Dbrij Domains Documentation

Dbrij Domains is where you buy domain names, including the Nigerian .ng family, priced in naira, and where you run their DNS, secure them with HTTPS and point them at your apps on Dbrij Hosting. Dbrij resells registrations through accredited registrars; it is not a registrar itself.

A domain arrives in one of two ways:

Every domain lives in a space: your personal space or a company. The space decides who can change it and which Hosting services it can point at. Open your domains at /domains.

For a guided walkthrough, see the Domains guide.

Search

Type a name or a full domain. Search is open to anyone, with no account. It covers one of two catalogues:

Each result says whether the name is available, whether it is a premium name (priced by the registry, and shown at that price), and its price for one year. What can actually be bought is decided live: an ending that cannot be bought here is listed with one sentence saying why, rather than left out. A name that can be bought also says how long the registry usually takes to publish a new name of that ending, measured on purchases made here.

Buy

1. Add your registrant contact details once: name, address, city, state, postal code, country, phone and email. Registries require them.
2. Choose how many years: any whole number from 1 to 5. The first year is at the registration price and each later year at the renewal price, and the total is shown before you pay.
3. Pay with your saved card, or on the payment page. VAT is shown before you pay. Availability and price are checked again at that moment.

Buying from a Hosting service's page buys the domain for that service: once it is registered, its DNS is pointed at the service and HTTPS is issued, in one step. The check that the service can take a domain runs before you pay, never after.

After you pay

The domain shows a timeline from payment to a live site, built from the domain, its DNS and its certificate, so it is always current:

Steps are checked about every five minutes, and every minute for a name bought in the last few days. A failed step offers its fix: issue the certificate again, rewrite the DNS records, or contact support. A domain that is not attached to a service stops at registration.

If the registrar refuses a name after you paid, nothing was registered, the domain says so, and your payment is refunded. You can clear it from your list.

A renewal is priced from what the registrar that holds your domain charges to renew it, not from the price of a new registration, which is often a promotion. That is why a renewal can cost more than the first year did.

A domain that is not renewed in time shows as expired.

Moving a domain to Dbrij

Enter the domain to get a quote first. The quote says whether it can move here, the price, what its nameservers are today, and the steps:

1. At your current registrar, unlock the domain and ask for its authorization code. Some registrars call it an EPP code or a transfer key.
2. Check the domain was registered, or last moved, more than 60 days ago. Registries refuse a move inside that window.
3. Paste the code here and pay. The price adds a year to the registration, so no time already paid for is lost.
4. Approve the email your current registrar may send. The move usually finishes within five to seven days.

Your DNS stays where it is during the move. If your current registrar runs your DNS, switch the domain to Dbrij nameservers first: some registrars stop answering the moment a name leaves them.

A quote refuses, with the reason, a name inside a domain (transfer the whole domain), a name nobody has registered, a name already registered through Dbrij, a name another Dbrij account uses, and an ending that cannot move here yet.

Where a transfer stands

Stopping a transfer

A transfer that has not been paid for is simply cancelled. One that is waiting, needs a code or is locked can be stopped while the registrar still allows it. Once the registry is actually moving the name it can no longer be stopped; it usually finishes within a week.

Refunds need approval

Nothing pays a transfer refund automatically, and no clock ever stops a transfer on its own. The moment money is owed back, the refund is raised so it cannot be forgotten, and then a Dbrij super admin approves it. A refused refund carries the reason, word for word. A transfer that goes nowhere for a long time is reviewed by a person, never timed out.

Moving a domain away

Leaving is free and has no conditions. Ask for the authorization code on the domain and paste it at the new registrar; domains are never locked. Where a registrar will not hand the code back over its API, the domain says the code comes by email to the registrant and when to expect it.

Dbrij runs its own authoritative DNS. Point a domain at these nameservers once and every record is managed on Dbrij:

Switching a domain registered elsewhere

1. Choose Dbrij nameservers on the domain. Dbrij copies the records it can find in the domain's public DNS into the new zone, including the names it already knows the domain uses (its hosted sites and email).
2. Check the copied records before you change anything. A record missing from the zone stops working the moment the nameservers change.
3. At your registrar, set the nameservers to the two above, in that order.
4. Dbrij watches for the switch and marks the domain delegated once the world asks Dbrij. You can also check now.

