How to register and configure a domain

Overview

This workflow walks through the complete domain lifecycle from search to live configuration. By the end, you'll have a registered domain with DNS records serving traffic. Code examples are available in curl, Node, Python, and Go.

Prerequisites

The following prerequisites are required before you register and configure a domain:

• A GoDaddy account with a payment profile configured
• A Personal Access Token with domains.domain:read, domains.domain:create, and domains.dns:update scopes, exported as GODADDY_PAT; also export BASE=https://api.godaddy.com for the multi-language examples
• A terminal with curl, or Node.js, Python, or Go

Search for an available domain

The following procedure checks whether your desired domain is available for registration.

1. Check availability:

curl -s "https://api.godaddy.com/v3/domains/check-availability?domain=your-idea.com" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $GODADDY_PAT"

2. Get suggestions:

curl -s "https://api.godaddy.com/v3/domains/suggestions?query=your+idea&tlds=com,net,io&pageSize=10" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $GODADDY_PAT"

Go to Search domain availability for the full parameter reference.

Get a registration quote

The following procedure locks in a price by requesting a quote. The quoteToken in the response is valid for 10 minutes.

1. Request a quote:

curl -s -X POST "https://api.godaddy.com/v3/domains/registration-quotes" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $GODADDY_PAT" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "domain": "your-idea.com",
    "period": 1
  }'

2. Note the quoteToken and requiredAgreements from the response — you'll need both for the next step. The GoDaddy CLI stores the token and handles agreement acceptance automatically through --agree.

Execute the registration

The following procedure submits the registration using the quote token and ICANN consent.

• Submit the registration:

curl -s -X POST "https://api.godaddy.com/v3/domains/registrations" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $GODADDY_PAT" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: $(uuidgen)" \
  -d '{
    "quoteToken": "<QUOTE_TOKEN>",
    "domain": "your-idea.com",
    "period": 1,
    "consent": {
      "agreedAt": "2026-01-15T10:30:00.000Z",
      "agreementTypes": ["API_DPA"]
    }
  }'

Go to Register a domain for the full field reference and error handling.

Poll until complete

The following procedure polls the registration status. Registration is asynchronous. Poll the returned operation URL until the status reaches a terminal state. The following table lists the possible statuses:

• Poll the registration:

curl -s "$BASE/v3/domains/registrations/<REGISTRATION_ID>" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $GODADDY_PAT"

Add DNS records

The following procedure adds DNS records to point the domain at your infrastructure. Run these after registration completes.

1. Add an A record for the apex:

curl -s -X POST "https://api.godaddy.com/v3/domains/zones/your-idea.com/dns-records" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $GODADDY_PAT" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "type": "A", "name": "@", "data": "192.0.2.1", "ttl": 600 }'

2. Add additional records as needed (CNAME for www, MX for email, TXT for verification):

curl -s -X POST "https://api.godaddy.com/v3/domains/zones/your-idea.com/dns-records" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $GODADDY_PAT" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "type": "CNAME", "name": "www", "data": "your-idea.com", "ttl": 600 }'

Go to Manage DNS records for the full record type reference.

Verify DNS propagation

The following procedure verifies that your DNS records were created and are propagating.

• List your records to confirm they were created:

curl -s "https://api.godaddy.com/v3/domains/zones/your-idea.com/dns-records" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $GODADDY_PAT"

DNS changes propagate within minutes for GoDaddy-hosted nameservers. External resolvers may cache the old state for up to the previous TTL value.

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