whois-mcp-server
Enables domain registration lookup, availability checks, DNS record fetching, and IP/ASN resolution via RDAP and DNS-over-HTTPS through MCP.
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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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: trueexplicitly when privacy redaction is in effect (standard post-GDPR for gTLDs) - Returns
rdap_coverage: falsefor TLDs without RDAP coverage rather than silently failing - Includes
last_update_of_rdap_dbevent 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: falsewithregistrarandexpiry_datewhen registered - Returns
available: nullwithrdap_coverage: falsefor 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
1.1.1.1primary, Google8.8.8.8fallback (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 (
cloudflareorgoogle) nxdomain: truein 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: nullon 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
AS15169or bare integer15169format - 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_erroron 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: falsetells the agent the TLD lacks RDAP rather than returning a confusing error - Privacy redaction surfaced as a field —
registrant_redacted: truerather than silently absent contact data - Partial failure model —
whois_get_dossiermarks individual legs withsource_errorand continues; only both-legs-fail escalates to an error - Factual signals, not scores —
age_days,privacy_redacted,ns_provider,mx_providerare 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
- Clone the repository:
git clone https://github.com/cyanheads/whois-mcp-server.git
- Navigate into the directory:
cd whois-mcp-server
- Install dependencies:
bun install
- 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/catchin tool logic - Use
ctx.logfor request-scoped logging,ctx.statefor tenant-scoped storage (IANA bootstrap cache) - Register new tools via
src/index.tstools 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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