whois-mcp-server

whois-mcp-server

Enables domain registration lookup, availability checks, DNS record fetching, and IP/ASN resolution via RDAP and DNS-over-HTTPS through MCP.

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README

<div align="center"> <h1>@cyanheads/whois-mcp-server</h1> <p><b>Look up domain registration, check availability, fetch DNS records, and resolve IPs and ASNs via RDAP and DNS-over-HTTPS via MCP. STDIO or Streamable HTTP.</b> <div>6 Tools</div> </p> </div>

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Version License Docker MCP SDK npm TypeScript Bun

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Install in Claude Desktop Install in Cursor Install in VS Code

Framework

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Tools

Six tools covering domain intelligence, DNS, and IP/ASN resolution:

Tool Description
whois_lookup_domain Full domain registration record — registrar, created/expiry dates, nameservers, EPP status, DNSSEC, registrant org
whois_check_availability Check whether a domain is registered or available for registration
whois_get_dns DNS records for any hostname via DNS-over-HTTPS (A, AAAA, MX, TXT, NS, CNAME, SOA, CAA, PTR)
whois_lookup_ip IP or CIDR netblock, org, country, abuse contact, and reverse DNS via RIR RDAP
whois_lookup_asn Resolve an ASN to its org name, country, and RIR source
whois_get_dossier One-call domain triage — registration + DNS in parallel, normalized into a single record with factual signals

whois_lookup_domain

Look up a domain's full RDAP registration record.

  • RDAP-first via IANA auto-bootstrap — automatically selects the correct registry RDAP server per TLD
  • Returns registrar, creation/expiry dates, nameservers, EPP status codes, DNSSEC delegation flag
  • Surfaces registrant_redacted: true explicitly when privacy redaction is in effect (standard post-GDPR for gTLDs)
  • Returns rdap_coverage: false for TLDs without RDAP coverage rather than silently failing
  • Includes last_update_of_rdap_db event timestamp for data freshness transparency

whois_check_availability

Check whether a domain name is registered or available to register.

  • RDAP 404 = available (available: true) — exploits the RDAP spec's intended behavior
  • Returns available: false with registrar and expiry_date when registered
  • Returns available: null with rdap_coverage: false for TLDs without RDAP — cannot determine availability
  • Optimized for bulk name sweeps — thin response, no unnecessary fields

whois_get_dns

Fetch DNS records via DNS-over-HTTPS.

  • Cloudflare 1.1.1.1 primary, Google 8.8.8.8 fallback (used for CAA records where Cloudflare returns raw hex)
  • Supports A, AAAA, MX, TXT, NS, CNAME, SOA, CAA, PTR — multiple types in one call
  • Returns records with TTLs and the resolving source (cloudflare or google)
  • nxdomain: true in result (not an error) when the domain doesn't exist in DNS

whois_lookup_ip

Look up an IP address or CIDR block via RIR RDAP.

  • Auto-routes to the correct RIR (ARIN, RIPE, APNIC, LACNIC, AFRINIC) via IANA IP bootstrap
  • Returns netblock CIDR, org name, country, abuse contact email
  • Fetches PTR (reverse DNS) via DoH as a best-effort step — ptr: null on failure, not an error
  • Validates and rejects private/reserved ranges (RFC 1918, loopback, link-local) with a clear error

whois_lookup_asn

Resolve an ASN to its org name, country, and RIR.

  • Accepts AS15169 or bare integer 15169 format
  • Routes to the correct RIR RDAP endpoint via IANA ASN bootstrap
  • Returns name, org, country, rir, start_autnum, end_autnum

whois_get_dossier

One-call domain triage aggregating registration and DNS data in parallel.

  • Runs RDAP domain lookup and DoH (A, MX, NS, TXT) in parallel via Promise.allSettled
  • Inferred signals: age_days, privacy_redacted, registrar, ns_provider (from NS records), mx_provider (from MX records)
  • No synthesized risk scores — factual signals only; the agent decides the verdict
  • Partial results surfaced when one leg fails (source_error on the failed leg)
  • Both-legs-fail throws ServiceUnavailable; individual leg failures are data, not errors

Features

Built on @cyanheads/mcp-ts-core:

  • Declarative tool definitions — single file per tool, framework handles registration and validation
  • Unified error handling — handlers throw, framework catches, classifies, and formats
  • Pluggable auth: none, jwt, oauth
  • Swappable storage backends: in-memory, filesystem, Supabase, Cloudflare KV/R2/D1
  • Structured logging with optional OpenTelemetry tracing
  • STDIO and Streamable HTTP transports

Domain and network intelligence:

