domaindetails

A fast CLI tool for domain registration lookups using RDAP and WHOIS.

Built by DomainDetails.com - Privacy-first domain intelligence.

Features

• RDAP Lookups - Modern JSON-based protocol (preferred)
• WHOIS Fallback - Traditional protocol via DomainDetails.com API
• Local Caching - Caches IANA bootstrap data for fast TLD resolution
• Multiple Output Formats - Human-readable, JSON, or raw data
• Cross-Platform - macOS, Linux, Windows

Installation

Homebrew (macOS/Linux)

brew install simplebytes-com/tap/domaindetails

Docker

docker pull domaindetails/cli

# Run a lookup
docker run domaindetails/cli lookup example.com

Binary Download

Download the latest release for your platform from GitHub Releases.

Build from Source

git clone https://github.com/simplebytes-com/domaindetails-cli.git
cd domaindetails-cli
make build
make install

Usage

Basic Lookup

# Auto-select best method (RDAP preferred, WHOIS fallback)
domaindetails lookup example.com

# RDAP only
domaindetails rdap example.com

# WHOIS only
domaindetails whois example.com

Output Formats

# JSON output
domaindetails lookup example.com --json

# Include raw response data
domaindetails lookup example.com --raw

# JSON with raw data
domaindetails lookup example.com --json --raw

Verbose Mode

domaindetails lookup example.com --verbose

Cache Management

# Update the IANA bootstrap cache
domaindetails cache update

# View cache status
domaindetails cache info

# Clear the cache
domaindetails cache clear

Example Output

────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Domain: example.com
Method: RDAP
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

Domain Name:     EXAMPLE.COM
Registrar:       RESERVED-Internet Assigned Numbers Authority

Created:         1995-08-14T04:00:00Z
Expires:         2025-08-13T04:00:00Z
Last Modified:   2024-08-14T07:01:34Z

Status:
  • client delete prohibited
  • client transfer prohibited
  • client update prohibited

Nameservers:
  • A.IANA-SERVERS.NET
  • B.IANA-SERVERS.NET

DNSSEC:          signed

JSON Output

{
  "domain": "example.com",
  "available": false,
  "method": "rdap",
  "parsed": {
    "domainName": "EXAMPLE.COM",
    "registrar": "RESERVED-Internet Assigned Numbers Authority",
    "creationDate": "1995-08-14T04:00:00Z",
    "expirationDate": "2025-08-13T04:00:00Z",
    "lastModified": "2024-08-14T07:01:34Z",
    "nameservers": ["A.IANA-SERVERS.NET", "B.IANA-SERVERS.NET"],
    "status": ["client delete prohibited", "client transfer prohibited"],
    "dnssec": "signed"
  }
}

How It Works

1. RDAP Lookups: Queries RDAP servers directly using the IANA bootstrap file (cached locally at ~/.domaindetails/)
2. WHOIS Lookups: Routes through the DomainDetails.com API which handles raw WHOIS queries and parsing

IANA Bootstrap Cache

The CLI caches the IANA RDAP bootstrap file locally to avoid repeated network requests:

• Location: ~/.domaindetails/rdap-bootstrap.json
• TTL: 24 hours
• Fallback: Uses stale cache if refresh fails

API

This CLI uses the DomainDetails.com API for WHOIS lookups:

Endpoint	Description
GET /api/whois?domain=example.com	WHOIS lookup with parsing

The WHOIS parser is open source: @domaindetails/whois-parser

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

License

MIT License - see LICENSE for details.

Links

• Website: domaindetails.com
• Documentation: domaindetails.com/kb/cli
• Docker Hub: hub.docker.com/r/domaindetails/cli
• WHOIS Parser: npmjs.com/package/@domaindetails/whois-parser