DNS-AID

OpenSSF Scorecard

DNS-based Agent Identification and Discovery

Reference implementation for IETF draft-mozleywilliams-dnsop-dnsaid-02.

DNS-AID enables AI agents to discover each other via DNS, using the internet's existing naming infrastructure instead of centralized registries or hardcoded URLs.

Relationship to IETF

The DNS-AID specification is being developed within the IETF: https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-mozleywilliams-dnsop-dnsaid/.

This repository provides a reference implementation.

This project does not define the specification. The IETF draft is authoritative.

Scope of this Repository

This project focuses on implementation, tooling, and ecosystem activities.

Changes to protocol behavior should be discussed within the IETF.

New to DNS-AID? Start with the Getting Started Guide for install, first agent publication, and backend setup.

Documentation

• Getting Started Guide — install, first agent publication, backend setup
• API Reference — Python SDK, CLI, and MCP server tool reference
• ARD ai-catalog discovery — interop with Agentic Resource Discovery: catalog discovery, the host-anywhere DNS pointer, and card dereferencing
• Architecture — protocol layers, metadata resolution, integration points
• Integrations — backend-specific setup notes
• Demo Guide — end-to-end walkthrough for talks and presentations
• Roadmap — where the project is headed, near/medium/long term
• Privacy Policy | Security Policy | Trademarks

Ecosystem and Integrations

DNS-AID is a substrate. The library in this repository is sufficient on its own — it publishes and resolves agent records against any DNS provider, with no dependency on a particular directory, indexer, or telemetry backend.

When a search, indexing, or telemetry layer is useful, the SDK can point at any HTTP endpoint that implements the documented interfaces. Operators are encouraged to run their own — the indexer is a thin layer over the same DNS records this library publishes and discovers, and the SDK telemetry sink is configurable via DNS_AID_SDK_HTTP_PUSH_URL (off by default). Independent directory implementations exist across the ecosystem; DNS-AID is designed to remain interoperable with any of them rather than canonicalize a single one.

Quick Start

Install

# Install from PyPI
pip install "dns-aid[cli,mcp]"

# Or install the latest unreleased main from GitHub
pip install "dns-aid[cli,mcp] @ git+https://github.com/dns-aid/dns-aid-core.git"

For backend-specific extras (route53, cloudflare, ns1, cloud_dns, infoblox, akamai-edgedns, ddns), see the Getting Started Guide.

Python Library

import dns_aid

# Publish your agent to DNS
await dns_aid.publish(
    name="my-agent",
    domain="example.com",
    protocol="mcp",
    endpoint="agent.example.com",
    capabilities=["chat", "code-review"]
)

# Discover agents at a domain (Path A: DNS substrate)
agents = await dns_aid.discover("example.com")
for agent in agents:
    print(f"{agent.name}: {agent.endpoint_url}")

# Discover via HTTP index (richer metadata; format aligns with the ANS schema) —
# also auto-detects and dereferences ARD ai-catalogs (see docs/ard-catalog.md)
agents = await dns_aid.discover("example.com", use_http_index=True)
# (0.26.3+) A catalog on your own domain needs nothing. An off-domain catalog
# pointer is trusted only via per-record JWS (verify_signatures=True) or, opt-in,
# a DNSSEC-validated pointer (trust_dnssec_pointers=True) — otherwise it is ignored
# and discovery falls back to the on-domain catalog. The trust basis is surfaced as
# AgentRecord.catalog_trust (tls_domain | dnssec | jws). See docs/ard-catalog.md.

# (0.26.4+) Opt-in DNSSEC/DANE hardening (SDK/CLI/MCP; all default off — DNSSEC is
# never required). require_dnssec / min_dnssec enforce the resolver AD flag on
# DNS-plane agents (ARD / HTTP-catalog agents are exempt — they carry no DNS SVCB
# record). verify_dane binds each agent endpoint's TLS cert to its DANE/TLSA record
# (defense-in-depth, meaningful only under DNSSEC) → AgentRecord.dane_verified.
# (0.26.5+) trust_dnssec_pointers (above) is exposed the same way — CLI
# --trust-dnssec-pointers / MCP — so all four opt-in trust controls have SDK/CLI/MCP parity.

