dotdig

DNS lookup for humans — formatted output, no flag soup.

$ dotdig voiddo.com
dotdig: voiddo.com
A      104.21.x.x
A      172.67.x.x
AAAA   2606:4700::6810:xxxx
MX        10  mx1.improvmx.com
TXT    "v=spf1 include:_spf.improvmx.com ~all"
NS     dahlia.ns.cloudflare.com
NS     mike.ns.cloudflare.com

Why dotdig

You're debugging a DNS issue at 11pm. dig +short example.com shows nothing — fine for scripts but useless for triage. dig example.com dumps half a screen of headers and authority sections. You don't need 80% of that. You need: A records, AAAA, MX, TXT, NS — aligned, sorted, with sensible defaults. dotdig is the same dig you already trust, formatted like a human is reading it.

Install

npm install -g @v0idd0/dotdig

Usage

# Basic — A, AAAA, MX, TXT, NS
dotdig example.com

# Specific record types
dotdig example.com --types A,AAAA

# All record types we know
dotdig example.com --all

# Use a public resolver
dotdig example.com --via cloudflare
dotdig example.com --via google
dotdig example.com --via quad9

# Custom resolver IP
dotdig example.com --via 1.1.1.1

# JSON for piping
dotdig --json example.com | jq '.results[] | select(.type == "MX")'

# SRV records
dotdig _ssh._tcp.example.com --types SRV

Supported types

A, AAAA, MX, TXT, NS, CNAME, SOA, PTR, SRV, CAA.

Public resolvers

| Alias | IPs | |---|---| | cloudflare | 1.1.1.1, 1.0.0.1 | | google | 8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4 | | quad9 | 9.9.9.9, 149.112.112.112 | | opendns | 208.67.222.222, 208.67.220.220 |

Compared to alternatives

| tool | output legibility | resolver picker | JSON | install | |---|---|---|---|---| | dotdig | aligned columns, sensible defaults | yes (--via cloudflare) | yes | one npm install | | dig +short | one IP per line | yes (@1.1.1.1) | no | bundled | | dig (full) | verbose, RFC-shaped | yes | no | bundled | | host/nslookup | terse, no MX details | sometimes | no | bundled |

For automation pipelines dig +short remains the right answer (one record, fewer characters to parse). For interactive triage on a host you're paged into, dotdig saves a screen-worth of squinting.

FAQ

Why not just dig +short? It strips too much. You lose record type, MX priority, TXT quoting. Fine for "give me an IP", useless when the bug is in the TXT layer.

Does it support DoH / DoT? Out of the box, no. --via 1.1.1.1 uses standard UDP/53 + TCP/53 fallback. If your resolver-of-choice is behind DoH, dnsutils is the right tool.

Why does --all skip some types? It includes the ones we have parsers for. RRSIG, NSEC, DS, etc. are intentionally not surfaced — those are zone-signing internals, not what you're debugging at 11pm.

Negative results? dotdig prints (no records) for asked types that came back empty. Exit code is 0 either way unless the resolver itself fails.

Programmatic API

import { lookup, format } from '@v0idd0/dotdig';

const results = await lookup('example.com', {
  types: ['A', 'MX'],
  resolvers: ['1.1.1.1'],
});

console.log(format('example.com', results));

Triage shortcuts

• Resolver mismatch? Run dotdig twice with --via cloudflare and --via google and diff the JSON. If they differ, you're caught between recursive resolvers with stale caches — usually means a recent zone change is still propagating.
• MX troubleshooting. Pair dotdig example.com --types MX,TXT with the SPF/DMARC TXT records for the same domain — most "email not delivering" tickets resolve at this single column-aligned snapshot.
• Reverse lookup. Use dotdig 8.8.8.8 --types PTR (with explicit in-addr.arpa-style names handled internally). Useful when a log line shows an IP and you want a hostname for it without leaving the terminal.

More from the studio

This is one tool out of many — see from-the-studio.md for the full lineup of vøiddo products (other CLI tools, browser extensions, the studio's flagship products and games).

License

MIT.

Built by vøiddo — a small studio shipping AI-flavoured products, free dev tools, Chrome extensions and weird browser games.