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API Reference

Registrar Sandbox

Use the Registrar Sandbox API to test domain search, availability checks, registration, and domain management flows without buying real domains.

This API is a test environment for the production Registrar API.

Prerequisites

Before using this API, make sure you have:

  1. Cloudflare account — the caller must have a valid Cloudflare account.
  2. API authentication — create an API token with Registrar Sandbox permissions.

How the Sandbox API differs from the production Registrar API

Because the Sandbox API is intended for testing, it behaves differently from the production Registrar API in a few important ways:

  1. No billing — you will not be charged real money for purchasing a domain.
  2. No real domains — purchased domains are test records and will not be reachable on the Internet.
  3. No DNS zones — purchasing a domain does not create a zone resource.
  4. No Registration Express Mode — you must provide full contact data.

Sandbox purchases are still persisted. If you purchase a domain in the sandbox, that domain will not be available for others to purchase in the sandbox.

Terminology: domain extension

Throughout this API, “extension” refers to the domain extension part of a fully qualified domain name — the portion after the registrable label. For example, in example.co.uk, the extension is co.uk (not just uk). This covers both top-level domains like com and multi-level extensions like co.uk. This is distinct from other uses of the word “extension” (e.g., EPP extensions).

Supported extensions

The Sandbox API currently supports programmatic registration for these extensions:

com, net

The production Registrar API supports 40+ extensions.

Cloudflare Registrar supports 400+ extensions in the dashboard. Extensions not listed above can be registered at https://dash.cloudflare.com/{account_id}/domains/registrations.

Typical workflow

  1. Search — call GET /domain-search?q={keyword} to discover available domains.
  2. Check — call POST /domain-check with candidate domains to verify real-time availability and pricing.
  3. Review the response — if registrable: false, inspect reason to understand whether the domain is unavailable, the extension is not supported by this API, the extension is not supported by Cloudflare Registrar at all, or the extension’s registry has frozen new registrations.
  4. Handle premium domains — if tier: premium, premium registration is not currently supported by this API. The Sandbox API currently supports only com and net, which do not have premium registrations, but clients should still handle this response for consistency with the production Registrar API. Surface the premium pricing to the user, but do not proceed to POST /registrations for that domain.
  5. Register — call POST /registrations with the chosen domain name for supported non-premium registrations.
  6. Confirm completion — if the response is 201 Created, registration completed within the default timeout and no polling is needed.
  7. Poll when needed — if the response is 202 Accepted, poll links.self from the workflow response.
  8. Stop for user action — if state: action_required, stop polling and surface context.action to the user. The workflow will not resolve on its own.
  9. Continue when blocked — if state: blocked, continue polling and inform the user that a third party, such as the extension registry or losing registrar, is delaying progress.
  10. Review failures before retrying — if state: failed, review error.code and error.message, then decide whether user action or a new Check call is needed.

Default behavior for mutating operations

By default, mutating operations such as create and update hold the connection for a bounded, server-defined amount of time while the operation completes. In most cases, the response contains a completed workflow status and no polling is required.

  • Completed within the synchronous wait window: Returns 201 (create) or 200 (update) with a workflow_status where state: succeeded and completed: true.
  • Still processing after the synchronous wait window: Returns 202 Accepted with a workflow_status where completed: false. Use the links.self URL to poll for completion.

Non-blocking mode

To receive an immediate 202 Accepted response without waiting, send the Prefer: respond-async request header (RFC 7240). The server will acknowledge it with a Preference-Applied: respond-async response header.

Polling

When the response is 202, poll the workflow status endpoint indicated by links.self in the response body until the workflow reaches a terminal state or requires user action.

Search for available domains
client.RegistrarSandbox.Search(ctx, params) (*RegistrarSandboxSearchResponse, error)
GET/accounts/{account_id}/registrar-sandbox/domain-search
Check domain availability
client.RegistrarSandbox.Check(ctx, params) (*RegistrarSandboxCheckResponse, error)
POST/accounts/{account_id}/registrar-sandbox/domain-check
ModelsExpand Collapse
type Registration struct{…}

A domain registration resource representing the current state of a registered domain.

AutoRenew bool

Whether the domain will be automatically renewed before expiration.

CreatedAt Time

When the domain was registered. Present when the registration resource exists.

formatdate-time
DomainName string

Fully qualified domain name (FQDN) including the extension (e.g., example.com, mybrand.app). The domain name uniquely identifies a registration — the same domain cannot be registered twice, making it a natural idempotency key for registration requests.

