A DNS management toolkit built on top of dnscontrol, providing easy-to-use commands for fetching, managing, and backing up DNS records.

• Fetch existing DNS records from Cloudflare
• Create timestamped backups of DNS records
• Preview DNS changes before applying them
• Validate DNS configurations
• Apply DNS changes with safety confirmations
• Export records in JSON or YAML format
• Extensible design for multiple DNS providers (currently supports Cloudflare)

• dnscontrol: See INSTALL.md for installation instructions
• jq: Required for JSON processing (install via brew install jq on macOS or apt-get install jq on Linux)
• curl: For API calls (usually pre-installed)

Optional:

• yq: For YAML output support
• python3: Alternative for YAML conversion

1. Clone this repository:

   git clone <repository-url>
   cd dnskit

2. Install dnscontrol (see INSTALL.md)

3. Set up your Cloudflare credentials:

   cp config/creds.json.template config/creds.json
   # Edit config/creds.json with your Cloudflare API token and account ID

4. Add dnskit to your PATH:

   export PATH="$PATH:$(pwd)/bin"
   # Or add to your ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc

Create config/creds.json from the template:

{
  "cloudflare": {
    "TYPE": "CLOUDFLAREAPI",
    "accountid": "your-cloudflare-account-id",
    "apitoken": "your-cloudflare-api-token"
  }
}

To get your Cloudflare API token:

1. Log in to Cloudflare Dashboard
2. Go to My Profile > API Tokens
3. Create a token with Zone:Read and Zone:DNS:Edit permissions

Create config/dnsconfig.js to define your DNS records. See config/dnsconfig.js.sample for examples.

Example:

var REG_NONE = NewRegistrar("none");
var DSP_CLOUDFLARE = NewDnsProvider("cloudflare");

D("example.com", REG_NONE, DnsProvider(DSP_CLOUDFLARE),
  A("@", "192.0.2.1"),
  A("www", "192.0.2.1"),
  CNAME("blog", "example.com."),
  MX("@", 10, "mail.example.com."),
  TXT("@", "v=spf1 include:_spf.example.com ~all")
);

Test your Cloudflare API credentials:

dnskit test

This verifies that your API token is working and shows a sample of your zones.

List all zones in your Cloudflare account:

dnskit list

Fetch and display DNS records from Cloudflare in raw JSON format:

# Fetch records in JSON format (default)
dnskit fetch example.com

# Fetch records in YAML format
dnskit fetch example.com -f yaml

# Save to a file
dnskit fetch example.com -o records.json

Export DNS records to dnscontrol format (JavaScript) that you can edit and reapply:

# Export to default location (config/dnsconfig.js)
dnskit export example.com

# Export to custom file
dnskit export example.com -o my-dns-config.js

# Append multiple domains to one file
dnskit export example.com -o config/dnsconfig.js
dnskit export another-domain.com -o config/dnsconfig.js -a

This creates a dnsconfig.js file that you can:

1. Edit to add/remove/modify DNS records
2. Validate with dnskit validate
3. Preview changes with dnskit preview
4. Apply with dnskit apply

Create timestamped backups:

# Backup to default directory (./backups)
dnskit backup example.com

# Backup to custom directory
dnskit backup example.com -d /path/to/backups

# Backup in YAML format
dnskit backup example.com -f yaml

Preview what changes would be made without applying them:

dnskit preview

This is useful to verify your changes before applying them to production.

Validate your DNS configuration and credentials:

dnskit validate

This checks:

• JSON syntax in credentials file
• Cloudflare API credentials validity
• DNS configuration syntax

Apply DNS changes to Cloudflare:

# Interactive mode (asks for confirmation)
dnskit apply

# Skip confirmation
dnskit apply --force

WARNING: This modifies your live DNS records. Always run dnskit preview first!

If you want to manage existing DNS records with dnskit:

# 1. Test your connection
dnskit test

# 2. Export existing DNS to dnscontrol format
dnskit export example.com

# 3. Review the generated configuration
cat config/dnsconfig.js

# 4. Make changes to the file
vim config/dnsconfig.js

# 5. Preview what will change
dnskit preview

# 6. Apply the changes
dnskit apply

Typical workflow for managing DNS:

# 1. Create a backup before making changes
dnskit backup example.com

# 2. Edit your DNS configuration
vim config/dnsconfig.js

# 3. Validate the configuration
dnskit validate

# 4. Preview the changes
dnskit preview

# 5. Apply the changes
dnskit apply

Export and manage multiple domains in one configuration file:

# Export all your domains
dnskit export example.com -o config/dnsconfig.js
dnskit export another-domain.com -o config/dnsconfig.js -a
dnskit export third-domain.com -o config/dnsconfig.js -a

# Now you can manage all domains together
dnskit preview
dnskit apply

dnskit/
├── bin/              # CLI executables
│   ├── dnskit        # Main CLI entry point
│   ├── dnskit-fetch
│   ├── dnskit-backup
│   ├── dnskit-preview
│   ├── dnskit-apply
│   └── dnskit-validate
├── lib/              # Helper libraries
│   ├── common.sh     # Common functions
│   └── cloudflare.sh # Cloudflare-specific functions
├── config/           # Configuration files
│   ├── creds.json.template
│   ├── dnsconfig.js.sample
│   └── .gitignore
├── examples/         # Example configurations
├── backups/          # Default backup directory (created automatically)
├── INSTALL.md        # Installation instructions
└── README.md         # This file

Install dnscontrol following the instructions in INSTALL.md.

Copy the template and fill in your credentials:

cp config/creds.json.template config/creds.json

Install jq:

• macOS: brew install jq
• Linux: apt-get install jq or yum install jq

Make sure:

1. The domain is added to your Cloudflare account
2. Your API token has the correct permissions
3. The domain name is spelled correctly

• Support for additional DNS providers (AWS Route53, Google Cloud DNS, etc.)
• Batch operations for multiple domains
• DNS record templates
• Integration tests
• Migration to Go for better performance (if needed)

Contributions are welcome! Feel free to submit issues and pull requests.

See LICENSE file for details.

• dnscontrol Documentation
• Cloudflare API Documentation