Domains bought on Dbrij

A domain bought here starts on the registrar's DNS, which Dbrij writes for you. Where the registrar allows it, moving it to Dbrij nameservers needs no registrar visit: Dbrij copies every record first, then changes the nameservers itself. You can also point a domain bought here at another provider's nameservers: give at least two and at most 13, exactly as the provider lists them. Mixing Dbrij nameservers with another provider's is refused, because half your visitors would get different answers.

Leaving Dbrij nameservers

Taking a domain off Dbrij nameservers is refused while the world still asks them for its records. Change the nameservers at the registrar first.

Who answers DNS for a domain decides whether Dbrij can write its records:

Record types

Records Dbrij manages

Records Dbrij created to point the domain at a Hosting service are marked as managed. Changing or deleting one breaks that attachment, so the editor keeps them locked until you unlock them on purpose. Saving the editor replaces the domain's whole record set with what you see.

Connect a domain you registered somewhere else to use it with Hosting and get HTTPS for it, without moving the registration. Connect an exact name: the domain itself (example.com) or a subdomain (app.example.com). Dbrij returns the one record to add at your DNS provider:

Verification and HTTPS follow on their own once the record is published. A root domain cannot hold a CNAME, which is why it takes an A record.

Connecting before the app exists

Connect a domain with no service and it verifies against the Dbrij edge and holds a real certificate on a reserved page until you attach it. When you do, it is already green. Each Hosting plan caps how many domains can wait like this at once; attaching one frees its place.

A name connected in another space

If the name is already connected in another Dbrij space or account, you prove you control its DNS instead: publish the TXT record Dbrij gives you at _dbrij-claim. followed by the name, then check. On a match the name moves to your space and connects.

_dbrij-claim.example.com   TXT   <the value Dbrij shows>

HTTPS on a domain with nothing attached

Any active domain can be secured with HTTPS before it is attached to anything: it points at the Dbrij edge, where a reserved page answers over real HTTPS. A domain registered elsewhere needs one record added first. Pointing the domain's site somewhere else in its DNS switches the reserved page off.

Attach a domain to a service

Attach an active domain to a Hosting web service and Dbrij points the domain itself and www at the service by default (you can choose just one), then issues HTTPS. Existing records such as MX and TXT are kept. Moving a domain to another service releases it from the old one first, since a domain serves one service at a time.

A domain points only at services in its own space. A service takes up to 3 domains; the www companion of a root domain is free. These limits are checked before any DNS is touched.

Subdomains

Point app.example.com, api.example.com or a deeper name such as api.staging.example.com at any service, on a domain bought here or connected. Give the label (app, api.staging, or @ for the domain itself) and the service. When Dbrij runs the DNS it writes the CNAME; otherwise it returns the record to add. HTTPS follows automatically.

app.example.com   CNAME   <service>.dbrij.app

From the Hosting side

A domain can also be added from a service's Domains tab in Hosting, which shows the same records, the verification state and HTTPS. See Custom domains in the Hosting docs.

A company can run its email on its domain. Set it up from the domain: you choose the company the mailboxes belong to, and you must be able to manage that company's email. A company's domain carries that company's email, never another space's.

When the records Dbrij issues for email change later, a domain bought here gets the new set written again automatically. How many email domains a company can carry follows its Hosting plan.

A domain's owner can change it, and so can a member who manages Hosting in its company. Every other member of the company sees it read only: status, DNS and setup, but no buying, attaching, deleting or record changes.

Moving a personal domain into a company

• Move your own personal domain into a company where you are the owner or manage Hosting. A domain serving a personal site has to be detached first.
• A company owner or admin can ask a member to move a personal domain in. The member accepts or declines the request.

Buying from a Hosting service's page puts the domain in that service's space.

Two endpoints need no account. Every response is wrapped in an envelope: read your payload from data.

