Sell domainsGet API access

names.dev for platforms

The domain layer for software that launches companies.

Search, quote, register and connect a domain for every customer you launch, inside your own onboarding. One API, signed webhooks, a full sandbox, and your brand on every email. Your customers never see a DNS step.

Request sandbox keysRead the API reference

The journey

From typed name to live site in minutes, in two clicks.

  1. 01

    Search

    POST /availability

    One name across up to 20 endings, live

  2. 02

    Quote

    POST /quotes

    Price, renewal and premium flag, held 15 minutes

  3. 03

    Pay

    Your checkout

    Your brand pays you. We never bill them

  4. 04

    Register

    POST /domains

    Your nameservers, privacy and auto-renew on

  5. 05

    Confirm

    domain.registered

    Signed webhook the moment the registry confirms

  6. 06

    Live

    Your DNS zone

    Site and email records in your own zone

Capabilities

One API. The whole lifecycle.

Anything a person can do in the names.dev workspace, your software can do by API. Every slow call returns an operation at once and finishes by webhook.

  • Availability

    Live checks for one name or a hundred. Never a cached guess shown as available.

  • Suggestions

    Alternatives from a brand name and a few keywords, each with status and price.

  • Premium and aftermarket

    Registry premiums and marketplace listings in the same results, flagged by source.

  • Binding quotes

    A quote id that holds price and availability for at least 15 minutes.

  • Registration

    One async call: contacts, 2 to 13 nameservers, DS records, privacy, lock, metadata.

  • Nameservers and DNSSEC

    Point a domain at your zone and manage DS records by API, with webhooks.

  • Renewals and grace

    Auto-renew by default, 60/30/14/7/1-day warnings, restore from redemption.

  • Transfers

    Transfer in with an auth code. Transfer out on request: no fee, no hostage-taking.

  • Webhooks

    HMAC-signed, ordered per domain, retried for 72 hours, replayable by time range.

  • Sandbox

    Fake registries and test money. Force success, failure, pending or expiry.

  • Billing

    Prepaid balance, per-brand charges, refunds to balance, monthly statements.

  • White-label

    Registry emails on your behalf, a copy to your support team, no upsells to your brands.

Built to be called thousands of times

Predictable, testable, safe to retry.

  • Idempotency on every write. Retry a register after a timeout and you get the original result, never a second domain or charge.
  • Stable error codes. quote_expired, insufficient_balance, eligibility_required, registry_unavailable with a retry hint, all before any charge when the cause is knowable.
  • Scoped keys per environment. Sandbox and live keys, rotation with no downtime, optional IP allowlists, never accepted in URLs.
  • OpenAPI 3.1. Versioned under /v1, with a changelog and 90 days’ notice before anything breaks.
Verify a webhookTypeScript
// Names-Signature: key_id=whk_9f2c;v1=<hex>
const expected = hmacSha256(secret, `${timestamp}.${rawBody}`);
if (!timingSafeEqual(expected, signature)) throw new Error("bad signature");
if (event.sequence <= lastSeen[event.data.domain_id]) return; // stale, ignore
Force an outcome in the sandboxcURL
curl -X POST $NAMES/api/platform/v1/domains \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer nd_test_..." \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: brand_123" \
  -H "Names-Sandbox-Outcome: fail:registry_timeout" \
  -d @register.json

Ready for regulated launches

Clean, private and predictable under scrutiny.

Built first for telehealth platforms, where a domain step has to be compliant as well as fast.

  • No patient data, ever. Schemas are closed and reject free text.
  • Restricted endings like .pharmacy are refused before any charge, with a clear code.
  • WHOIS privacy by default wherever the ending allows it.
  • Trademark claims notices and a famous-mark screen before names are shown.
  • Your brand is always the registrant. It can take its domain with it.
  • An audit log of every write: key, time, request id and result.

Access

Start in the sandbox.

The API is in early access: sandbox keys go out by request as each platform is onboarded. They come with test money and forced outcomes, so your CI can run every onboarding path before a single real registration. Live access follows a short review. Wholesale pricing, billed to a prepaid balance.

Request sandbox keysRead the API reference