| name | domain-availability |
| description | Check whether domain names are available to register across many TLDs, using DNS delegation + RDAP (whois's replacement) with a system-whois fallback — no MCP, no dependencies. Use when the user asks if a domain is available, wants to check a domain name, brainstorm or find available domains, or check a name across TLDs (e.g. "is acme.com free?", "find me a domain for X", "check acme across TLDs"). |
Domain Availability
Check domain registration status across TLDs with a bundled, dependency-free script.
Run it, read the buckets, recommend from AVAILABLE.
Run
From this skill's directory:
python3 scripts/check_domains.py <name-or-domain> [options]
acme — check the name across the popular TLD set (.com/.io/.ai/.dev/…)acme.com — check that exact domain, plus the popular set--all — fan out across ~90 TLDs (popular + country + new)--tlds com,io,ai,dev — check exactly these--json — machine-readable output (buckets + per-domain signals)--timeout 8 · --concurrency 10 — tuning
How it decides (signal hierarchy)
- DNS NS-delegation (
dig NS) — registered domains are delegated, so NS records in the parent zone ⇒ taken. Ground truth, no rate limits.
- RDAP (
https://rdap.org/domain/<d>) — whois's ICANN-mandated JSON successor. HTTP 200 ⇒ registered, 404 ⇒ available. Authoritative where the registry supports it.
- whois — fallback only when RDAP is inconclusive (429 / timeout / TLD without RDAP), guarded against IANA non-answers.
Status per domain:
- available — not delegated AND (RDAP 404 or whois "no match")
- taken — NS delegated OR RDAP 200 OR whois shows registration data
- unknown — everything inconclusive; the
[ns:…, rdap:…] tag shows why
Why not just whois: WHOIS is being retired under ICANN's RDAP transition, and macOS whois doesn't reliably follow registry referrals for new gTLDs — it misreads the IANA delegation record. Leading with DNS + RDAP is what actually works across gTLDs and ccTLDs.
Recommending
- Lead with
.com — still the default users expect — then relevant new TLDs (.ai for AI, .dev/.io for tooling, .shop for commerce).
- Treat unknown as "not confirmed", never as available.
- This is a strong heuristic, not registrar-grade truth. End by telling the user to confirm at a registrar before buying.
Notes
- Zero dependencies: Python 3 stdlib + system
dig/whois (present on macOS; dig may need dnsutils/bind-utils on Linux — without it the tool falls back to RDAP + whois).
- Standalone equivalent of the
mcp-domain-availability MCP; needs no server.
