Deploy Whois | Next Whois

Deploy and Host Next Whois on Railway

Next Whois is a fast, modern WHOIS and RDAP lookup tool built with Next.js. It allows users to perform lookups for domains, IPv4, IPv6, ASNs, and CIDR blocks with an RDAP-first approach and WHOIS fallback. Designed with a responsive interface, dark/light themes, dynamic Open Graph image generation, and multi-language support, it caters to network administrators, developers, and web professionals.

About Hosting Next Whois

Deploying Next Whois on Railway provides a scalable, low-latency web service for executing domain and IP queries. Railway automatically builds and runs the application using its built-in Dockerfile configuration without requiring custom build steps.

For performance optimization, Next Whois supports an optional Redis database integration to cache lookup results and manage rate limits. Networking and HTTPS termination are handled seamlessly by Railway's edge network, providing a public URL over standard HTTP/HTTPS ports. The application operates as a stateless web service by default, but connecting an optional Redis instance ensures cached responses and faster response times across repeat queries.

Common Use Cases

• Network & Domain Administration: Perform fast WHOIS and RDAP lookups to inspect registrar details, domain expiration dates, and nameserver configurations.
• IP & Network Intelligence: Analyze IPv4, IPv6, ASN, and CIDR network blocks with formatted, human-readable status descriptions.
• Developer API & OG Image Service: Integrate programmatic WHOIS lookups using the /api/lookup endpoint and generate dynamic Open Graph preview images via /api/og.

Dependencies for Next Whois Hosting

Deployment Dependencies

• GitHub Repository
• Official Web Instance

Implementation Details

Docker

Next Whois includes a Dockerfile in its repository. Railway automatically detects and builds the application image using Docker without requiring custom build parameters.

Public Networking

• Proxy Type: HTTP Proxy
• Target Port: 3000

Environment Variables

Raw Editor Example:

NEXT_PUBLIC_SITE_TITLE=Next Whois
NEXT_PUBLIC_HISTORY_LIMIT=-1
NEXT_PUBLIC_MAX_WHOIS_FOLLOW=0
REDIS_HOST=${{Redis.REDISHOST}}
REDIS_PORT=${{Redis.REDISPORT}}
REDIS_PASSWORD=${{Redis.REDISPASSWORD}}
REDIS_CACHE_TTL=3600

Persistent Storage

Persistent volumes are not required for Next Whois. Application history and preference states are handled client-side or cached in memory/Redis.

Database

An optional Redis service can be attached to cache WHOIS responses and speed up query processing.

To attach Redis:

1. Add a Redis service to your Railway project.
2. Reference the generated Redis environment variables (REDIS_HOST, REDIS_PORT, REDIS_PASSWORD) within the Next Whois service variables.

Build & Start

No custom build or start commands are required. Railway automatically builds and deploys the application using the repository's Dockerfile.

Accessing the Application

1. Open the Next Whois service in your Railway project dashboard.
2. Navigate to Settings → Networking and click Generate Domain.
3. Access the application via the generated URL.
4. No initial login or admin setup is required; the WHOIS web interface, /docs interactive documentation, and API endpoints are immediately available:

• WHOIS/RDAP API Endpoint: GET /api/lookup?query=example.com (Executes parallel queries, merges results, and returns formatted along with raw WHOIS responses).
• Dynamic OG Image Endpoint: GET /api/og?query=example.com (Generates dynamic Open Graph preview images on demand).

Why Deploy Next Whois on Railway?

Railway is a modern app hosting platform designed to simplify the deployment and management of applications. It offers automatic deployments from GitHub, built-in CI/CD, and seamless integration with databases and other services. Railway provides a developer-friendly interface, powerful CLI tools, and automatic scaling, making it an ideal choice for hosting web applications, APIs, and background workers.