rdap for go

A minimal, RFC-faithful RDAP client for Go (RFC 9082/9083) with a tiny CLI (rdapctl).
No WHOIS fallback. Optional helpers in the library for DNS provider inference and DNSSEC fields.

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Features

• RDAP lookups for domain, nameserver, IP network, autnum (ASN), and entity
• Smart lookup that auto-detects the query type
• tree mode to flush the reachable RDAP graph (nodes + edges), with cycle detection
• Output:
  • --json (default for single-object cmds) outputs typed JSON
  • text mode (--json=false) for human-friendly summaries
• Simple Makefile to:
  • Bootstrap a pinned Go toolchain locally (no system-wide install needed)
  • Build, test, lint (optional), and install the CLI

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Quick start

# 1) Clone
git clone https://github.com/datum-labs/rdap.git
cd rdap

# 2) Bootstrap a pinned Go toolchain locally (macOS/Linux; no sudo)
make bootstrap

# 3) Build the CLI (outputs ./bin/rdapctl)
make build

# 4) Try it out (uses the local toolchain automatically via Makefile recipes)
./bin/rdapctl domain example.com
./bin/rdapctl tree example.com --max-depth=5 --follow-links

# (Optional) Install to /usr/local/bin (set PREFIX to change)
sudo make install

# Update dependencies / tidy
make deps

# Run tests
make test

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CLI usage

Common commands:

• Fetch a domain:
  • rdapctl domain example.com
• Auto-detect and fetch:
  • rdapctl lookup ns1.google.com
• Explore the full graph:
  • rdapctl tree example.com --max-depth=5 --follow-links
• Switch to text output:
  • rdapctl domain example.com --json=false

Flags you’ll use often:

• --json (default true): emit JSON for single-object commands; tree emits a graph {nodes, edges} in JSON.
• --walk: in text mode, do a shallow, one-level expansion of related items.
• --follow-links: (for tree) traverse RDAP links[] where possible.
• --max-depth: (for tree) bound recursion (default 5).
• --tld: hint for entity/lookup resolution (e.g. --tld com).

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Environment variables

• RDAPCTL_UA – override User-Agent (e.g., datum-rdapctl/1.0)
• RDAPCTL_TIMEOUT – HTTP timeout (e.g., 10s, 20s)
• RDAPCTL_DNS_BOOTSTRAP – override IANA DNS bootstrap URL
• RDAPCTL_IP_BOOTSTRAP – override IANA IP bootstrap URL
• RDAPCTL_ASN_BOOTSTRAP – override IANA ASN bootstrap URL

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Building

You have two choices:

1. Use the local toolchain via Makefile (recommended).
   This downloads a pinned Go toolchain under .toolchain/go and builds to ./bin/rdapctl. See Quick start commands in <block 1>.

2. Use your system Go:

   • Go ≥ 1.24:
     • go build -o bin/rdapctl ./cmd/rdapctl

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Library import

From your Go code:

package main

import (
	"context"
	"fmt"

	"github.com/datum-labs/rdap"
)

func main() {
	c := rdap.New(
		rdap.WithUserAgent("myapp/1.0 (+https://example.com)"),
	)

	ctx := context.Background()

	d, err := c.Domain(ctx, "example.com")
	if err != nil {
		panic(err)
	}
	fmt.Println("Domain handle:", d.Handle)

	ns, err := c.Nameserver(ctx, "ns1.google.com")
	if err != nil {
		panic(err)
	}
	fmt.Println("Nameserver:", ns.LDHName)
}

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Contributing

• make bootstrap (once), then make build, make test
• Please run go fmt and add/adjust tests for changes.

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License

AGPL-3.0-only (see LICENSE).