Previously, web-based applications required browser extensions to use advanced DNS features such as DANE, DNS-SD service discovery, or even to resolve anything other than IP addresses – like MX records. To use DNSSEC-dependent features like SSHFP records, any such extensions would have to validate DNSSEC themselves, as the browser or OS might not do so.
Since 2016, Google Public DNS has offered a web-friendly API for DoH with DNSSEC validation that does not require browser or OS configuration or extensions. Simple GET query parameters and JSON responses allow clients to parse the results using common web APIs and avoid complex DNS message format details like pointer compression for domain names.
See the general DoH documentation page for information about DoH generally, such as HTTP headers, redirect handling, privacy best practices, and HTTP status codes.
The Secure Transports page has
curl command line examples for DoH, and information common to DoH and DNS over
TLS (DoT), such as TLS support and DNS truncation.
JSON API Specification
All API calls are HTTP GET requests. In the case of duplicate parameters, only the first value is used.
Supported parameters
- name
string, required
The only required parameter. RFC 4343 backslash escapes are accepted.
- The length (after replacing backslash escapes) must be between 1 and 253 (ignoring an optional trailing dot if present).
- All labels (parts of the name betweendots) must be 1 to 63 bytes long.
- Invalid names like
.example.com,example..comor empty string get 400 Bad Request. - Non-ASCII characters should be punycoded (
xn--qxam, notελ).
- type
string, default:
1RR type can be represented as a number in [1, 65535] or a canonical string (case-insensitive, such as
Aoraaaa). You can use255for 'ANY' queries but be aware that this is not a replacement for sending queries for both A and AAAA or MX records. Authoritative name servers need not return all records for such queries; some do not respond, and others (such as cloudflare.com) return only HINFO.- cd
boolean, default:
falseThe CD (Checking Disabled) flag. Use
cd=1, orcd=trueto disable DNSSEC validation; usecd=0,cd=false, or nocdparameter to enable DNSSEC validation.- ct
string, default: empty
Desired content type option. Use
ct=application/dns-messageto receive a binary DNS message in the response HTTP body instead of JSON text. Usect=application/x-javascriptto explicitly request JSON text. Other content type values are ignored and default JSON content is returned.- do
boolean, default:
falseThe DO (DNSSEC OK) flag. Use
do=1, ordo=trueto include DNSSEC records (RRSIG, NSEC, NSEC3); usedo=0,do=false, or nodoparameter to omit DNSSEC records.Applications should always handle (and ignore, if necessary) any DNSSEC records in JSON responses as other implementations may always include them, and we may change the default behavior for JSON responses in the future. (Binary DNS message responses always respect the value of the DO flag.)
- edns_client_subnet
string, default: empty
The edns0-client-subnet option. Format is an IP address with a subnet mask. Examples:
1.2.3.4/24,2001:700:300::/48.If you are using DNS-over-HTTPS because of privacy concerns, and do not want any part of your IP address to be sent to authoritative name servers for geographic location accuracy, use
edns_client_subnet=0.0.0.0/0. Google Public DNS normally sends approximate network information (usually zeroing out the last part of your IPv4 address).- random_padding
string, ignored
The value of this parameter is ignored. Example:
XmkMw~o_mgP2pf.gpw-Oi5dK.API clients concerned about possible side-channel privacy attacks using the packet sizes of HTTPS GET requests can use this to make all requests exactly the same size by padding requests with random data. To prevent misinterpretation of the URL, restrict the padding characters to the unreserved URL characters: upper- and lower-case letters, digits, hyphen, period, underscore and tilde.
DNS response in JSON
A successful response (comments added here are not present in actual responses):
{
"Status": 0, // NOERROR - Standard DNS response code (32 bit integer).
