dotsweep

Check domain availability and price

Checks whether domain names are available, with registration and renewal prices. Answers come from the registry itself: DNS delegation first, then RDAP, with a WHOIS fallback for the registries that publish no RDAP service. A registry that is throttled, timed out or unreachable is reported as unconfirmed, never as available — a raw whois query reports one as available, which is the one wrong answer that costs money. Covers .dev and .app, whose operators run no port-43 whois server at all, and re

Look up a domain's registry record

Registry record for one domain: registrar, registration and expiry dates, nameservers, status codes, and whether it appears to be for sale. Resolves the correct registry host for the extension itself, and reads RDAP for .dev, .app and other extensions whose operators publish no port-43 whois service. Use when asked who owns a domain, when it expires, or where it is hosted. It forces a registry lookup, so it is also the only call that fills offer — a taken domain that appears to be parked or list

List checkable extensions with prices

Every extension this server can check, with registration and renewal price, minimum registration term, and any eligibility restriction on who may register it. Use before check_domains when the extensions to check are not already decided: the catalogue is wider than the handful most people can name, prices vary by more than an order of magnitude, and min_term_years means the first bill can be a multiple of the price shown. An entry carrying vendor is priced by a registrar other than the one quote

Get told when a taken domain becomes registrable

Register a watch on a domain that is currently taken, and be emailed once — and only once — when the registry confirms it has become registrable. Use when someone wants a name that is already owned, or asks to be told when one expires or drops. It answers immediately and creates nothing when the name turns out to be free already, so it is safe to call on a domain whose status has not been established. It requires an email address the person supplied in the conversation. A confirmation mail is se