Domain availability

The Domain availability checker watches a domain name you do not own and notifies you the moment it becomes available for registration. It is the counterpart of /en/reference/checkers/domain-expiry/: instead of protecting a domain you hold, it lets you grab one as soon as it lapses.

This is a domain-level checker: registration status is determined from the registry through a WHOIS/RDAP lookup. A domain is considered available when the registry reports that it does not exist.

What it checks

A single rule, domain_availability_check, reports whether the watched domain is still registered or has become free.

Status Condition
Critical The domain is now available for registration
OK The domain is still registered (the registrar and expiry date are reported when known)
Error The availability lookup failed
Why available is reported as Critical

The status is intentionally inverted compared with the usual convention. Reporting Critical when the domain becomes available makes the registered → available transition cross the notification threshold, so you are alerted exactly once when the domain frees up.

Options

This checker has no user-tunable options. The watched domain name is supplied automatically.

In happyDomain

Unlike the other domain-level checkers, Domain availability is not scheduled on the domains you manage. It is driven by the dedicated availability-watch list. See /en/pages/domain-availability/ for how to add a domain to watch, and /en/pages/checks/ for the general checks workflow.