domainsweep

You already have a name. domainsweep tells you which suffix or spelling of it is actually free — the exact name plus its lookalike variants, across TLDs in your priority order, using RDAP, WHOIS port 43 and DNS directly. No API key, no signup, no LLM.

$ domainsweep scryb --first 3
scryb: exact + 25 variants × 16 tlds → checking 80 candidates (limit 80) in name-major order
✗ scryb.com    taken      dns   269ms
✗ scryb.ai     taken      dns   349ms
? scryb.io     unknown    whois: dropping (backorder/auction), not registrable today
✓ scryb.co     available  whois 1402ms
✗ scryb.app    taken      dns   744ms
✗ scryb.dev    taken      dns   841ms
✓ scryb.live   available  rdap  1340ms
✗ scryb.me     taken      dns   688ms
✗ scryb.net    taken      dns   510ms
✓ scryb.org    available  rdap  783ms

3 available · 6 taken · 1 unknown in 2.3s

(Real output, 2026-09-02.)

Is this for you?

• You already have a name and don't need one invented for you.
• You want to know which suffix or spelling of it is really free, including the TLDs (.io, .co, .me, …) that have no RDAP server.
• You want the answers in your order — .com first, or whatever you put in DOMAIN_SORT_KEY — streamed as they land, not a grid you have to re-read.

Quickstart

npx domainsweep scryb          # node >= 20, nothing to install
npm i -g domainsweep           # then: domainsweep scryb --first 3
bunx domainsweep scryb         # bun works too

How it compares

| | domainsweep | domainhunt (npm) | a registrar search box | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Input | a name you already have | a plain-English description ("community for technical founders") | one name at a time | | Variants | exact + spelling / leet / affix / vowel lookalikes | LLM- or template-generated name ideas | none | | TLD order | yours, DOMAIN_SORT_KEY | fixed default com,io,ai,dev,sh | the registrar's | | Lookup | DNS → RDAP → WHOIS:43 | RDAP only | registrar's own feed | | WHOIS fallback for .io/.co/.me/… | yes | no (those TLDs have no RDAP server) | n/a | | Dropping / backorder names | reported unknown, never free | not distinguished | often shown as "make an offer" | | LLM required | no | optional (codex/cursor/ollama/lmstudio) | no | | API key | none | none | account/upsell |

domainhunt solves a different problem — ideation, turning a description into candidate names. If you don't have a name yet, start there; if you do, start here.

Ranking order

.com first, .ai second, then the popular rest — and the exact name before any variant. So for scryb the head of the list is exactly the order you would try by hand:

scryb.com → scryb.ai → scryb.io → … → scryb.live → scryb.me → scrib.com → scr1b.com

Variants come in tiers, in DOMAIN_VARIANTS order: tier 0 is the exact name, then by default spelling (scryb → scrib, skryb, scrybe), leet (scryb → scr1b, 5cryb), affix (getscryb, scrybhq) and vowel (scrb, scrub). Reorder the strategies to reorder the tiers. --by-tld flips to TLD-major order: every name on .com first, then every name on .ai, and so on.

Usage

domainsweep <name> [more names...] [options]

| Flag | Meaning | | --- | --- | | -t, --tlds <list> | Override DOMAIN_SORT_KEY for this run. "[com, ai,.live]", "com,ai" and "com ai" all parse. | | -f, --free | Print only the available domains. | | --first [N] | Stop after N available domains are found (default 1 when given bare). | | --by-tld | TLD-major order instead of name-major. | | --no-variants | Check only the exact name. | | --variants <list> | Override DOMAIN_VARIANTS (spelling,leet,affix,vowel). | | --limit <n> | Max domains checked this run. | | --concurrency <n> | Parallel lookups. | | --json | Newline-delimited JSON on stdout, one object per result: {domain,name,tld,tier,strategy,rank,status,method,detail,ms}. Nothing else is printed. | | --dry-run | Print the ranked candidate list without checking anything. | | -v, --version / -h, --help | |

Multiple positional names are allowed and are hunted in turn. Results stream in rank order as they land. Colour is used only when stdout is a TTY and NO_COLOR is unset. Ctrl-C prints the summary so far and exits 130.

Exit codes: 0 at least one available domain, 1 none found, 2 usage error.

Configuration

| Key | Default | | --- | --- | | DOMAIN_SORT_KEY | com,ai,io,co,app,dev,live,me,net,org,so,sh,xyz,gg,to,us | | DOMAIN_VARIANTS | spelling,leet,affix,vowel | | DOMAIN_MAX_VARIANTS | 25 | | DOMAIN_LIMIT | 80 | | DOMAIN_CONCURRENCY | 6 | | DOMAIN_TIMEOUT_MS | 8000 | | DOMAIN_CACHE_DIR | ~/.cache/domainsweep |

DOMAIN_SORT_KEY accepts brackets or none, commas or spaces, leading dots or none: [com, ai,.live] and com ai live are the same list. Unknown names in DOMAIN_VARIANTS are dropped with a warning on stderr; exact is implicit and is ignored if listed. Integer keys fall back to their default on anything that is not a positive integer.

Precedence, lowest to highest:

1. Built-in defaults
2. ~/.config/domainsweep/.env
3. ./.env in the current directory
4. The process environment
5. Command-line flags

The two .env files are parsed by domainsweep itself (KEY=VALUE, # comments, optional quotes), so the home config is honoured no matter where you run from.

How availability is decided

Cheapest signal first, and the run short-circuits as soon as one is conclusive:

1. DNS. If the domain has NS records, it is registered → taken. Fast and free, but the absence of NS proves nothing, so a miss falls through.
2. RDAP. The registry's own JSON, resolved through the IANA bootstrap file (cached in DOMAIN_CACHE_DIR). 404 → available, 200 → taken.
3. WHOIS on port 43, for TLDs with no RDAP service — .io, .co, .me, .so, .sh, .gg, .us among them. The "no match" wording is per-registry and is matched conservatively.

Caveats

• An RDAP 404 is not a promise. It can also mean the label is reserved, premium-priced, or blocked at the registry. The only proof a domain is purchasable is a registrar's checkout page.
• A dropping name is reported unknown, not free. Registry WHOIS phrases like "available for application via the … Dropzone service" or pendingDelete mean the name is in a backorder auction or redemption window and cannot be registered today. The detail column says so.
• WHOIS servers rate-limit hard. When one does, the result is unknown with the reason in detail — never a guess. Keep DOMAIN_CONCURRENCY low.
• unknown is never counted as free. It exits with the others and does not satisfy --first.
• Registry data lags. A domain registered minutes ago can still look free.
• domainsweep never registers anything and has no registrar account, no affiliate links, and makes no purchase of any kind.

Library use

import { hunt, loadConfig, rankCandidates } from "domainsweep";

const results = await hunt("scryb", { sortKey: ["com", "ai"], stopAfterAvailable: 1 });
console.log(results.filter((r) => r.status === "available").map((r) => r.domain));

loadConfig, generateVariants, normalizeName, rankCandidates, parseTldList, createChecker and checkAll are all exported too. Zero runtime dependencies.

License

MIT.