FAQ

Answers to the questions we hear most about Domainly.

Why would I want to claim ownership of a domain?
Claiming a domain is how you build a reusable, provable record that you control it. Once a domain is , you can generate a for it at any time and hand that secret to a third party — a marketplace, a support team, a partner — so their systems can confirm you own the domain by calling our API with the domain and certificate together, without you repeating a DNS challenge for every request, and without ever handing over your ownership proof.
Do I need to redo the DNS challenge for every vendor that wants proof?
No. Publishing the DNS is a one-time step per domain, not a per-vendor one. Once , that domain stays until the domain is reclaimed by someone else. Every new vendor that needs proof just gets its own minted off that existing proof, with no new TXT record and no new propagation wait.
Is it safe to share a certificate with a vendor?
Yes. A is a separate, disposable credential minted off your ownership proof — it is not the proof itself, so handing one to a vendor never exposes your underlying DNS proof. It also only works once: the first successful check burns it, and it expires on its own after 7 days if unused. If you change your mind before a vendor checks it, you can revoke it directly, without touching DNS at all.
Why does the API only say pass/fail, not why a check failed?
By design. As a vendor, you never see or store the domain owner's underlying ownership proof — only a generic pass or fail for a given domain and pair. An expired certificate, an already-used certificate, and a certificate that never existed all report the same result, so there's nothing for you to leak or mishandle, and no reason to build DNS-parsing or propagation-delay handling of your own.
Can I call the API more than once with the same certificate?
No. A is single-use — the first successful check burns it, so a second call with the same certificate reports the same generic fail as an expired or unknown one. Treat a pass as a one-time answer to check and store at your own setup step, not a value to poll or recheck later.
If a check passes, does that mean the domain is live?
No. A passing check only means the domain owner controlled its DNS at the time they it — it says nothing about whether the domain currently resolves to a website, sends mail, or has any DNS records beyond the one we asked for. A domain can be fully owned and still point at nothing.