  • RDAP over HTTPS — no port-43 TCP dependency, runs on Node, Bun, and Cloudflare Workers
  • IANA bootstrap auto-selection — correct registry RDAP server picked per TLD, RIR, or ASN range; bootstrap JSON cached (TTL 24h) in tenant state
  • DNS-over-HTTPS via Cloudflare and Google — resilient dual-provider with per-type routing (Google for CAA; Cloudflare for all others)
  • No API keys required — all sources (IANA, registry RDAP endpoints, RIR RDAP, Cloudflare DoH, Google DoH) are public and keyless

Agent-friendly output:

  • Explicit coverage signals — rdap_coverage: false tells the agent the TLD lacks RDAP rather than returning a confusing error
  • Privacy redaction surfaced as a field — registrant_redacted: true rather than silently absent contact data
  • Partial failure model — whois_get_dossier marks individual legs with source_error and continues; only both-legs-fail escalates to an error
  • Factual signals, not scores — age_days, privacy_redacted, ns_provider, mx_provider are real data; agents chain into threat-intel or risk servers for enrichment

Getting started

No API keys or accounts required. Add the following to your MCP client configuration file.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "whois-mcp-server": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "bunx",
      "args": ["@cyanheads/whois-mcp-server@latest"],
      "env": {
        "MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE": "stdio",
        "MCP_LOG_LEVEL": "info"
      }
    }
  }
}

Or with npx (no Bun required):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "whois-mcp-server": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@cyanheads/whois-mcp-server@latest"],
      "env": {
        "MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE": "stdio",
        "MCP_LOG_LEVEL": "info"
      }
    }
  }
}

Or with Docker:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "whois-mcp-server": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run", "-i", "--rm",
        "-e", "MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE=stdio",
        "ghcr.io/cyanheads/whois-mcp-server:latest"
      ]
    }
  }
}

For Streamable HTTP, set the transport and start the server:

MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE=http MCP_HTTP_PORT=3010 bun run start:http
# Server listens at http://localhost:3010/mcp

Prerequisites

  • Bun v1.3.0 or higher (or Node.js v24+).
  • No API keys required — all data sources are public.

Installation

  1. Clone the repository:
git clone https://github.com/cyanheads/whois-mcp-server.git
  1. Navigate into the directory:
cd whois-mcp-server
  1. Install dependencies:
bun install
  1. Configure environment:
cp .env.example .env
# All vars are optional — defaults work for most use cases

Configuration

Variable Description Default
RDAP_TIMEOUT_MS HTTP timeout for RDAP requests in milliseconds. 5000
DOH_TIMEOUT_MS HTTP timeout for DNS-over-HTTPS requests in milliseconds. 3000
RDAP_MAX_RETRIES Max retry attempts on transient RDAP failures. 2
DOH_MAX_RETRIES Max retry attempts on transient DoH failures. 2
MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE Transport: stdio or http. stdio
MCP_HTTP_PORT Port for HTTP server. 3010
MCP_AUTH_MODE Auth mode: none, jwt, or oauth. none
MCP_LOG_LEVEL Log level (RFC 5424). info
OTEL_ENABLED Enable OpenTelemetry instrumentation. false

See .env.example for the full list of optional overrides.


Running the server

Local development

  • Build and run:

    bun run rebuild
    bun run start:stdio
    # or
    bun run start:http
    
  • Run checks and tests:

    bun run devcheck   # Lint, format, typecheck, security
    bun run test       # Vitest test suite
    bun run lint:mcp   # Validate MCP definitions against spec
    

Docker

docker build -t whois-mcp-server .
docker run --rm -p 3010:3010 whois-mcp-server

The Dockerfile defaults to HTTP transport, stateless session mode, and logs to /var/log/whois-mcp-server. OpenTelemetry peer dependencies are installed by default — build with --build-arg OTEL_ENABLED=false to omit them.


Project structure

Path Purpose
src/index.ts createApp() entry point — registers tools and inits services.
src/config/ Server-specific environment variable parsing and validation (Zod).
src/services/rdap/ RDAP client — IANA bootstrap cache, domain/IP/ASN lookup, retry.
src/services/doh/ DNS-over-HTTPS client — Cloudflare primary, Google fallback.
src/mcp-server/tools/ Tool definitions (*.tool.ts).
tests/ Vitest tests mirroring src/.
docs/ Design and API reference documents.

Development guide

See CLAUDE.md for development guidelines and architectural rules. The short version:

  • Handlers throw, framework catches — no try/catch in tool logic
  • Use ctx.log for request-scoped logging, ctx.state for tenant-scoped storage (IANA bootstrap cache)
  • Register new tools via src/index.ts tools array
  • Wrap external API calls: validate raw → normalize to domain type → return output schema; never fabricate missing fields

Contributing

Issues and pull requests are welcome. Run checks and tests before submitting:

bun run devcheck
bun run test

License

Apache-2.0 — see LICENSE for details.

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