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Beyond basic queries, the RDAP CLI offers advanced options for custom servers, timeout control, SSL configuration, and referral handling.

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Custom RDAP Server

Bypass bootstrap discovery and query a specific RDAP server directly. 
rdap -s https://rdap.verisign.com/com/v1 example.com
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-s, --server
string
URL of the RDAP server to query (e.g., https://rdap.verisign.com/com/v1)

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When to Use Custom Servers

Testing

Test against development or staging RDAP servers
rdap -s https://rdap-test.example.com test.com

Private Servers

Query internal or private RDAP servers
rdap -s https://internal-rdap.corp.local internal.domain

Performance

Skip bootstrap lookup when you know the server
rdap -s https://rdap.db.ripe.net AS8888

Entity Queries

Required for entity queries (no global bootstrap)
rdap -s https://rdap.db.ripe.net -t entity XTOM-RIPE

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Server URL Requirements

The server URL should be the base RDAP endpoint. The tool will append the appropriate path based on query type:
  • Domain: /domain/{name}
  • IP: /ip/{address}
  • Autnum: /autnum/{number}
  • Entity: /entity/{handle}
rdap -s https://rdap.verisign.com/com/v1 example.com
# Queries: https://rdap.verisign.com/com/v1/domain/example.com

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Timeout Configuration

Control how long to wait for RDAP server responses. 
rdap --timeout 60 example.com
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--timeout
integer
default:"30"
Timeout in seconds for RDAP server requests

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Use Cases

Some RDAP servers respond slowly. Increase timeout for reliability:
rdap --timeout 60 example.com

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Referral Control

For domain queries, control whether to follow referrals to registrar RDAP servers. 
rdap --no-referral google.com
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--no-referral
flag
Disable automatic following of registrar referrals for domain queries

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How Referrals Work

1

Registry Query

First, query the TLD registry (e.g., Verisign for .com domains)
2

Referral Detection

Check if registry response includes a registrar RDAP server link
3

Registrar Query

If enabled (default), automatically query the registrar server for detailed data
4

Combined Display

Show both registry and registrar data in output

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With Referrals (Default)

rdap google.com

Abuse contact for `google.com` is `abusecomplaints@markmonitor.com`

Query from https://rdap.verisign.com/com/v1/domain/google.com

[Registry data]

Query from https://rdap.markmonitor.com/rdap/domain/GOOGLE.COM

[Registrar data with detailed contacts]

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Without Referrals

rdap --no-referral google.com

Query from https://rdap.verisign.com/com/v1/domain/google.com

[Registry data only]
Disabling referrals is faster but you’ll only get registry-level data, which may have redacted contact information.

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SSL Configuration

Control SSL certificate verification (use with caution). 
rdap -k https://rdap-dev.example.com test.com
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-k, --insecure
flag
Disable SSL certificate verification
Only use --insecure for testing or development. Never disable SSL verification in production or when querying public RDAP servers.

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Use Cases

  • Testing against development servers with self-signed certificates
  • Internal corporate RDAP servers with custom CAs
  • Debugging SSL issues
# Test server with self-signed cert
rdap -k -s https://localhost:8443 test.local

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Verbose Output

Enable detailed debugging information. 
rdap -v AS8888
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-v, --verbose
flag
Enable verbose output with query details and additional information
Verbose mode shows:
  • Detected query type
  • Normalized query (e.g., for IP shorthand)
  • RDAP server being queried
  • All entities and links in RDAP response
  • Additional metadata and notices
→ Query: AS8888
→ Type:  autnum
→ Server: https://rdap.db.ripe.net

⟳ Querying RDAP server...

[Full detailed output follows]

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Combining Options

All options can be combined for complex queries: 
rdap -s https://rdap.verisign.com/com/v1 --timeout 60 example.com

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Environment-Specific Examples

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Development

# Query dev server with relaxed SSL, short timeout
rdap -k -s https://rdap-dev.corp.local --timeout 10 test.domain

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Production Monitoring

# Fast checks with JSON output
rdap --timeout 5 -f json example.com | jq -r '.status[]'

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Debugging

# Maximum verbosity, pretty JSON
rdap -v -f json-pretty example.com > debug.json

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Scripting

#!/bin/bash
# Reliable batch queries
for domain in $(cat domains.txt); do
  rdap --timeout 30 --no-referral -f json "$domain" >> results.jsonl
  sleep 1
done

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Complete Options Reference

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query
string
required
The domain, IP, AS number, or other identifier to query
​
-s, --server
string
RDAP server URL (bypasses bootstrap discovery)
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-t, --query-type
enum
Explicitly specify query type: domain, tld, ip, autnum, entity, nameserver, or search types
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-f, --format
enum
default:"text"
Output format: text, json, or json-pretty
​
-v, --verbose
flag
Enable verbose output
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--timeout
integer
default:"30"
Timeout in seconds
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-k, --insecure
flag
Disable SSL certificate verification
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--no-referral
flag
Disable following registrar referrals for domain queries
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--json-source
enum
default:"registrar"
JSON output source for domain queries: registry or registrar
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-u, --update
flag
Update configuration files from GitHub (see Configuration)

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Next Steps

Configuration

Learn about config files, TLD overrides, and updates

Output Formats

Master JSON and text output formatting

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