whois-domain-check

name	whois-domain-check
description	Check domain name availability for any TLD using nix-shell whois. Use this whenever the user asks to check if a domain is available, find available domain names, brainstorm domain names for a project, or validate domain name ideas. Triggers on phrases like "is X taken", "check domain", "find available domains", "domain name ideas", "is .com available", etc.

Whois Domain Check

Check domain availability in bulk using the system whois command via nix-shell.

How to Check Domains

Run domains through nix-shell -p whois and parse the output for availability signals:

nix-shell -p whois --run 'whois "example.com"' 2>/dev/null

Interpreting Results

A domain is AVAILABLE if the whois output contains any of these signals:

• No match
• NOT FOUND
• Domain not found
• is available
• not been registered
• The queried object does not exist
• DOMAIN NOT FOUND
• No object found
• No Data Found

A domain is TAKEN if the whois returns registration details (registrar, dates, name servers).

A domain is UNSUPPORTED if the output says TLD is not supported.

Batch Checking

For efficient batch checking, pass a list of domains:

nix-shell -p whois --run '
for name in "example.com" "example.app" "example.io"; do
  result=$(whois "$name" 2>/dev/null)
  if echo "$result" | grep -qi "No match\|NOT FOUND\|Domain not found\|is available\|The queried object does not exist\|DOMAIN NOT FOUND"; then
    echo "AVAILABLE: $name"
  elif echo "$result" | grep -qi "TLD is not supported"; then
    echo "UNSUPPORTED: $name"
  else
    echo "TAKEN: $name"
  fi
done
'

Output Format

Present results in a clean table:

Domain	Status
myname.com	✅ Available
myname.app	❌ Taken
myname.io	❌ Taken

Tips

• .com and .app are the most commonly desired TLDs — always check those first
• Many short/meaningful words are squatted; try compound words (passvaultr.com), modified spellings (krypkeep.com), or unique coinages
• Avoid TLDs the system whois doesn't support (listed as UNSUPPORTED)