DNS providers

Several DNSBuddy tools let you choose which DNS resolver performs a lookup. The value is always the resolver's display name (case-sensitive), not an IP address or hostname.

On the public API (/api/v1/tools/*), provider and providers are optional. When omitted, requests default to Cloudflare.

On the web tools (/api/tools/*), bulk and domain-digger requests also default to Cloudflare when provider is omitted. Interactive DNS lookup omits providers to query all resolvers at once.

Accepted values

Which endpoints use providers

WHOIS, IP lookup, subdomain finder, typosquat check, and SPF expand do not take a provider field.

Examples

DNS lookup with default resolver (Cloudflare):

{
  "domain": "example.com",
  "record_type": "A"
}

DNS lookup against Google and Quad9:

{
  "domain": "example.com",
  "record_type": "A",
  "providers": ["Google", "Quad9"]
}

Bulk DNS lookup with explicit provider:

{
  "domains": ["example.com", "example.net"],
  "record_type": "MX",
  "provider": "Google"
}

Tips

• Compare multiple resolvers when debugging propagation or split-horizon DNS. Use the web DNS lookup tool or pass several names in providers.
• Authoritative can fail or return empty results when NS records cannot be resolved or the zone is misconfigured — that is expected behavior.
• Invalid provider names return 400 with "Invalid provider".

When the public API is enabled, each tools endpoint documents its accepted provider values with the request schema.