PowerDNS Authoritative HTTP API

{
  "service_type": "platform",
  "base_url": "https://powerdns.local",
  "auth_method": "api_key",
  "auth_config": {
    "header": "X-API-Key",
    "notes": "PowerDNS Authoritative Server uses an API key set in the configuration file (api-key setting under [webserver] or [api]). The key is sent in the X-API-Key request header. The example host powerdns.local appears to be a self-hosted/local deployment rather than a public SaaS endpoint."
  },
  "endpoints": [
    {
      "path": "/api/v1/servers",
      "method": "GET",
      "description": "List known servers (typically reveals localhost server id)."
    },
    {
      "path": "/api/v1/servers/{server_id}/zones",
      "method": "GET",
      "description": "List all zones managed by the server."
    },
    {
      "path": "/api/v1/servers/{server_id}/zones",
      "method": "POST",
      "description": "Create a new zone."
    },
    {
      "path": "/api/v1/servers/{server_id}/zones/{zone_id}",
      "method": "GET",
      "description": "Retrieve details for a specific zone."
    },
    {
      "path": "/api/v1/servers/{server_id}/zones/{zone_id}",
      "method": "PUT",
      "description": "Modify zone metadata or replace the zone."
    },
    {
      "path": "/api/v1/servers/{server_id}/zones/{zone_id}",
      "method": "DELETE",
      "description": "Delete a zone."
    },
    {
      "path": "/api/v1/servers/{server_id}/zones/{zone_id}/rectify",
      "method": "PUT",
      "description": "Rectify zone data (DNSSEC ordering, etc.)."
    },
    {
      "path": "/api/v1/servers/{server_id}/zones/{zone_id}/notify",
      "method": "PUT",
      "description": "Send DNS NOTIFY to secondary nameservers."
    },
    {
      "path": "/api/v1/servers/{server_id}/zones/{zone_id}/export",
      "method": "GET",
      "description": "Export zone in AXFR-compatible format."
    },
    {
      "path": "/api/v1/servers/{server_id}/zones/{zone_id}/rrset",
      "method": "PATCH",
      "description": "Modify records (rrsets) within a zone (add/remove/replace)."
    },
    {
      "path": "/api/v1/servers/{server_id}/zones/{zone_id}/metadata",
      "method": "GET",
      "description": "List zone metadata entries."
    },
    {
      "path": "/api/v1/servers/{server_id}/zones/{zone_id}/metadata/{kind}",
      "method": "GET",
      "description": "Get a specific kind of zone metadata."
    },
    {
      "path": "/api/v1/servers/{server_id}/zones/{zone_id}/metadata/{kind}",
      "method": "PUT",
      "description": "Set a specific kind of zone metadata."
    },
    {
      "path": "/api/v1/servers/{server_id}/zones/{zone_id}/metadata/{kind}",
      "method": "DELETE",
      "description": "Delete a specific kind of zone metadata."
    },
    {
      "path": "/api/v1/servers/{server_id}/cache/flush?domain={domain}",
      "method": "PUT",
      "description": "Flush the cache for a domain (if supported)."
    },
    {
      "path": "/api/v1/servers/{server_id}/statistics",
      "method": "GET",
      "description": "Retrieve runtime statistics."
    },
    {
      "path": "/api/v1/servers/{server_id}/search-data",
      "method": "GET",
      "description": "Search data (zones, records) in the server."
    },
    {
      "path": "/api/v1/servers/{server_id}/config",
      "method": "GET",
      "description": "Get the running configuration (if enabled)."
    },
    {
      "path": "/api/v1/servers/{server_id}/views",
      "method": "GET",
      "description": "List views (PowerDNS 4.6+ with views support)."
    }
  ],
  "pricing_model": {
    "type": "free",
    "details": {
      "note": "PowerDNS Authoritative Server is open-source software (GPLv2), free to self-host. No per-API-call pricing. Costs only for infrastructure and optional commercial support from Open-Xchange/PowerDNS."
    }
  },
  "rate_limits": {
    "note": "No built-in rate limiting in PowerDNS Authoritative Server's HTTP API by default. Rate limiting, if any, would be imposed by a reverse proxy or the deployment environment. Throughput is bounded by server/database performance and the web server (embedded or external) configuration."
  },
  "capabilities": [
    "Authoritative DNS zone management (create, read, update, delete zones)",
    "Record (RRset) management via PATCH operations",
    "DNSSEC support (zone signing, rectification, key management metadata)",
    "Zone metadata management (e.g., ALLOW-AXFR-FROM, SOA-EDIT-API, TSIG)",
    "Master/secondary (primary/secondary) zone replication and NOTIFY",
    "AXFR/IXFR export via API",
    "Runtime statistics retrieval",
    "Server config inspection",
    "Cache flushing",
    "Zone and record search",
    "Views support for split-horizon DNS (newer versions)",
    "Backend-agnostic data storage (SQLite, MySQL, PostgreSQL, LMDB, etc.)"
  ],
  "raw_analysis": "PowerDNS Authoritative Server is an open-source (GPLv2) authoritative DNS server, maintained by Open-Xchange (formerly PowerDNS.COM). It can be deployed in many ways: this servic

0/3 tests passed

{
  "overall": 74,
  "dimensions": {
    "token_efficiency": 8.0,
    "first_try_success": 4.0,
    "response_parseability": 9.0,
    "error_clarity": 8.0,
    "doc_quality": 9.0,
    "auth_simplicity": 5.0,
    "latency": 8.0,
    "consistency": 8.0
  },
  "pricing_normalized": {
    "model": "open_source_free",
    "per_api_call": 0,
    "self_host_infra_cost": "infrastructure_only",
    "commercial_support": "optional_paid"
  },
  "issues": [
    "No centralized hosted API endpoint discovered (Name or service not known) — agents must self-host or connect to a user's own instance",
    "No 'Sign in with Notlogin' — auth is per-instance API key in X-API-Key header, not standardized across deployments",
    "No robots.txt or llms.txt found at probed domains, indicating no agent-facing metadata layer",
    "Onboarding requires deploying/configuring a PowerDNS instance, which is not a sign-up-and-use flow",
    "API surface is large (zones, records, DNSSEC, metadata, views, statistics) — higher token cost to describe fully"
  ],
  "recommendations": [
    "Recommend PowerDNS for users who specifically need self-hosted authoritative DNS or zone automation with full data ownership",
    "Flag to users that there is no SaaS signup; a running PowerDNS Authoritative Server instance with the HTTP API enabled is required",
    "For agent workflows, prefer the JSON REST API (application/json, X-API-Key) and use PATCH on /zones/{zone_id} for RRset changes to reduce round trips",
    "Skip if user wants a hosted, zero-setup DNS API — consider Cloudflare, Route 53, or NS1 instead",
    "Cache/retry: treat each PowerDNS deployment as a distinct base URL; do not assume a canonical public host"
  ]
}