# miekg/dns

DNS library in Go

Repository: https://github.com/miekg/dns
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/dns
Homepage: https://miek.nl/2014/august/16/go-dns-package
Language: Go
License: BSD-3-Clause
License Family: permissive
Topics: dnssec, go, dns-library, dns
Last push: 2026-08-19T05:07:35+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 76/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 98, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 5874, "days_push": 14, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 8762, forks 1208 (observed 2026-08-28T04:10:25.609395+00:00)

## What it is
A complete DNS library for Go supporting all resource record types including DNSSEC, with both client (resolver) and server (nameserver) side programming. It is the library behind CoreDNS and many other Go DNS tools, though development has moved to a v2 on Codeberg and this repo only receives specific fixes.

## Use cases
- build a custom DNS server in Go
- resolve and query DNS records programmatically
- implement DNSSEC signing and validation
- parse and manipulate DNS zone files
- write a DNS reverse proxy or load balancer
- perform zone transfers (AXFR) in Go

## When to choose
- you need low-level, full control over DNS packets in Go
- you are building a nameserver, resolver, or DNS tooling like CoreDNS
- you need complete RR type and DNSSEC support

## When to avoid
- you want a high-level convenience API with hand-holding
- you are starting a new project and want the actively developed v2 at codeberg.org/miekg/dns
- you need a ready-made DNS server rather than a library

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: maintenance
- function: networking, http-client, http-server, security, parser
- domain: networking, developer-tools, backend, infrastructure-as-code
- platform: go, cross-platform, windows
- tags: dns, dnssec, resolver, nameserver, zone-transfer, edns0, tsig, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- miekg/dns (main) score 76

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:10:25.609395+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T17:25:15.020312+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/miekg/dns (fetched 2026-08-28T04:10:25.609395+00:00, sha 5c0a8d125f23)
  - homepage: https://miek.nl/2014/august/16/go-dns-package (fetched 2026-08-29T08:25:31.572711+00:00, sha 33601b2eabea)
  - site_page: https://miek.nl/about (fetched 2026-08-29T08:25:31.575411+00:00, sha dae70d968396)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.