# Filtered discovery — pure-Python predicates over the in-memory result (v0.19.0+)
result = await dns_aid.discover(
    "example.com",
    capabilities=["payment-processing"],
    auth_type="oauth2",
    realm="prod",
    require_signed=True,
    require_signature_algorithm=["ES256", "Ed25519"],
)

# Verify an agent's DNS records
result = await dns_aid.verify("my-agent.example.com")
print(f"Security Score: {result.security_score}/100")

Path B: cross-domain search via an external directory (v0.19.0+)

When the caller does not yet know which domain hosts the agent it wants, the SDK can query any directory backend that implements the search endpoint. The directory layer is opt-in convenience; the DNS substrate remains the authoritative trust gate.

from dns_aid.sdk import AgentClient, SDKConfig

# Point at whichever directory the caller has chosen to trust.
# Can also be set via DNS_AID_SDK_DIRECTORY_API_URL.
config = SDKConfig(directory_api_url="https://your-directory.example.com")

async with AgentClient(config=config) as client:
    response = await client.search(q="payment processing", protocol="mcp")
    for r in response.results:
        print(r.agent.fqdn)

After the directory returns candidates, re-resolve each one through Path A and validate signatures / DNSSEC before invoking. This is the substrate-as-authority pattern: the directory provides ranking and discovery convenience, but never sits in the trust path between the caller and the agent.

async with AgentClient(config=config) as client:
    response = await client.search(q="fraud detection")
    for candidate in response.results:
        verified = await dns_aid.discover(
            candidate.agent.domain,
            name=candidate.agent.name,
            require_signed=True,
        )
        # Invoke only when DNS substrate confirms the directory's claim.

The SDK exposes additional filter parameters (capabilities, min_security_score, verified_only, etc.) for directories that compute and return those signals; see API Reference for the full surface. The semantics of those values are defined by whichever directory the caller has chosen — DNS-AID does not centralize them.

SDK: Invoke Agents & Capture Telemetry (v0.6.0+)

import dns_aid

# Discover + invoke in one line — telemetry captured automatically
result = await dns_aid.discover("example.com", protocol="mcp")
agent = result.agents[0]

resp = await dns_aid.invoke(agent, method="tools/list")
print(f"Latency: {resp.signal.invocation_latency_ms}ms")
print(f"Status:  {resp.signal.status}")
print(f"Tools:   {resp.data}")

# Rank multiple agents by your own local telemetry signals
ranked = await dns_aid.rank(result.agents, method="tools/list")
for r in ranked:
    print(f"{r.agent_fqdn}: score={r.composite_score:.1f}")

OpenTelemetry (v0.23.0+): install dns-aid[otel] and set otel_enabled=True (or DNS_AID_SDK_OTEL_ENABLED=true) to emit spans + metrics per invoke and propagate W3C trace context to downstream agents. See docs/integrations/opentelemetry.md.

For advanced usage (connection reuse, OpenTelemetry export, pluggable telemetry sink):

from dns_aid.sdk import AgentClient, SDKConfig

config = SDKConfig(
    otel_enabled=True,         # Export to any OpenTelemetry collector
    caller_id="my-app",
    # Optional: push telemetry to any HTTP endpoint the caller controls
    # http_push_url="https://your-telemetry.example.com/v1/signals",
)

async with AgentClient(config=config) as client:
    resp = await client.invoke(agent, method="tools/call", arguments={...})
    fqdns = [a.fqdn for a in agents]
    ranked = client.rank(fqdns)  # Rank by the caller's own observed telemetry

If an external aggregator publishes community-wide rankings over HTTP, the SDK can fetch them via client.fetch_rankings(...); the endpoint is configured by the caller, not by the library.

SDK: Per-Invoke Credential Provider Callback (v0.21.0+)

For short-lived credentials (RFC 8693 token exchange, AWS STS assume-role, HashiCorp Vault dynamic secrets, HSM/KMS-backed signing keys), pass an opt-in async credential_provider callback to invoke(). The SDK awaits the callback lazily at invoke time with the target AgentRecord and uses the returned dict for auth resolution. Strictly additive — every existing call site continues to work without source change.

async def token_exchange_provider(agent: AgentRecord) -> dict[str, str]:
    # Mint a fresh delegation token per call — e.g., RFC 8693 token exchange
    # against Keycloak / Okta / Auth0 / Microsoft Entra ID.
    return {"token": await my_idp.exchange_token(subject_token, agent.fqdn)}

async with AgentClient(config=config) as client:
    resp = await client.invoke(
        agent,
        method="tools/list",
        credential_provider=token_exchange_provider,
    )

Precedence: auth_handler > credentials > credential_provider > no_auth. See docs/security-credentials.md for the per-handler security matrix, audit-trail flow, and the examples/integration_oauth2_token_exchange.py and examples/integration_aws_sts_assume_role.py canonical patterns.