Search availability

curl -X POST https://api.dbrij.com/api/v1/domains/search \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "query": "acme", "scope": "global" }'

{
  "success": true,
  "data": [
    {
      "domain": "acme.com.ng",
      "available": true,
      "premium": false,
      "priceNgnMinor": …,
      "renewPriceNgnMinor": …,
      "maxYears": 10,
      "registrable": true,
      "unsellableReason": null,
      "publish": { "phrase": "…", "note": "…", "measured": true }
    }
  ]
}

What is on sale

curl https://api.dbrij.com/api/v1/domains/catalogue

{ "success": true, "data": { "global": true, "ng": true, "ngTlds": ["ng", "com.ng", "org.ng", "net.ng", "i.ng", "name.ng", "sch.ng", "mobi.ng"], "transferIn": true, "dbrijDns": true } }

Each flag says whether that part of the product is available right now: the worldwide catalogue, the .ng catalogue, transfers in, and Dbrij nameservers.

AI assistants

An AI assistant connected over MCP (at mcp.dbrij.com, or locally with npx -y dbrij mcp) can read your domains and their DNS and add records, acting as you. It can never buy or remove a domain by itself: it files a request, you approve it on Dbrij, never in chat, and a request you do not decide expires after 15 minutes.

The Domains API is for a company whose own product gives its users domain names: a portfolio platform, a site builder, an agency tool. Your server checks names, registers them for your users, points them at your product and renews them, and your users never leave your product or touch a DNS record.

Before you start

1. Apply from your company on Domains, Domains API. Say what your product does and roughly how many names you expect each month. We answer in the app and by email.
2. Add money to the company wallet.
3. Once you are approved, make a key on the same page. A test key (dbrij_test_) goes through every call and moves nothing; a live key (dbrij_live_) registers for real.
4. Save the address your server receives events on, on the same page.

Before you go live

What the first integrations ran into. Each one is short, and each one matters.

Every response is wrapped in an envelope: read your payload from data. Money is always in kobo, in naira. A refusal carries a full sentence in message that says what to change.

Check names and prices

curl -X POST https://api.dbrij.com/api/v1/partner/domains/check \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $DBRIJ_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "domains": ["ada.cv", "adaobi.com"] }'

{
  "success": true,
  "data": [
    { "domain": "ada.cv", "available": true, "premium": false, "priceMinor": …, "renewalMinor": …, "currency": "NGN", "reason": null },
    { "domain": "adaobi.com", "available": false, "premium": false, "priceMinor": …, "renewalMinor": …, "currency": "NGN", "reason": "That name is taken." }
  ]
}

Up to 20 names in one call. priceMinor is your price for one year, and it is the whole price. A premium name is priced by its registry and is not sold through the API.

Register a name for a user

curl -X POST https://api.dbrij.com/api/v1/partner/domains \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $DBRIJ_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: order-8f2c" \
  -d '{
    "domain": "ada.cv",
    "years": 1,
    "customerRef": "creator_42",
    "registrant": {
      "firstName": "Ada", "lastName": "Obi", "email": "ada@example.com", "phone": "+2348012345678",
      "address1": "1 Marina", "city": "Lagos", "state": "Lagos", "postalCode": "100001", "country": "NG"
    },
    "dns": [{ "name": "www", "type": "CNAME", "value": "sites.yourproduct.com" }]
  }'

{
  "success": true,
  "data": {
    "id": "…", "kind": "register", "domain": "ada.cv", "years": 1,
    "status": "completed", "customerRef": "creator_42",
    "amountMinor": …, "totalMinor": …, "currency": "NGN",
    "error": null, "test": false, "expiresAt": "2027-11-12T10:00:00.000Z",
    "replayed": false, "dnsApplied": true
  }
}

Always send an Idempotency-Key: any string you choose, one per order. If your request times out, send it again with the same key. You get the first answer back with replayed true, and nothing is registered or charged twice.

Read names and orders

curl https://api.dbrij.com/api/v1/partner/domains?limit=50 -H "Authorization: Bearer $DBRIJ_KEY"
curl https://api.dbrij.com/api/v1/partner/domains/ada.cv -H "Authorization: Bearer $DBRIJ_KEY"
curl https://api.dbrij.com/api/v1/partner/orders/ORDER_ID -H "Authorization: Bearer $DBRIJ_KEY"

{ "success": true, "data": { "domain": "ada.cv", "status": "active", "customerRef": "creator_42",
  "registeredAt": "…", "expiresAt": "…", "nameservers": ["ns1.dbrij.com", "ns2.dbrij.com"], "dnsWritable": true } }

The list is newest first, up to 200 a page. For the next page, send before set to the registeredAt of the last name you were given.