"TC": false, // Whether the response is truncated
"RD": true, // Always true for Google Public DNS
"RA": true, // Always true for Google Public DNS
"AD": false, // Whether all response data was validated with DNSSEC
"CD": false, // Whether the client asked to disable DNSSEC
"Question":
[
{
"name": "apple.com.", // FQDN with trailing dot
"type": 1 // A - Standard DNS RR type
}
],
"Answer":
[
{
"name": "apple.com.", // Always matches name in the Question section
"type": 1, // A - Standard DNS RR type
"TTL": 3599, // Record's time-to-live in seconds
"data": "17.178.96.59" // Data for A - IP address as text
},
{
"name": "apple.com.",
"type": 1,
"TTL": 3599,
"data": "17.172.224.47"
},
{
"name": "apple.com.",
"type": 1,
"TTL": 3599,
"data": "17.142.160.59"
}
],
"edns_client_subnet": "12.34.56.78/0" // IP address / scope prefix-length
}
See RFC 7871 (EDNS Client Subnet) for details about “scope prefix-length” and how it affects caching.
A failure response with diagnostic information:
{
"Status": 2, // SERVFAIL - Standard DNS response code (32 bit integer).
"TC": false, // Whether the response is truncated
"RD": true, // Always true for Google Public DNS
"RA": true, // Always true for Google Public DNS
"AD": false, // Whether all response data was validated with DNSSEC
"CD": false, // Whether the client asked to disable DNSSEC
"Question":
[
{
"name": "dnssec-failed.org.", // FQDN with trailing dot
"type": 1 // A - Standard DNS RR type
}
],
"Comment": "DNSSEC validation failure. Please check http://dnsviz.net/d/dnssec-failed.org/dnssec/."
}
SPF and TXT records with embedded quotes and name server attribution:
{
"Status": 0, // NOERROR - Standard DNS response code (32 bit integer).
"TC": false, // Whether the response is truncated
"RD": true, // Always true for Google Public DNS
"RA": true, // Always true for Google Public DNS
"AD": false, // Whether all response data was validated with DNSSEC
"CD": false, // Whether the client asked to disable DNSSEC
"Question": [
{
"name": "*.dns-example.info.", // FQDN with trailing dot
"type": 99 // SPF - Standard DNS RR type
}
],
"Answer": [
{
"name": "*.dns-example.info.", // Always matches name in Question
"type": 99, // SPF - Standard DNS RR type
"TTL": 21599, // Record's time-to-live in seconds
"data": "\"v=spf1 -all\"" // Data for SPF - quoted string
}
],
"Comment": "Response from 216.239.38.110"
// Uncached responses are attributed to the authoritative name server
}
{
"Status": 0, // NOERROR - Standard DNS response code (32 bit integer).
"TC": false, // Whether the response is truncated
"RD": true, // Always true for Google Public DNS
"RA": true, // Always true for Google Public DNS
"AD": false, // Whether all response data was validated with DNSSEC
"CD": false, // Whether the client asked to disable DNSSEC
"Question": [
{
"name": "s1024._domainkey.yahoo.com.", // FQDN with trailing dot
"type": 16 // TXT - Standard DNS RR type
}
],
"Answer": [
{
"name": "s1024._domainkey.yahoo.com.", // Always matches Question name
"type": 16, // TXT - Standard DNS RR type
"data": "\"k=rsa; p=MIGfMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBAQUAA4GNADCBiQKBgQDrEee0Ri4Juz+QfiWYui/E9UGSXau/2P8LjnTD8V4Unn+2FAZVGE3kL23bzeoULYv4PeleB3gfm\"\"JiDJOKU3Ns5L4KJAUUHjFwDebt0NP+sBK0VKeTATL2Yr/S3bT/xhy+1xtj4RkdV7fVxTn56Lb4udUnwuxK4V5b5PdOKj/+XcwIDAQAB; n=A 1024 bit key;\""
// Data for TXT - multiple quoted strings
}
],
}
DNS strings
All TXT records are encoded as a single JSON string including uses of longer TXT record formats such as RFC 4408 (SPF) or RFC 4871 (DKIM).
EDNS
The general EDNS extension mechanism is not supported. The EDNS Client Subnet option (edns-client-subnet) is a parameter in the GET request and a top level field in the JSON response.