces of information, having the password doesn't do you any good: you land on a screen asking for a code that goes to someone else's phone, or you find out the registrar wasn't the one you thought.

One record, one key

Domain registrar. Provider: [name]. Login account: [the email used to log in]. Password: stored in the business password manager, not here. Two-factor verification: authenticator app on [name]'s phone; backup codes also stored in the password manager. Who else has access: [name, role]. Last reviewed: [date].

The code that lands on someone else's phone

Two-factor verification is the part people forget to document most. If the registrar texts the code to the phone of the person who opened the account, the day that person is unavailable, you're locked out even with the right password.

Decide now on a method that doesn't depend on a single phone: an authenticator app installed on yours too, or the backup codes generated the day verification was turned on, stored and encrypted in the same place as the password, ready for when you need them. Without those backup codes, a broken or lost phone locks you out of your own domain.

Where that record lives

The record, the list of what exists and who can get in, can live in any shared document. But the password itself doesn't go there. The password goes in a password manager built for sharing: it keeps the secret encrypted, hands out access only to the people you choose, and on some business plans, keeps a log of who views it, copies it, or changes it.

Password manager or cloud document

Shared password manager

Keeps the password encrypted, and only opens it for those with access
On some business plans, keeps a log of who views or copies it
You can revoke someone's access instantly; if they already saw it, change it anyway

Cloud document (a shared spreadsheet or doc)

Costs nothing and anyone can set it up in five minutes
Anyone with the link reads the password in plain text, forever
Doesn't alert you if someone copies it on their way out

Which to choose: Use the password manager for the passwords themselves: it costs just a few dollars a month and keeps a forgotten link from opening the door to someone who no longer works with you. The cloud document works only as a map (which provider, which account, who has access), never to store the secret.

Who holds a key to the safe

Not everyone who needs to get into the domain on a given day needs permanent access to the safe. Give that access to two people at most: you, and someone you trust who'll still be around no matter what happens with the agency or whoever your partner of the moment is (an accountant, a family member, a partner who doesn't change). Whoever manages your email today can hold the key to that account without holding the key to the whole safe.

And if that email account is still a personal Gmail where you also write to your customers, it's worth fixing that first, before handing out this key: switch to an email address with your domain name on it.

The costly mistake: keeping it in one person's head

The most expensive mistake isn't having a weak password: it's having the only copy sit in the personal Gmail of whoever bought the domain, or on a sticky note on their desk. The day that person leaves, on good terms or bad, they take the whole safe with them, and getting it back can take weeks of verification with the registrar. You avoid it with one simple rule: the safe belongs to the business from day one, never to the person who made the purchase.

With all three records written and the safe chosen, you no longer depend on anyone's memory. The next lesson covers the exact order for locking each door the day someone leaves.

What you'll walk away with

One record per key (registrar, DNS, email) with provider, account, two-factor verification, and who else has access
Passwords live in the business's shared password manager, not in a text document
The cloud document only works as a map: what exists and who can log in, it never stores the secret
Access to the safe for two people at most: you and someone who doesn't depend on your agency or whichever partner comes and goes

In Yodai you connect the domain you already have to your site, and it stays registered where it is, in your name. See how your own domain for your website works.

NextThe right order for locking the door when someone leaves