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Iris Investigate API RDAP and WHOIS search

Learn how to search within parsed WHOIS and RDAP fields, and compare records from both sources.

Search Within Parsed Fields

Filter by a specific component within a parsed_whois or parsed_domain_rdap field. For example, filter by Create Date in Parsed WHOIS:

https://api.domaintools.com/v1/iris-investigate/?domain=github.com&parsed_whois:create_date=2007-10-09

Compare WHOIS and Domain RDAP Records

By default, queries return standard registration data as part of the response root fields. Registration data is from either Domain RDAP or WHOIS:

Registration data is populated from a single source — WHOIS or RDAP — selected per domain in this order:

  • If only one source is present, that record is used.
  • If both are present and were collected more than three days apart, the newer record is used (field count is not considered).
  • If both were collected within three days of each other, the record with more populated fields is used.
  • On a tie — including when neither record has populated fields — RDAP is used.

To work with source-specific data, use the parsed_whois and parsed_domain_rdap records.

Add a standalone set of parsed fields from the Domain RDAP and/or the WHOIS record to the response with the parameters parsed_domain_rdap=true and &parsed_whois=true.

Example: Request Parsed Domain RDAP

Extend a query for domaintools.com by requesting Parsed Domain RDAP records in addition to the default response:

https://api.domaintools.com/v1/iris-investigate/?domain=domaintools.com&parsed_domain_rdap=true
curl -X GET \
  'https://api.domaintools.com/v1/iris-investigate/?domain=domaintools.com&parsed_domain_rdap=true&' \
  -H 'X-Api-Key: YOUR_API_KEY'

Response Structure

The API response contains a results array. Each item in the array is a domain object, and within the object for domaintools.com, the parsed Domain RDAP record is returned as a nested object under the key parsed_domain_rdap.

{
  "response": {
    "message": "Enjoy your data.",
    "results_count": 1,
    "total_count": 1,
    "results": [
      {
        "domain": "domaintools.com",
        "popularity_rank": 2622,
        "active": true,
        "create_date": {
          "value": "1998-08-02",
          "count": 871
        },

        "parsed_whois": {
          "registrar": {
            "value": "eNom, LLC",
            "count": 593475
          },
          "registrant_org": {
            "value": "DomainTools, LLC",
            "count": 3
          }
        },
        "parsed_domain_rdap": {
          "registrar": {
            "value": "ENOM, INC.",
            "count": 3448760
          },
          "registrant_contact": {
            "name": {
              "value": "REDACTED REGISTRANT",
              "count": 9948449
            }
          }
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}

Use Cases

Compare Registration Data Sources

Request both parsed_whois=true and parsed_domain_rdap=true to compare data from both sources:

https://api.domaintools.com/v1/iris-investigate/?domain=example.com&parsed_whois=true&parsed_domain_rdap=true

Search Historical WHOIS

Use historical_free_text to search historical WHOIS records:

https://api.domaintools.com/v1/iris-investigate/?historical_free_text=example+corp

Compare this to whois which searches only the most recent WHOIS record:

https://api.domaintools.com/v1/iris-investigate/?whois=example+corp

See Also