CLI Usage

# Publish an agent to DNS
dns-aid publish \
    --name my-agent \
    --domain example.com \
    --protocol mcp \
    --endpoint agent.example.com \
    --capability chat \
    --capability code-review

# Publish with transport and auth metadata (v0.10.0+)
dns-aid publish \
    --name billing \
    --domain example.com \
    --protocol mcp \
    --endpoint mcp.example.com \
    --capability billing --capability invoicing \
    --transport streamable-http \
    --auth-type bearer

# Publish with DNS-AID custom SVCB parameters (v0.4.8+)
dns-aid publish \
    --name booking \
    --domain example.com \
    --protocol mcp \
    --endpoint mcp.example.com \
    --capability travel --capability booking \
    --cap-uri https://mcp.example.com/.well-known/agent-cap.json \
    --cap-sha256 dGVzdGhhc2g \
    --bap "mcp/1,a2a/1" \
    --policy-uri https://example.com/agent-policy \
    --realm production

# Discover agents at a domain (pure DNS - default)
dns-aid discover example.com

# Discover with substrate filters
dns-aid discover example.com --protocol mcp --name chat

# Discover with in-memory filters (v0.19.0+)
dns-aid discover example.com \
    --capabilities payment-processing --capabilities fraud-detection \
    --auth-type oauth2 --realm prod \
    --require-signed --require-signature-algorithm ES256

# Cross-domain search via a directory the caller has chosen (v0.19.0+)
export DNS_AID_SDK_DIRECTORY_API_URL=https://your-directory.example.com
dns-aid search "payment processing" --protocol mcp

# Discover via HTTP index (richer metadata; format aligns with the ANS schema)
dns-aid discover example.com --use-http-index

# Output as JSON
dns-aid discover example.com --json

# Verify DNS records
dns-aid verify my-agent.example.com

# List DNS-AID records in a zone
dns-aid list example.com

# List available zones (Route 53)
dns-aid zones

# Delete an agent
dns-aid delete --name my-agent --domain example.com --protocol mcp

# Index Management (v0.3.0+)
# List agents in a domain's index record
dns-aid index list example.com

# Sync index with actual DNS records (useful for repair)
dns-aid index sync example.com

# Advertise an ARD ai-catalog via DNS pointer (host-anywhere; v0.26.0+)
# Publishes _catalog._agents + _index._agents SVCB → the catalog host.
dns-aid index publish-catalog example.com catalogue.example.com

# Publish without updating the index (for internal agents)
dns-aid publish --name internal-bot --domain example.com --protocol mcp --no-update-index

# Domain Submission to a Directory (v0.4.0+)
# Submit your domain to a directory of your choice for indexing.
# The --to flag (or DNS_AID_SDK_DIRECTORY_API_URL) selects which directory.
dns-aid submit example.com --to https://your-directory.example.com

# Submit with company metadata
dns-aid submit example.com \
    --to https://your-directory.example.com \
    --company-name "Example Corp" \
    --company-website "https://example.com" \
    --company-description "We build AI agents"

Agent Index Records

DNS-AID v0.3.0 automatically maintains an index record at _index._agents.{domain} for efficient discovery:

_index._agents.example.com. TXT "agents=chat:mcp,billing:a2a,support:https"

Benefits:

• Single DNS query discovers all agents at a domain
• Crawlers can efficiently index domains
• Explicit list of published agents (no guessing)

The index is updated automatically when you publish or delete agents. Use --no-update-index to opt out for internal agents.

Domain Control Validation (v0.20.0+)

DCV lets one party prove to another that they control a DNS zone, using a short-lived TXT record challenge. Two use cases: anonymous agents asserting org affiliation, and directory anti-impersonation before listing an agent as org-verified.

# Challenger: issue a challenge for a domain
CHALLENGE=$(dns-aid dcv issue orgb.example.com --agent assistant --issuer orga.example.com --json)
TOKEN=$(echo $CHALLENGE | python3 -c "import sys,json; print(json.load(sys.stdin)['token'])")

# Claimant: place the challenge TXT record in the zone (using their own DNS credentials)
dns-aid dcv place orgb.example.com $TOKEN

# Challenger: verify the record is present and unexpired
dns-aid dcv verify orgb.example.com $TOKEN

# Claimant: revoke after successful verification
dns-aid dcv revoke orgb.example.com $TOKEN

from dns_aid.core import dcv

# Challenger
challenge = dcv.issue("orgb.example.com", agent_name="assistant", issuer_domain="orga.example.com")
# ... deliver challenge out-of-band to claimant ...

# Claimant (different process, different credentials)
await dcv.place(challenge.domain, challenge.token, bnd_req=challenge.bnd_req)

# Challenger
result = await dcv.verify(challenge.domain, challenge.token, expected_bnd_req=challenge.bnd_req)
if result.verified:
    await dcv.revoke(challenge.domain, token=challenge.token)

See Domain Control Validation in the API reference for full details.

HTTP Index Discovery

DNS-AID also supports HTTP-based agent discovery, with an index format whose schema aligns with ANS-style directories. This provides richer metadata (descriptions, model cards, capabilities, costs) while still validating endpoints via DNS.