ExpiresAt Time

When the domain registration expires. Present when the registration is ready; may be null only while status is registration_pending.

formatdate-time
Locked bool

Whether the domain is locked for transfer.

PrivacyMode RegistrationPrivacyMode

Current WHOIS privacy mode for the registration.

Status RegistrationStatus

Current registration status.

  • active: Domain is registered and operational
  • registration_pending: Registration is in progress
  • expired: Domain has expired
  • suspended: Domain is suspended by the registry
  • redemption_period: Domain is in the redemption grace period
  • pending_delete: Domain is pending deletion by the registry
One of the following:
const RegistrationStatusActive RegistrationStatus = "active"
const RegistrationStatusRegistrationPending RegistrationStatus = "registration_pending"
const RegistrationStatusExpired RegistrationStatus = "expired"
const RegistrationStatusSuspended RegistrationStatus = "suspended"
const RegistrationStatusRedemptionPeriod RegistrationStatus = "redemption_period"
const RegistrationStatusPendingDelete RegistrationStatus = "pending_delete"
type WorkflowStatus struct{…}

Status of an async registration workflow.

Completed bool

Whether the workflow has reached a terminal state. true when state is succeeded or failed. false for pending, in_progress, action_required, and blocked.

CreatedAt Time
formatdate-time
State WorkflowStatusState

Workflow lifecycle state.

  • pending: Workflow has been created but not yet started processing.
  • in_progress: Actively processing. Continue polling links.self. The workflow has an internal deadline and will not remain in this state indefinitely.
  • action_required: Paused — requires action by the user (not the system). See context.action for what is needed. An automated polling loop must break on this state; it will not resolve on its own without user intervention.
  • blocked: The workflow cannot make progress due to a third party such as the domain extension’s registry or a losing registrar. No user action will help. Continue polling — the block may resolve when the third party responds.
  • succeeded: Terminal. The operation completed successfully. completed will be true. For registrations, context.registration contains the resulting registration resource.
  • failed: Terminal. The operation failed. completed will be true. See error.code and error.message for the reason. Do not auto-retry without user review.
One of the following:
const WorkflowStatusStatePending WorkflowStatusState = "pending"
const WorkflowStatusStateInProgress WorkflowStatusState = "in_progress"
const WorkflowStatusStateActionRequired WorkflowStatusState = "action_required"
const WorkflowStatusStateBlocked WorkflowStatusState = "blocked"
const WorkflowStatusStateSucceeded WorkflowStatusState = "succeeded"
const WorkflowStatusStateFailed WorkflowStatusState = "failed"
UpdatedAt Time
formatdate-time
Context map[string, unknown]Optional

Workflow-specific data for this workflow.

The workflow subject is identified by context.domain_name for domain-centric workflows.

Error WorkflowStatusErrorOptional

Error details when a workflow reaches the failed state. The specific error codes and messages depend on the workflow type (registration, update, etc.) and the underlying registry response. These workflow error codes are separate from immediate HTTP error errors[].code values returned by non-2xx responses. Surface error.message to the user for context.

Code string

Machine-readable error code identifying the failure reason.

Message string

Human-readable explanation of the failure. May include registry-specific details.

Registrar SandboxRegistrations

Create Registration
client.RegistrarSandbox.Registrations.New(ctx, params) (*RegistrationNewResponse, error)
POST/accounts/{account_id}/registrar-sandbox/registrations
List Registrations
client.RegistrarSandbox.Registrations.List(ctx, params) (*CursorPagination[RegistrationListResponse], error)
GET/accounts/{account_id}/registrar-sandbox/registrations
Get Registration
client.RegistrarSandbox.Registrations.Get(ctx, domainName, query) (*RegistrationGetResponse, error)
GET/accounts/{account_id}/registrar-sandbox/registrations/{domain_name}
Update Registration
client.RegistrarSandbox.Registrations.Edit(ctx, domainName, params) (*RegistrationEditResponse, error)
PATCH/accounts/{account_id}/registrar-sandbox/registrations/{domain_name}

Registrar SandboxRegistration Status

Get Registration Status
client.RegistrarSandbox.RegistrationStatus.Get(ctx, domainName, query) (*RegistrationStatusGetResponse, error)
GET/accounts/{account_id}/registrar-sandbox/registrations/{domain_name}/registration-status

Registrar SandboxUpdate Status

Get Update Status
client.RegistrarSandbox.UpdateStatus.Get(ctx, domainName, query) (*UpdateStatusGetResponse, error)
GET/accounts/{account_id}/registrar-sandbox/registrations/{domain_name}/update-status