How to use the Alfred app to quickly lookup domain name registration data
An easy way to lookup domain name registration data, using Alfred — the productivity app for MacOS.
If you're not familiar with Alfred, let me explain. Firstly — no, it's not the name of the old man next door. Alfred is one of the most popular productivity and utility apps for MacOS. It builds on MacOS' native Spotlight search feature. You could perhaps say Alfred is Spotlight after a few mid-morning cups of green tea. Sharper, more focused and vibrating on a whole new frequency.
If you're familiar with Spotlight, you'll find yourself right at home with Alfred. If you're a power-user like me, you will wonder why you haven't been using this app your whole life. There are hundreds of things you can do, all directly from Alfred.
Workflows with Alfred
Think of Workflows as custom scripts, except the UI is so easy to navigate, you can throw together complex scripts in just minutes, with predefined objects.
Replacing mouse based actions with simple scripts is an easy way to boost your productivity. Personally, I would be lost without it.
Installing & using our workflow for Alfred
After installing Alfred, get started right away with our easy to use lookup tool workflow for Alfred. Simply download and unzip the .zip file, and double click on the workflow file to install it.
After it's installed simply open your Alfred launcher. I have my shortcut set to cmd+space, and I turn off the Spotlight shortcut. But you can set it to whatever you find easiest. The default is option+space
Using the Workflow is really simple. Just type WHOIS into the launcher, followed by the domain name you want to lookup.
It'll then open your default browser, if it isn't already open, and take you to our homepage. There, it will display the output of the lookup. It's worth mentioning that this is really useful for people who lookup registration data on a daily basis, however there is a 1000 lookup limit per IP address, per rolling 24 hour period. So keep that in mind, additionally the tool does not natively support bulk lookups.
At present, we have no plans to support bulk lookups, as the quota limits on Nominet's RDAP endpoint are simply not large enough.
If you found this useful, let us know in the comments! Or pop by Ko-Fi and buy a cup of tea 🙂