Endpoint patterns tried (in order):

1. https://index.aiagents.{domain}/index-wellknown (demo-friendly, no underscores)
2. https://_index._aiagents.{domain}/index-wellknown (ANS-style)
3. https://{domain}/.well-known/agents-index.json (well-known path)

Capability Document endpoint (v0.4.8+):

• https://index.aiagents.{domain}/cap/{agent-name} — returns a capability document JSON per agent

# Fetch HTTP index directly
curl https://index.aiagents.example.com/index-wellknown

# Fetch capability document for a specific agent
curl https://index.aiagents.example.com/cap/booking-agent

# CLI with HTTP index
dns-aid discover example.com --use-http-index

# Python with HTTP index
agents = await dns_aid.discover("example.com", use_http_index=True)

FQDN as Source of Truth (v0.4.7): The HTTP index only needs to provide each agent's FQDN (e.g., booking.example.com). Agent name and protocol are extracted from the FQDN — no separate protocols field needed. DNS SVCB lookup then resolves the authoritative endpoint.

Discovery Transparency (v0.4.6+): Each discovered agent includes source fields showing how data was resolved:

Capability Resolution (v0.4.8+): Capabilities are resolved with the following priority:

1. SVCB cap URI → fetch capability document (JSON with capabilities, version, description)
2. TXT record fallback → capabilities=chat,support from DNS TXT record
3. HTTP Index inline → capabilities embedded in the index JSON response

MCP Server

DNS-AID includes an MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that allows AI agents like Claude to publish and discover other agents.

Running the MCP Server

# Run with stdio transport (default - for Claude Desktop, etc.)
dns-aid-mcp

# Run with HTTP transport
dns-aid-mcp --transport http --port 8000

Available MCP Tools

Claude Desktop Integration

Add to your Claude Desktop config (~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dns-aid": {
      "command": "dns-aid-mcp"
    }
  }
}

Then Claude can discover and connect to AI agents:

"Find available agents at example.com"

"Publish my chat agent to DNS at mycompany.com"

"Discover agents at example.com and search for flights from SFO to JFK"

Live Demo

Try the live demo with Claude Desktop:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "dns-aid": {
      "command": "python",
      "args": ["-m", "dns_aid.mcp.server"]
    }
  }
}

Then ask Claude to discover and use the booking agent:

"Discover agents at example.com using HTTP index, find a booking agent, and search for flights from SFO to JFK on March 15th 2026"

Claude will:

1. Call discover_agents_via_dns → finds booking-agent at https://booking.example.com/mcp
2. Call list_agent_tools → sees search_flights, get_flight_details, check_availability, create_reservation
3. Call call_agent_tool → searches for flights and returns results

How It Works

DNS-AID uses SVCB records (RFC 9460) to advertise AI agents:

chat.example.com. 3600 IN SVCB 1 chat.example.com. alpn="a2a" port=443 mandatory="alpn,port"
chat.example.com. 3600 IN TXT "capabilities=chat,assistant" "version=1.0.0"

DNS-AID Custom SVCB Parameters (v0.4.8+): Per the IETF draft, SVCB records can carry additional custom parameters for richer agent metadata:

booking.example.com. SVCB 1 mcp.example.com. alpn="mcp" port=443 \
    cap="https://mcp.example.com/.well-known/agent-cap.json" \
    cap-sha256="dGVzdGhhc2g" bap="mcp/1,a2a/1" \
    policy="https://example.com/agent-policy" realm="production"

This allows any DNS client to discover agents without proprietary protocols or central registries.

Discovery Flow (DNS-AID Draft Aligned)

  Agent A                        DNS                           Agent B
     │                            │                               │
     │  "Find agents at           │                               │
     │   salesforce.com"          │                               │
     │                            │                               │
  ┌──┴──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
  │  Step 1: Fetch HTTP Index (primary)                             │
  │  ──────────────────────────────────                             │
  │  GET https://index.aiagents.salesforce.com/index-wellknown      │
  │  Response: [{"fqdn":"chat.salesforce.com",...}]   │
  │                                                                 │
  │  Fallback: Query TXT Index via DNS                              │
  │  Query: _index._agents.salesforce.com TXT                       │
  │  Response: "agents=chat:a2a,billing:mcp"                        │
  └──┬──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
     │                            │                               │
  ┌──┴──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
  │  Step 2: Query SVCB per agent                                   │
  │  ────────────────────────────                                   │
  │  Query: chat.salesforce.com SVCB                  │
  │  Response: SVCB 1 chat.salesforce.com. alpn="a2a" port=443      │
  │            cap="https://chat.salesforce.com/.well-known/cap.json"│
  │  (DNSSEC validated)                                             │
  └──┬──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
     │                            │                               │
  ┌──┴──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
  │  Step 2b: Fetch Capability Document (if cap URI present)        │
  │  ───────────────────────────────────────────────────            │
  │  GET https://chat.salesforce.com/.well-known/cap.json           │
  │  Response: {"capabilities":["chat","support"],"version":"1.0"}  │
  │  (cap_sha256 integrity verified)                                │
  └──┬──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
     │                            │                               │
  ┌──┴──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
  │  Step 3: TXT Capabilities (fallback if no cap document)         │
  │  ──────────────────────────────────────────────────             │
  │  Query: chat.salesforce.com TXT                   │
  │  Response: "capabilities=chat,support" "version=1.0.0"          │
  └──┬──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
     │                            │                               │
     ├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────►│
     │  Connect to https://chat.salesforce.com:443                │

Index Resolution Priority: HTTP index endpoint → TXT index record → common name probing. Capability Resolution Priority: SVCB cap URI → capability document → TXT record fallback. Each discovered agent includes endpoint_source and capability_source showing which path was used.