Point a name with DNS records

Names registered through the API answer from Dbrij nameservers, which hold A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, TXT, CAA, SRV records. Use @ for the name itself.

# Read
curl https://api.dbrij.com/api/v1/partner/domains/ada.cv/dns -H "Authorization: Bearer $DBRIJ_KEY"

# Add (a record already there is not added twice)
curl -X POST https://api.dbrij.com/api/v1/partner/domains/ada.cv/dns/records -H "Authorization: Bearer $DBRIJ_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "records": [{ "name": "@", "type": "A", "value": "203.0.113.10", "ttl": 300 }] }'

# Remove by name and type (and value, when you send one)
curl -X DELETE https://api.dbrij.com/api/v1/partner/domains/ada.cv/dns/records -H "Authorization: Bearer $DBRIJ_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "name": "www", "type": "CNAME" }'

# Replace every record with the ones you send
curl -X PUT https://api.dbrij.com/api/v1/partner/domains/ada.cv/dns -H "Authorization: Bearer $DBRIJ_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "records": [{ "name": "@", "type": "A", "value": "203.0.113.10" }] }'

The name itself (@) takes an A or AAAA record here. Dbrij nameservers do not serve ALIAS, ANAME or a flattened CNAME. If your hosting gives you a hostname and no fixed address for the bare name, use your own DNS provider's nameservers, below.

Use your own nameservers

If your users' sites sit behind your own DNS provider, hand each name to it. Register the name, add it at your provider (that is where you are given its nameservers), then send those nameservers here.

# Move the name to your provider's nameservers
curl -X PUT https://api.dbrij.com/api/v1/partner/domains/ada.cv/nameservers -H "Authorization: Bearer $DBRIJ_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "nameservers": ["ada.ns.yourprovider.com", "bob.ns.yourprovider.com"] }'

{ "success": true, "data": { "domain": "ada.cv", "status": "active", "customerRef": "creator_42",
  "registeredAt": "…", "expiresAt": "…", "nameservers": ["ada.ns.yourprovider.com", "bob.ns.yourprovider.com"], "dnsWritable": false } }

# Bring it back onto Dbrij nameservers
curl -X DELETE https://api.dbrij.com/api/v1/partner/domains/ada.cv/nameservers -H "Authorization: Bearer $DBRIJ_KEY"

Renew

curl -X POST https://api.dbrij.com/api/v1/partner/domains/ada.cv/renew \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $DBRIJ_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Idempotency-Key: renew-ada-2027" \
  -d '{ "years": 1 }'

A name registered through the API never renews by itself, because no card is on file for it. You are told 30, 7 and 1 days before it runs out and again when it has, and you renew it once your user has paid you. The answer is an order, read the same way as a registration.

Let a user leave with their name

curl -X POST https://api.dbrij.com/api/v1/partner/domains/ada.cv/release -H "Authorization: Bearer $DBRIJ_KEY"

{ "success": true, "data": { "domain": "ada.cv", "authCode": "…", "released": true, "manualRelease": null } }

This returns the authorization code a new registrar asks for. Nothing is charged and nothing holds the name here. Give the code to your user: the name is theirs.

Your balance

curl https://api.dbrij.com/api/v1/partner/balance -H "Authorization: Bearer $DBRIJ_KEY"

{ "success": true, "data": { "availableMinor": …, "currency": "NGN", "markupBps": 800, "ordersToday": 3, "dailyOrderLimit": 200 } }

Events

Dbrij posts these to the address you saved, as JSON, so your product can act without asking.

Each delivery is signed with the secret shown once when you saved the address. Verify X-Dbrij-Signature-V2, which is t=TIMESTAMP,sha256=HMAC of TIMESTAMP.BODY with your secret, and refuse one whose timestamp is more than five minutes old.

Events sent: domain.registered, domain.failed, domain.renewed, domain.renewal_due, domain.expired. See the Domains API terms for what you agree to pass on to your users.