Domain Registrar API
A domain registrar API is a programmatic interface that allows developers and businesses to manage domain names — including registration, renewal, transfer, [[dns|DNS]] record updates, WHOIS queries, and lock/unlock operations — directly from code without logging into a web control panel. Most major [[registrar|registrars]] (GoDaddy, Namecheap, Cloudflare, Porkbun, Name.com) expose REST APIs secured by API keys. Registrar APIs are the foundation of [[domain-automation|domain automation]] pipelines and are increasingly used in conjunction with [[ai-domain-tools|AI domain tools]], monitoring systems, and portfolio management platforms to orchestrate large-scale domain operations programmatically.
Example
A SaaS platform uses the Cloudflare API to automatically provision a custom subdomain (user.app.company.com) with a CNAME record when a customer completes onboarding, with no manual registrar interaction.