Agent Metadata Contract (v0.10.0+)

DNS discovery tells you WHERE an agent is. The Agent Metadata Contract tells you HOW to connect, WHAT it can do, and WHETHER it's still active.

Every DNS-AID agent can serve a .well-known/agent.json endpoint:

GET https://mcp.example.com/.well-known/agent.json

{
  "aid_version": "1.0",
  "identity": { "name": "billing", "version": "2.1.0", "deprecated": false },
  "connection": { "protocol": "mcp", "transport": "streamable-http" },
  "auth": { "type": "bearer", "header_name": "Authorization" },
  "capabilities": {
    "supports_streaming": true,
    "actions": [
      { "name": "get_invoice", "intent": "query", "semantics": "read" },
      { "name": "process_payment", "intent": "transaction", "semantics": "write" }
    ]
  }
}

Why this matters for orchestrators (LangGraph, CrewAI, etc.):

A2A Compatibility: Both DNS-AID and Google A2A use /.well-known/agent.json. The metadata fetcher auto-detects the format — DNS-AID native (has aid_version key) or A2A Agent Card — and normalizes both into the same metadata fields.

Architecture

Client-Side: Toolkit

┌─────────────────┐     ┌─────────────────┐     ┌─────────────────────────┐
│   AI Agents     │     │   Developers    │     │   Infrastructure Ops    │
│  (Claude, etc.) │     │                 │     │                         │
└────────┬────────┘     └────────┬────────┘     └────────────┬────────────┘
         │                       │                           │
         │ MCP Protocol          │ CLI                       │ CLI / API
         ▼                       ▼                           ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                         DNS-AID TOOLKIT                                 │
│                                                                         │
│  ┌─────────────────┐  ┌─────────────────┐  ┌─────────────────────────┐ │
│  │   MCP Server    │  │      CLI        │  │     Python Library      │ │
│  │                 │  │                 │  │                         │ │
│  │ • publish_agent │  │ • dns-aid       │  │ • dns_aid.publish()     │ │
│  │ • discover_     │  │   publish       │  │ • dns_aid.discover()    │ │
│  │   agents        │  │ • dns-aid       │  │ • dns_aid.verify()      │ │
│  │ • verify_agent  │  │   discover      │  │ • dns_aid.invoke()  ◄── Tier 1 SDK
│  │ • list_agents   │  │ • dns-aid       │  │ • dns_aid.rank()        │ │
│  │ • call_agent    │  │   verify        │  │                         │ │
│  └────────┬────────┘  └────────┬────────┘  └────────────┬────────────┘ │
│           │                    │                        │              │
│           └────────────────────┴────────────────────────┘              │
│                                │                                       │
│                                ▼                                       │
│  ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐  │
│  │                        CORE ENGINE                              │  │
│  │                                                                 │  │
│  │  ┌─────────────┐  ┌─────────────┐  ┌─────────────────────────┐ │  │
│  │  │  Publisher  │  │ Discoverer  │  │      Validator          │ │  │
│  │  │             │  │             │  │                         │ │  │
│  │  │ Create SVCB │  │ Query DNS   │  │ • DNSSEC validation     │ │  │
│  │  │ Create TXT  │  │ Parse SVCB  │  │ • DANE/TLSA check       │ │  │
│  │  │             │  │ Return      │  │ • Endpoint health       │ │  │
│  │  │             │  │ endpoints   │  │                         │ │  │
│  │  └──────┬──────┘  └──────┬──────┘  └────────────┬────────────┘ │  │
│  │         │                │                      │              │  │
│  └─────────┴────────────────┴──────────────────────┴──────────────┘  │
│                             │                                        │
└─────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────────────┘
                              │
                              ▼
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                          DNS BACKEND ABSTRACTION                                             │
│                                                                                              │
│  ┌───────────┐  ┌───────────┐  ┌───────────┐  ┌───────────┐  ┌───────────┐  ┌───────────┐    │
│  │  Route53  │  │ Infoblox  │  │   DDNS    │  │Cloudflare │  │  Akamai   │  │   Mock    │    │
│  │  (AWS)    │  │   UDDI    │  │ (RFC2136) │  │           │  │ Edge DNS  │  │ (Testing) │    │
│  └─────┬─────┘  └─────┬─────┘  └─────┬─────┘  └─────┬─────┘  └─────┬─────┘  └─────┬─────┘    │
│        │              │              │              │              │              │          │
└────────┴──────────────┴──────────────┴──────────────┴──────────────┴──────────────┴──────────┘
                              │
                              ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                       DNS INFRASTRUCTURE                                │
│                                                                         │
│   Authoritative DNS servers hosting _agents.{domain} zones              │
│   with SVCB, TXT, and TLSA records secured by DNSSEC                   │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Directory and Indexing Layer (External)

