DNS Coffee collects, analyzes, and archives changes to the root and TLD zone files, building a searchable history of the DNS itself.
Zone files are the authoritative record of the DNS: every delegated domain, the nameservers it points at, and the glue addresses that make them reachable. A single zone file shows the state of a zone on one day; archived daily, the same files become a history — when each name first appeared, what it pointed at along the way, and when it left.
Every day DNS Coffee imports the root and TLD zone files and compares each zone against the previous import. New names, removed names, and nameserver changes are recorded, giving every domain, nameserver, and IP address on the site a presence timeline — the First Seen and Last Seen dates shown on its page. The same day-over-day changes drive the daily change feeds and long-term trends. See the FAQ for exactly what those dates mean — they are observation dates, not registry events.
DNS Coffee started in 2011 indexing 4 zones. As the new gTLD program expanded the root from a few hundred TLDs to well over a thousand, the archive grew with it — today over 1,200 zones are imported and analyzed every day, alongside more than a decade of accumulated history.
Search any domain, nameserver, IP, or zone from the home page, or dig in programmatically with the API. The data here has supported academic research on DNS security and measurement — see the Research page for publications and how to cite DNS Coffee.
The News page tracks recent site updates, and the FAQ answers common questions. Questions and feedback are welcome — see how to get in touch.