domain-whois

name	domain-whois
description	Look up domain registration info, expiry dates, and registrar details.

Domain WHOIS

Look up domain registration info, expiry dates, and registrar details.

Category: security API Key Required: No

When to use

• User asks "who owns this domain?"
• User wants to check if a domain is registered
• User asks about domain expiry or registrar info
• User wants DNS or nameserver info for a domain

How it works

Option 1: RDAP (modern WHOIS, free, no key)

RDAP is the official successor to WHOIS. Query the Verisign RDAP server directly for .com/.net domains:

# For .com domains:
curl -s "https://rdap.verisign.com/com/v1/domain/example.com"

# For .net domains:
curl -s "https://rdap.verisign.com/net/v1/domain/example.net"

# For .org domains:
curl -s "https://rdap.org/domain/example.org"

Returns JSON with: registration dates, expiry, registrar, nameservers, status codes.

Key fields:

• events[] — registration, expiration, last changed dates
• entities[] — registrar info
• nameservers[] — DNS servers
• status[] — domain status flags

Option 2: Command-line whois

whois example.com

Option 3: ip-api for IP-based lookups

curl -s "http://ip-api.com/json/example.com"

Examples

User: "Who owns google.com?" → Query RDAP. Reply with registrar, registration date, expiry date, nameservers.

User: "When does example.com expire?" → Query RDAP, find the expiration event. Reply with the date.

User: "Is coolstartup.io taken?" → Query RDAP. If registered, show details. If not found, tell user it may be available.

Constraints

• RDAP coverage varies by TLD — most gTLDs (.com, .net, .org) are well supported
• Some ccTLDs may not have RDAP servers yet
• Privacy/proxy registrations will hide owner details
• Rate limits vary by registry (be reasonable, ~1 req/sec)