Manage DNS Records

DNS records link your domain to Pinner services. Common uses: TXT records for domain validation, dnslink TXT records for IPFS content addressing, and ALIAS records for Website Hosting.

Supported record types

The following DNS record types can be created through the API and CLI:

Type	Use case
A	Map a name to an IPv4 address
AAAA	Map a name to an IPv6 address
ALIAS	Map the zone apex to another domain (used by Website Hosting)
CNAME	Map a subdomain to another domain
MX	Specify mail servers
NS	Delegate a subdomain to another set of nameservers
SRV	Specify services by port and hostname
TXT	Store arbitrary text (validation tokens, dnslink records, SPF, etc.)

SOA and NS records for the zone apex are managed automatically by PowerDNS and cannot be modified directly.

List records

# List all records in a zone
pinner dns records list example.com

Create a record

TXT record (domain validation)

pinner dns records create example.com \
  --name "pinner-verify" \
  --type TXT \
  --content "pinner-verify=abc123def456"

TXT record (dnslink for IPFS content)

pinner dns records create example.com \
  --name "_dnslink" \
  --type TXT \
  --content "dnslink=/ipfs/bafybeig...cid"

dnslink TXT values must follow the dnslink=/ipfs/<cid> or dnslink=/ipns/<peerid> format per the dnslink spec.

CNAME record (subdomain alias)

pinner dns records create example.com \
  --type CNAME \
  --name "www" \
  --content "example.org"

ALIAS record (zone apex)

pinner dns records create example.com \
  --type ALIAS \
  --name "@" \
  --content "gateway.pinner.xyz."

ALIAS records are used at the zone apex (@) where CNAME is not allowed. Website Hosting automatically creates ALIAS records pointing to the gateway domain.

A record

pinner dns records create example.com \
  --type A \
  --name "@" \
  --content "203.0.113.42"

AAAA record

pinner dns records create example.com \
  --type AAAA \
  --name "@" \
  --content "2001:db8::1"

With optional flags

# Set a custom TTL (default: 3600 seconds)
pinner dns records create example.com \
  --name "www" \
  --type CNAME \
  --content "example.org" \
  --ttl 7200
 
# Create a disabled record
pinner dns records create example.com \
  --name "staging" \
  --type CNAME \
  --content "staging.example.org" \
  --disabled

Get a record

pinner dns records get example.com --name www --type CNAME

Update a record

pinner dns records update example.com \
  --name www \
  --type CNAME \
  --content "new-site.example.com"

You can also update the TTL or disabled state:

pinner dns records update example.com \
  --name www \
  --type CNAME \
  --content "new-site.example.com" \
  --ttl 7200

Delete a record

pinner dns records delete example.com \
  --name www \
  --type CNAME

List records with pinner dns records list example.com to find the names and types of your records.

Common patterns

Goal	Record type	Name	Content
Prove domain ownership	TXT	`pinner-verify`	`pinner-verify=<token>`
dnslink (IPFS content mapping)	TXT	`_dnslink`	`dnslink=/ipfs/<cid>`
dnslink (IPNS content mapping)	TXT	`_dnslink`	`dnslink=/ipns/<peerid>`
Website Hosting (auto-created)	ALIAS	`@`	Gateway domain
Subdomain alias	CNAME	`www`	Target domain
Root domain pointing	A	`@`	IPv4 address
IPv6 root domain	AAAA	`@`	IPv6 address