Directory and indexing services that build on top of DNS-AID — crawlers that walk public DNS for agent records, services that index .well-known/agent.json metadata, search frontends — are out of scope for this repository. They build on the substrate but are operated independently. Implementations are free to define their own scoring, ranking, and curation policy; DNS-AID does not centralize those choices.

Choosing the Right Interface

DNS-AID provides three interfaces. Choose based on your use case:

Python Library

Best for: Application developers building agent discovery into their code.

import dns_aid

# Integrate directly into your Python application
agents = await dns_aid.discover("example.com", protocol="mcp")

CLI Tool

Best for: Operators, DevOps, and quick manual operations.

dns-aid discover example.com --protocol mcp

MCP Server

Best for: AI assistants (Claude, etc.) that need DNS-AID capabilities.

dns-aid-mcp  # Claude can now use DNS-AID tools

Decision Matrix

DNS Backends

For per-provider environment configuration, see the Getting Started Guide backend sections.

DNS-AID supports multiple DNS backends:

Route 53 Setup

1. Configure AWS credentials:

   bash

   export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID="your-access-key"
   export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY="your-secret-key"
   export AWS_DEFAULT_REGION="us-east-1"  # Optional
   

   Or use AWS CLI profiles:

   bash

   aws configure
   # Or use a named profile
   export AWS_PROFILE="my-profile"
   

2. Verify zone access:

   bash

   dns-aid zones
   

3. Publish your agent:

   bash

   dns-aid publish -n my-agent -d myzone.com -p mcp -e mcp.myzone.com
   

Infoblox UDDI Setup

Infoblox UDDI (Universal DDI) is Infoblox's cloud-native DDI platform. DNS-AID supports creating SVCB and TXT records via the Infoblox API.

Environment Variables

Step-by-Step Setup

1. Get your API key from Infoblox Cloud Portal:

   • Navigate to Administration → API Keys
   • Create a new API key with DNS permissions
   • Copy the key (shown only once)

2. Configure environment variables:

   bash

   export INFOBLOX_API_KEY="your-api-key"
   export INFOBLOX_DNS_VIEW="default"  # Or your specific view name
   

3. Identify your zone and view:

   • In Infoblox Portal, go to DNS → Authoritative Zones
   • Note the zone name (e.g., example.com) and which view it belongs to

4. Use in Python:

   python

   from dns_aid.backends.infoblox import InfobloxBloxOneBackend
   from dns_aid.core.publisher import set_default_backend
   from dns_aid import publish
   
   # Initialize backend (reads from environment variables)
   backend = InfobloxBloxOneBackend()
   
   # Or with explicit configuration
   backend = InfobloxBloxOneBackend(
       api_key="your-api-key",
       dns_view="default",  # Your DNS view name
   )
   
   set_default_backend(backend)
   
   await publish(
       name="my-agent",
       domain="example.com",
       protocol="mcp",
       endpoint="agent.example.com",
       capabilities=["chat", "code-review"]
   )
   

Infoblox UDDI SVCB Support

Infoblox UDDI supports full ServiceMode SVCB (RFC 9460): priority > 0 with svc_params, including the standard keys (alpn, port, mandatory, ipv4hint, ipv6hint, ...) and the private-use range key65280–key65534. DNS-AID's custom parameters (cap, cap-sha256, bap, policy, realm, sig, connect-class, connect-meta, enroll-uri — encoded as key65400–key65405) are written natively on the SVCB record, not demoted to a TXT companion.

Infoblox UDDI and Akamai Edge DNS are fully DNS-AID-compliant ServiceMode SVCB backends.

Verify Records via API

Since Infoblox UDDI zones may not be publicly resolvable, verify records via the API:

async with InfobloxBloxOneBackend() as backend:
    async for record in backend.list_records("example.com", name_pattern="my-agent"):
        print(f"{record['type']}: {record['fqdn']}")

DDNS Setup (RFC 2136)

DDNS (Dynamic DNS) is a universal backend that works with any DNS server supporting RFC 2136, including BIND9, Windows DNS, PowerDNS, and Knot DNS. This is ideal for on-premise DNS infrastructure without vendor-specific APIs.

