Domainak

A domain availability comparison tool that lets you search once and compare prices across multiple registrars instantly.

What it does

Enter a domain name and Domainak checks availability and pricing across 6 major registrars simultaneously:

• GoDaddy
• Namecheap
• Porkbun
• Dynadot
• Hostinger
• Spaceship

Results are displayed with filtering (available only) and sorting (by price or name) options.

Tech Stack

Frontend

• React 19 + TypeScript
• Vite
• React Router
• Motion (animations)

Backend

• Express 5 + TypeScript
• Puppeteer Real Browser (web scraping with anti-bot bypass)
• Rate limiting (15 req/min per IP)

Project Structure

domainak/
├── frontend/          # React SPA
│   └── src/
│       ├── pages/     # Landing + Results pages
│       └── components/
├── backend/           # Express API
│   └── src/
│       ├── controllers/
│       ├── services/
│       │   └── registrars/  # Scraper for each registrar
│       └── routes/

Run it (one command)

Registrars block cloud servers, so the hosted site at domainak.netlify.app is a staged demo. For real prices, run it on your machine:

git clone https://github.com/Json604/domainak && cd domainak && npm start

On Windows PowerShell (which doesn't take &&, and blocks npm.ps1 by default):

git clone https://github.com/Json604/domainak; cd domainak; npm.cmd start

Next time, just run npm start (PowerShell: npm.cmd start) inside the domainak folder. Run git pull first to get updates; new dependencies are installed automatically.

That installs everything (on the first run, and again after updates), builds, starts the app and opens http://localhost:8000. You need Git, Node.js 20.19+ or 22.12+ and Google Chrome. On Linux without a desktop, also install xvfb (sudo apt install xvfb) so Chrome has a virtual screen. While Domainak runs, a real Chrome sits minimized in your Dock/taskbar: each search happens there in a background window, so nothing pops up or steals focus. The results page shows the search live as each registrar answers.

npm start -- --no-open skips opening the browser. Port 8000 taken? PORT=8001 npm start (PowerShell: $env:PORT=8001; npm.cmd start). The server only listens on this machine, and Google Analytics is only on the hosted demo: your searches stay on your computer.

Development

cd backend && npm install && npm run dev     # API on http://localhost:8000
cd frontend && npm install && npm run dev    # UI on http://localhost:5173

VITE_APP_MODE switches the frontend between live (real backend, the default) and demo (the staged story, used in production via frontend/.env.production).

API

GET /search?q={domain}&country={CC}

Search for domain availability across all registrars. country (optional, ISO code like IN) picks Hostinger's site for that country so its price is local; GoDaddy picks its country site from your IP by itself. The other four registrars price in USD worldwide. The results page sends the country it reads from your browser's timezone.

Example:

GET /search?q=example.com

Response (result holds one settled promise per registrar):

{
  "success": true,
  "data": {
    "domain": "example.com",
    "result": [
      {
        "status": "fulfilled",
        "value": {
          "registrar": "Spaceship",
          "status": "Available",
          "price": "$8.88",
          "amount": 8.88,
          "currency": "USD"
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}

price is what the registrar displays; amount + currency (ISO 4217) are the same price in machine-readable form.

GET /rates

Daily exchange rates (units per 1 USD, cached 12h) that the results page uses to show every price in the visitor's currency, guessed from the browser's timezone and language and changeable with the picker. Rates by Exchange Rate API.

GET /search/stream?q={domain}

The same search as Server-Sent Events: progress events (queued, stage, per-registrar phase and result) as it runs, then done with the full result or failure. The results page uses this for the live story.

Scripts

Frontend

• npm run dev - Start dev server
• npm run build - Production build
• npm run lint - Run ESLint

Backend

• npm run dev - Start with hot reload
• npm run start - Production mode

Repo root

• npm start - Install, build and run everything locally

License

MIT