Usage

Exit Codes

Here's a summary of the rdap command exit codes, based on error.rs:

Exit Code	Description	Category
0	Success	Success
10	`termimad` error	Internal Error
11	`minus` error	Internal Error
40	I/O error	I/O Error
42	Client error (within `RdapClient`)	I/O Error (rdap client)
43	I/O error (within `RdapClient`)	I/O Error (rdap client)
60	Response error (within `RdapClient`)	RDAP Server Error
62	Parsing error (within `RdapClient`)	RDAP Server Error
63	JSON error (within `RdapClient`)	RDAP Server Error
70	Bootstrap unavailable (within `RdapClient`)	Bootstrap Error
71	Bootstrap error (within `RdapClient`)	Bootstrap Error
72	IANA response error (within `RdapClient`)	Bootstrap Error
100	JSON error	RDAP Error
101	IANA error	RDAP Error
102	Invalid bootstrap file	RDAP Error
103	Bootstrap not found	RDAP Error
104	No registrar found	RDAP Error
105	Unused	Unused
106	Response was not 200 OK	RDAP Error
200	Unknown output type	User Error
201	Unused	Unused
202	Invalid query value (within `RdapClient`)	User Error
203	Ambiguous query type (within `RdapClient`)	User Error
204	Domain name error (within `RdapClient`)	User Error
250	Poison error (internal to rdap client)	Internal Error

Help

Use --help to see all the command line parameters and their values.

Paging Output

The client has a built-in (embedded) pager. Use of this pager is controlled via the RDAP_PAGING environment variable and the -P command argument.

It takes three values:

"embedded" - use the built-in pager
"auto" - use the built-in pager if the program is being run from a terminal
"none" - use no paging

For example, -P embedded will default to using the built-in pager.

By default, the client will not use a pager.

When set to "auto", the client determines if a pager is appropriate. This is done by attempting to determine if the terminal is interactive or not. If the terminal is not interactive, paging will be turned off otherwise it will be on.

Output Format

By default, the client will attempt to determine the output format of the information. If it determines the shell is interactive, output will be in rendered-markdown. Otherwise, the output will be JSON.

You can explicitly control this behavior using the -O command argument or the RDAP_OUTPUT environment variable (see below).

The --json parameter is equivalent to -O pretty-compact-json.

The --rpsl parameter is equivalent to -O rpsl.

JSContact

The --to-jscontact parameter will automatically convert vCard/jCard to JSContact. This may be useful when processing the output in JSON format.

Redaction Flags

The client supports several flags for controlling the processing and display of redactions in RDAP responses. These flags can be specified using the --redaction-flag command argument or the RDAP_REDACTION_FLAGS environment variable. Multiple flags can be combined using commas.

Available flags:

Flag	Description
`highlight-simple-redactions`	Highlights simple redactions in the output.
`show-rfc9537`	Shows RFC 9537 redaction directives in the output.
`do-not-simplify-rfc9537`	Does not turn RFC 9537 redactions into simple redactions.
`do-rfc9537-redactions`	Processes RFC 9537 redactions.

For example, --redaction-flag highlight-simple-redactions,show-rfc9537 or RDAP_REDACTION_FLAGS=highlight-simple-redactions,show-rfc9537.

Directing Queries To A Specific Server

By default, the client will use the RDAP bootstrap files provided by IANA to determine the authoritative server for the information being requested. These IANA files have the "base URLs" for the RDAP servers. This is a process known as "bootstrapping".

You can override this behavior by either specifying a base "object tag" from the IANA object tags registry or with an explicit URL (e.g. rdap https://foo.example/ip/10.0.0.0).

An object tag can be specified with the -b command argument or the RDAP_BASE environment variable (see below). For example, -b arin will direct the client to find the ARIN server in the RDAP object tag registry.

An explicit base URL can be specified using the -B command or the RDAP_BASE_URL environment variable. If this is given as a hostname instead of a URL, it will be converted to https://hostname.

Two additional arguments are provided to assist with bootstrapping:

--tld-lookup - Specifies where to send queries for TLDs such as ".com". This defaults to IANA.
--inr-backup-bootstrap - Specifies where to send queries for IP addresses and ASNs should normal bootstrapping not yield an answer. This defaults to ARIN.

Caching

By default, the client will cache data based on the request URL.

It can also cache an object by its "self" link if the object has the same origin as the request URI. This behavior is turned off by default, but may be enabled using the --self-link-caching command parameter or the RDAP_CACHE_SELF_LINKS environmental variable.

This can be turned off with the -N command parameter or by setting the RDAP_NO_CACHE environment variable to "true".

The --max-cache-age argument controls the maximum amount of time items are left in the cache.

Logging

The client logs errors, warning, and other information on its processing. This can be controlled with the --log-level command argument or the RDAP_LOG environment variable.

Secure Connections

By default, the client will use secure connections. The following arguments and environment variables can be used to modify this behavior:

-T or RDAP_ALLOW_HTTP : RDAP servers should be using HTTPS. When given or set to true, HTTP will be allowed.
-K or RDAP_ALLOW_INVALID_HOST_NAMES : Allows HTTPS connections in which the host name does not match the certificate.
-I or RDAP_ALLOW_INVALID_CERTIFICATES : Allows HTTPS connections in which the TLS certificate is invalid.

Retries and Timeouts

By default, the client will retry queries if given an HTTP 429 response. The following arguments and environmental variables can be used to modify this behavior:

--max-retries or RDAP_MAX_RETRIES: Number of retries to attempt. Default is 1.
--max-retry-secs or RDAP_MAX_RETRY_SECS: Maximum number of seconds to wait before a retry if the retry-after value is greater.
--def-retry-secs or RDAP_DEF_RETRY_SECS: Default number of seconds to wait before a retry if no retry-after value is provided by the server.

The --timeout-secs argument determines the total time the client will wait for an answer.

Configuration

Configuration of this program may be set using environment variables or using an environment variables configuration file in the configuration directory of this program. An example is automatically written to the configuration directory. This configuraiton file may be customized by uncommenting out the provided environment variable settings.

The location of the configuration file is platform dependent.

On Linux, this file is located at $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/rdap/rdap.env or $HOME/.config/rdap/rdap.env.

On macOS, this file is located at $HOME/Library/Application Support/rdap/rdap.env.

On Windows, this file is located at {FOLDERID_RoamingAppData}\rdap\config\rdap.env.

Resetting

Use the --reset argument to reset all client state. This will remove the RDAP and IANA caches and reset the rdap.env file (see above) to the default.