whois
WHOIS/RDAP query API for domains, IP addresses, CIDR prefixes and ASNs, with unified JSON output, caching, API key authentication, batch queries and MCP support for AI assistants.
Activity has dropped noticeably. Check the repository before committing to it.
Commit activity more than 52% of tracked projects; popularity more than 5%. How this is calculated.
Commits, last 11 months
| Stars | 64 |
|---|---|
| Latest release | v1.4.0 · 26 Sept 2026 |
| Repo updated | 26 Sept 2026 |
| Licence | MIT |
| Built with | Go, Docker |
Is whois actively maintained?
whois is under active development: 291 commits landed over the last 11 months, averaging roughly 24 commits a month in the most recent quarter.
Activity is cooling: commits are down 67% against the previous quarter. One slow quarter is normal; two in a row is a signal.
The most recent tagged release, v1.4.0, shipped within the last month — a current, installable version exists today.
whois ranks #6 of 11 in Network Utilities, placing it mid-table for maintenance activity.
What whois actually does
Whois provides an HTTP API for querying domain registration records, IP addresses, CIDR ranges, and autonomous system numbers. It normalises output into a single JSON format and includes built-in caching, API key authentication, and batch query handling. It also supports the Model Context Protocol to integrate with AI assistants.
Best fit: Developers building automation scripts or internal dashboards that need to query network registry data and parse the results reliably via JSON.
Worth knowing: With a low repository star count and limited maturity, you should evaluate the error-handling and resilience against upstream rate limits before depending on it in production.
Deployment notes
As a Go application packaged for Docker, it typically requires minimal resources and can be run behind a standard reverse proxy for TLS termination, though you may want to configure persistent storage if the internal cache needs to survive restarts.
whois as a replacement for
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