Environment Variables

Step-by-Step Setup

1. Create a TSIG key on your DNS server (BIND example):

   bash

   tsig-keygen -a hmac-sha256 dns-aid-key > /etc/bind/dns-aid-key.conf
   

2. Configure your zone to allow updates with the key:

   code

   zone "example.com" {
       type master;
       file "/var/lib/bind/example.com.zone";
       allow-update { key "dns-aid-key"; };
   };
   

3. Configure DNS-AID:

   bash

   export DDNS_SERVER="ns1.example.com"
   export DDNS_KEY_NAME="dns-aid-key"
   export DDNS_KEY_SECRET="your-base64-secret"
   

4. Use in Python:

   python

   from dns_aid.backends.ddns import DDNSBackend
   from dns_aid import publish
   
   backend = DDNSBackend()
   # Or with explicit configuration
   backend = DDNSBackend(
       server="ns1.example.com",
       key_name="dns-aid-key",
       key_secret="base64secret==",
       key_algorithm="hmac-sha256"
   )
   
   await publish(
       name="my-agent",
       domain="example.com",
       protocol="mcp",
       endpoint="agent.example.com",
       backend=backend
   )
   

DDNS Advantages

• Universal: Works with BIND, Windows DNS, PowerDNS, Knot, and any RFC 2136 server
• No vendor lock-in: Standard protocol, no proprietary APIs
• On-premise friendly: Perfect for enterprise internal DNS
• Full DNS-AID compliance: Supports ServiceMode SVCB with all parameters

Cloudflare Setup

Cloudflare DNS is ideal for demos, workshops, and quick prototyping thanks to its free tier and excellent API support. DNS-AID fully supports Cloudflare's SVCB record implementation, including native private-use SVCB keys — DNS-AID's custom parameters (cap, cap-sha256, bap, policy, realm, ...) are written directly to the SVCB record (key65400–key65409), with no TXT demotion.

Environment Variables

Step-by-Step Setup

1. Create an API token in Cloudflare Dashboard:

   • Go to My Profile → API Tokens → Create Token
   • Use the "Edit zone DNS" template or create custom with:
     • Permissions: Zone → DNS → Edit
     • Zone Resources: Include → Specific zone → your-domain.com
   • Copy the token (shown only once)

2. Configure environment variables:

   bash

   export CLOUDFLARE_API_TOKEN="your-api-token"
   # Optional: specify zone ID (otherwise auto-discovered from domain)
   export CLOUDFLARE_ZONE_ID="your-zone-id"
   

3. Publish your first agent:

   bash

   dns-aid publish \
       --name my-agent \
       --domain your-domain.com \
       --protocol mcp \
       --endpoint agent.your-domain.com \
       --backend cloudflare
   

4. Use in Python:

   python

   from dns_aid.backends.cloudflare import CloudflareBackend
   from dns_aid import publish
   
   # Initialize backend (reads from environment variables)
   backend = CloudflareBackend()
   
   # Or with explicit configuration
   backend = CloudflareBackend(
       api_token="your-api-token",
       zone_id="optional-zone-id",  # Auto-discovered if not provided
   )
   
   await publish(
       name="my-agent",
       domain="your-domain.com",
       protocol="mcp",
       endpoint="agent.your-domain.com",
       backend=backend
   )
   

Cloudflare Advantages

• Free tier: DNS hosting is free for unlimited domains
• SVCB support: Full RFC 9460 compliance with SVCB Type 64 records
• Native private-use SVCB keys: DNS-AID custom params go straight into the SVCB record (key65400–key65409) — no TXT demotion, matching NS1 and NIOS
• Global anycast: Fast DNS resolution worldwide
• Simple API: Well-documented REST API v4
• Full DNS-AID compliance: Supports ServiceMode SVCB with all parameters

Akamai Edge DNS Setup

Akamai Edge DNS supports ServiceMode SVCB records with full private-use key support, making it fully compliant with the DNS-AID draft. All custom DNS-AID parameters (cap, bap, realm, etc.) are written directly into SVCB — no TXT demotion.

Writes are safe under concurrency: the backend serializes its own writes per zone and automatically retries Akamai's transient 409 concurrentZoneModification responses with exponential backoff.

Environment Variables

* Required if not using .edgerc. Environment variables take precedence over .edgerc when both are present.

