Choosing the source

By default a lookup falls through three sources: RDAP, then the bundled whois.json table, then a WHOIS server that IANA says currently serves the TLD. --source restricts that:

ds apple --tld com,co,de --source rdap     # .co and .de have no RDAP -> UNKNOWN
ds apple --tld com,co,de --source whois    # all three over port 43

--no-iana is the narrower switch: keep the default order but never talk to whois.iana.org, so a stale bundled WHOIS host is not repaired and --where shows only the registrar links.

Your own RDAP servers

Point TLDs at servers of your choosing with an rdap.json, written in the same RDAP bootstrap format IANA publishes (RFC 9224) — so you can start from a copy of dns.json and edit it:

{
  "version": "1.0",
  "description": "my RDAP servers",
  "services": [
    [["com"], ["https://rdap.verisign.com/com/v1/"]],
    [["io"], ["https://rdap.identitydigital.services/rdap/"]],
    [["internal"], ["https://rdap.corp.example/", "https://rdap-backup.corp.example/"]]
  ]
}

Each entry maps a list of TLDs to a list of servers, tried in order.

ds apple --tld com,io --rdap-file servers.json              # merged over IANA
ds apple --tld internal --rdap-file servers.json --rdap-mode only

Without --rdap-file, ./rdap.json is picked up if it exists, then ~/.config/ds/rdap.json. A line saying which file was loaded, how many TLDs it covers and which mode is in force is printed before the results.

This is how you reach a registry that is missing from the bootstrap, test a staging RDAP server, or serve an internal zone that has no public entry at all.

Your own WHOIS servers

The same thing for WHOIS, in the same format as the bundled whois.json — a list of extensions, a server and the text that marks a free domain:

[
  { "extensions": ".internal,.corp",
    "uri": "socket://whois.corp.example",
    "available": "not registered" },
  { "extensions": ".de",
    "uri": "socket://whois.denic.de",
    "available": "Status: free" }
]

uri is socket://host[:port] for classic port-43 WHOIS, or an http(s):// prefix the domain is appended to. available is matched against the response to decide the name is free; matching is negation-aware, so a needle of “Available” is not triggered by “Not Available”.

ds apple --tld de,ch --whois-file servers.json                 # merged
ds apple --tld internal --whois-file servers.json --whois-mode only

./whois.json and ~/.config/ds/whois.json are picked up automatically, and the run says which file it loaded — exactly as for rdap.json.

Your own prices

And the same again for the price column, in the format of the bundled pricing.json — a TLD mapped to what each registrar charges for it:

{
  "com": [
    { "register": "porkbun.com",  "prices": { "regular": 9.13, "renew": 11.06 } },
    { "register": "namesilo.com", "prices": { "regular": 9.95, "renew": 11.79 } }
  ],
  "internal": [
    { "register": "corp.example", "prices": { "regular": 0.0 } }
  ]
}

Where several registrars quote a TLD the column shows the mean, so .com above reads $9.54. register is a label for your own benefit; only the prices are read, and each of them may be left out or set to null for “not sold”. A TLD that ends up with no registration price at all shows -.

ds apple --tld com,io --pricing-file myprices.json                 # merged
ds apple --tld internal --pricing-file myprices.json --pricing-mode only

./pricing.json and ~/.config/ds/pricing.json are picked up automatically, and the run says which file it loaded — exactly as for rdap.json.

This is how you put your registrar’s real prices in the column, price a TLD the bundled table has never heard of, or hold a corporate zone at nothing.

These pages are generated from the project README, so they never drift from what ships with the binary.