names.dev / integration reference

One service. Your assistant.

Use public MCP tools or a REST JSON request to find, check, refine and compare names with the same domain evidence as the website.

Open the connection setup

Connection

The primary direct endpoint is https://api.names.dev/mcp. The setup page provides copyable configuration. The alias https://names.dev/api/mcp proxies to that service and shares the proxy's public request allowance, so prefer the direct endpoint for regular use.

If the primary custom domain is temporarily unavailable, the fallback is https://names-api-v2.nima-672.workers.dev/mcp.

The transport is stateless Streamable HTTP with JSON responses and protocol negotiation through 2025-11-25. Public tools do not require an API key or Rufio account. MCP clients initialize over POST; GET returns 405 and no session is fabricated.

Tool	Use it for
names_search	An exact domain, a bare name or a product brief; optional budget in USD cents, preferred endings and limit.
names_check	One full domain, with exact-domain intent preserved before alternatives.
names_refine	The original brief plus feedback, with up to eight previously considered labels excluded.
names_compare	Two or three distinct full domains, verified side by side. One search allowance per domain.

Read the response

Tool results include JSON in structuredContent and text for clients that use content blocks. Each tool publishes its input and output JSON schemas. Inspect isError before using a tool result.

results contains name labels, meaning and fit explanations when supplied, plus domain paths.
registration and offers are distinct. Read provider, source trust, checked timestamp, expiry, listing type, currency, price and returned URL.
checkout_required, RDAP/DNS hints and search hints require verification at the provider. Unknown evidence is never an availability guarantee.
diagnostics.issues identifies provider limitations; empty results may be appropriate. A cache hit preserves original evidence timestamps.

Guidance and discovery

MCP resources names://guide and names://capabilities contain public operating guidance. Prompts name_a_project and refine_a_shortlist provide starting workflows. There are no private user resources.

Discovery JSON REST OpenAPI llms.txt

Configure one public POST JSON tool from OpenAPI if your assistant supports HTTP tools instead of MCP. All four search modes use /api/v2/search through the canonical website API; the direct runtime uses /v2/search.

Limits and acquisition

Public clients have six search allowances and thirty requests per minute. Aggregate limits also apply. Follow Retry-After for HTTP rate-limit responses and avoid retry loops. Comparisons consume one search allowance for each domain.

This integration does not purchase, register, transfer, send offers, edit DNS or access private accounts. Complete acquisition using the returned registrar or marketplace URL. Trademark screening and legal clearance are separate jobs.

Configuration syntax references: official OpenAI documentation and Claude Code documentation. The HTTP transport is tested with the official MCP SDK; support in other named assistant apps is not independently verified.