Step-by-Step Setup

1. Create API credentials in Akamai Control Center:

   • Go to Identity & Access → Create API Client
   • Grant DNS—Zone Record Management read-write permission
   • Download the .edgerc file or note the four credential values

2. Configure credentials (choose one):

   Via .edgerc file (Akamai standard):

   ini

   # ~/.edgerc
   [default]
   host = akab-xxxx.luna.akamaiapis.net
   client_token = akab-xxxx
   client_secret = xxxx
   access_token = akab-xxxx
   

   Via environment variables:

   bash

   export AKAMAI_HOST="akab-xxxx.luna.akamaiapis.net"
   export AKAMAI_CLIENT_TOKEN="akab-xxxx"
   export AKAMAI_CLIENT_SECRET="xxxx"
   export AKAMAI_ACCESS_TOKEN="akab-xxxx"
   

3. Publish your first agent:

   bash

   dns-aid publish \
       --name my-agent \
       --domain your-domain.com \
       --protocol mcp \
       --endpoint agent.your-domain.com \
       --backend akamai-edgedns
   

4. Use in Python:

   python

   import asyncio
   from dns_aid.backends.akamai_edgedns import AkamaiEdgeDNSBackend
   from dns_aid import publish
   
   async def main():
       # Initialize backend (reads from ~/.edgerc or environment variables)
       backend = AkamaiEdgeDNSBackend()
       await publish(
           name="my-agent",
           domain="your-domain.com",
           protocol="mcp",
           endpoint="agent.your-domain.com",
           backend=backend,
       )
   
   asyncio.run(main())
   

Akamai Edge DNS Features

• Native SVCB support: Full RFC 9460 compliance including private-use keys
• Full DNS-AID compliance: All custom params (cap, bap, realm, etc.) written natively on the SVCB record — no demotion to TXT
• DNSSEC: Built-in zone signing via sign-and-serve
• Flexible credentials: Supports both .edgerc file and environment variables

How DNS-AID Relates to Other Efforts

Agent discovery is an active design space, with multiple proposals working at different layers of the stack. DNS-AID is intentionally narrow: it standardizes a DNS-layer substrate that publishers and resolvers can rely on, leaving directory, ranking, payments, and namespace policy to other efforts. The summary below is meant to help operators understand where DNS-AID fits — not to position it against other work.

Adjacent efforts

• Agent Name Service (ANS) — A directory-oriented approach defining a JSON metadata schema and registry interfaces. DNS-AID's HTTP Index format is intentionally aligned with the ANS schema where it overlaps, so an ANS-style directory can be served from the same data a DNS-AID publisher produces.
• A2A — A communication protocol for agent-to-agent messaging. DNS-AID is complementary: A2A defines how two agents talk, DNS-AID defines how one agent finds the other's endpoint to talk to.
• AgentDNS — A separate proposal that builds an agent-naming layer on top of DNS primitives. The two proposals overlap in spirit and differ in mechanism; DNS-AID's choice is to stay inside RFC 9460 SVCB so existing authoritative servers and resolvers work unchanged.
• NANDA — A peer-to-peer overlay approach. Useful in deployments where a DHT-style substrate is preferred; DNS-AID instead targets the DNS infrastructure organizations already operate.
• ai.txt / llms.txt — Free-form text files at well-known URLs. Useful for human-readable discovery; DNS-AID adds structured SVCB records and optional DNSSEC-validated trust.
• .agent gTLD — An ICANN new-gTLD effort by the Agent Community to create a dedicated namespace (mycompany.agent). Complementary to DNS-AID — when .agent domains become available, DNS-AID records will work on them too, the same way they work on any other zone.

Where DNS-AID is scoped

DNS-AID standardizes the publish/resolve substrate: SVCB record layout, naming convention, capability and policy parameters, and a DNSSEC-anchored verification path. It does not pick a winning directory, ranking algorithm, payment system, or trust authority. Operators are free to combine DNS-AID with any of the efforts above, or to run it standalone.

Background and Comparison

For background on how DNS-AID compares to other agent-discovery approaches (ANS, Google A2A+UCP, .agent gTLD, AgentDNS, NANDA, Web3, ai.txt) and "The Sovereignty Question", see docs/positioning.md. That content is non-normative — protocol positioning is determined at the IETF.

Examples

See the examples/ directory:

• demo_route53.py - Basic Route 53 publish/discover
• demo_full.py - Complete end-to-end demonstration

# Run the full demo
export DNS_AID_TEST_ZONE="your-zone.com"
python examples/demo_full.py

Development

# Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/dns-aid/dns-aid-core.git
cd DNS-AID

# Install all workspace packages (requires uv)
uv sync

# Run all tests
uv run pytest

# Run tests for a specific package
uv run pytest packages/dns-aid-directory/tests/
uv run pytest packages/dns-aid-crawlers/tests/
uv run pytest packages/dns-aid-k8s/tests/

# Run with coverage
uv run pytest --cov=dns_aid_directory --cov=dns_aid_crawlers --cov=dns_aid_k8s

Related Standards

• RFC 9460 - SVCB and HTTPS Resource Records
• RFC 4033-4035 - DNSSEC
• RFC 6698 - DANE TLSA

License

Apache 2.0

Contributing

Contributions welcome! This project supports an implementation ecosystem with planned hosting in the Linux Foundation. The DNS-AID specification is developed in the IETF.

See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.