End-to-end workflow

Overview

Prerequisites: a GoDaddy account with a payment method on file, a Personal Access Token with domains.domain:read, domains.registration:write, and domains.dns:update scopes, and the CLI or curl. Export the token:

export GODADDY_PAT="<GODADDY_PAT>"
export BASE="https://api.godaddy.com"

Check availability

GET /v3/domains/check-availability returns availability and indicative pricing for a domain.

curl -s "$BASE/v3/domains/check-availability?domain=example.com" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $GODADDY_PAT"

Response shape:

{
  "domain": "example.com",
  "available": true,
  "prices": [
    { "term": "YEAR", "period": 1, "price": { "currencyCode": "USD", "value": 1199 }, "renewalPrice": { "currencyCode": "USD", "value": 2299 } },
    { "term": "YEAR", "period": 2, "price": { "currencyCode": "USD", "value": 3098 }, "renewalPrice": { "currencyCode": "USD", "value": 4598 }, "firstTermPrice": { "currencyCode": "USD", "value": 799 } }
  ]
}

Get a registration quote

POST /v3/domains/registration-quotes locks the price. The returned quoteToken guarantees the price you see is the price you'll pay when you execute registration.

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

Register the domain

POST /v3/domains/registrations executes the registration. Send an Idempotency-Key header — if the request times out or returns 5xx, replay with the same key and the server dedupes.

curl -s -X POST "$BASE/v3/domains/registrations" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $GODADDY_PAT" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: $(uuidgen)" \
  -d '{
    "quoteToken": "qt_abc123...",
    "domain": "example.com",
    "period": 1,
    "consent": {
      "agreedAt": "2026-07-07T10:30:00.000Z",
      "agreementTypes": ["API_DPA"]
    }
  }'

Returns 201 Created with the order ID and domain metadata.

Add a DNS record

POST /v3/domains/zones/{zone}/dns-records adds a record. Common first step: an A record pointing the apex at your web server.

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

Verify propagation

Confirm the record was accepted by the API, then confirm it's answering at a public resolver.

1. Read the zone back through the API. The new record should appear in items[].

   curl -s "$BASE/v3/domains/zones/example.com/dns-records?type=A" \
     -H "Authorization: Bearer $GODADDY_PAT"

2. Query a public resolver. Global propagation completes within seconds; the delay end-users see depends on their local resolver's TTL cache.

   dig +short A example.com
   # 192.0.2.1

What's next

• Add more DNS records (CNAME, MX, TXT) via the same endpoint — see the DNS how-to
• Set up domain forwarding to redirect apex-www or subdomains — see Forwarding
• Manage renewals and auto-renew — see Renewals
• Lock the domain against unauthorized transfer — see Registry lock

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