diff --git a/cli/internal/cli.go b/cli/internal/cli.go
index ee9e6972..53b7082e 100644
--- a/cli/internal/cli.go
+++ b/cli/internal/cli.go
@@ -193,7 +193,7 @@ var NewAppServerFlag = &cli.StringFlag{
 var NoDomainChecks bool
 var NoDomainChecksFlag = &cli.BoolFlag{
 	Name:        "no-domain-checks, D",
-	Usage:       "Disable app domain sanity checks",
+	Usage:       "Disable public DNS checks",
 	Destination: &NoDomainChecks,
 }
 
diff --git a/cli/server/add.go b/cli/server/add.go
index b10d24bc..58832821 100644
--- a/cli/server/add.go
+++ b/cli/server/add.go
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ Abra uses the SSH command-line to discover connection details for your server.
 It is advised to configure an entry per-host in your ~/.ssh/config for each
 server. For example:
 
-Host example.com
+Host example.com example
   Hostname example.com
   User exampleUser
   Port 12345
@@ -109,6 +109,10 @@ Abra can then load SSH connection details from this configuratiion with:
 
     abra server add example.com
 
+Or using the name "example" which is not resolvable on the public Internet:
+
+    abra server add -D example
+
 If "--local" is passed, then Abra assumes that the current local server is
 intended as the target server. This is useful when you want to have your entire
 Co-op Cloud config located on the server itself, and not on your local
@@ -117,6 +121,7 @@ developer machine.
 	Flags: []cli.Flag{
 		internal.DebugFlag,
 		internal.NoInputFlag,
+		internal.NoDomainChecksFlag,
 		localFlag,
 	},
 	Before:    internal.SubCommandBefore,
@@ -150,8 +155,10 @@ developer machine.
 			return nil
 		}
 
-		if _, err := dns.EnsureIPv4(domainName); err != nil {
-			logrus.Fatal(err)
+		if !internal.NoDomainChecks {
+			if _, err := dns.EnsureIPv4(domainName); err != nil {
+				logrus.Fatal(err)
+			}
 		}
 
 		if err := createServerDir(domainName); err != nil {