A domain that its owner does not renew does not become available straight away. It moves through several lifecycle stages first, and it can only be registered again once it is deleted at the registry: the "drop". Drop catching means watching for that moment and registering the name as soon as it is free.
Real domains. Paid in stablecoins. Bought by agents.
This guide explains the lifecycle, shows how to find names worth watching, and covers the free alert options on StableDomains: per-domain watches, saved Drop Radar searches, feeds and webhooks.
The expiry lifecycle
The stages shown on StableDomains are:
- Recently expired / grace. The registration has passed its expiry date. The current owner can usually still renew at the normal price.
- Redemption. The registrar has released the name, but the registry holds it. The previous owner can still restore it, usually for a fee. Nobody else can register it.
- Pending delete. The name is scheduled for deletion and can no longer be restored. On StableDomains it shows as "Pending delete" with an estimated "drops in ~Nd".
- Available (just dropped). The registry has deleted the name. Anyone can register it.
Exact timings vary by TLD and registry, so treat any drop date as an estimate. The Is it dropping? tool shows the lifecycle stage and estimated drop date for any expired domain, and is available to agents as the is_domain_dropping MCP tool.
Find names worth watching
Most expiring names are not worth catching. The expiring domains list ranks expired and just-dropped names by a quality score you can check:
- real-site history from the Wayback Machine (for example "Real website in 83% of sampled snapshots, ~7.9y of real content"),
- Common Crawl presence,
- dictionary words,
- referring subnets from the Majestic Million,
- spam checks.
Parked and spammy names are hidden by default. You can filter by TLD, availability (available now, pending delete, redemption, recently expired), minimum quality, length, age and maximum price, and exclude hyphens and numbers.
The Drop Radar uses the same data and adds presets and alerts:
- Short & brandable: up to 7 letters, brand score 60+, no hyphens or digits
- AI names
- Dictionary .com
- Real history
- Cheap & good
- Dropping this week
Every name is scored 0–100 with plain-English reasons, so you can see why it ranks where it does.
Option 1: watch a single domain
If you already know the name you want, set a watch. You get a notification when it changes status or drops.
POST /api/v1/watch
{"domain":"example.com","email":"you@example.com"}
Use webhook_url instead of (or as well as) email. Webhook events are domain.status_changed and domain.available. On the site, starring a name that is not registrable yet (☆) does the same job. Agents can use the watch_domain MCP tool.
Option 2: save a Radar search
If you want any name that matches a pattern, save a Radar search as an alert:
POST /api/v1/radar/alerts
{"filters":{ ...same filters as the Radar page... },"webhook_url":"https://your.app/hook"}
You get a radar.match event when new names match or a pending-delete name drops. Each event includes a ready order body. Webhooks are signed: the X-StableDomains-Signature header is a sha256 HMAC of the body using the secret returned when you create the alert. Email alerts use double opt-in.
Limits: free, 3 alerts per IP or 25 with an API key, and up to 20 events per alert per day. Agents use the radar_alert MCP tool.
Option 3: feeds
Every Radar filter is also a feed:
- RSS:
/radar/rss.xml - JSON Feed:
/radar/feed.json - Expiring list RSS:
/expiring/rss.xml
Point any feed reader, Slack RSS app or automation tool at them.
Catching the drop
When a name becomes available, it shows "Available — just dropped" with a Buy button. Register it like any other name, paying in USDC or USDT on seven networks (see how to buy a domain with USDC). Radar alert events carry a ready order body, so a script or agent can create the order straight away:
POST /api/v1/orders
{"domain":"freephotodating.com","chain":"base","token":"USDC"}
An alert tells you a name is free; it does not reserve it. Someone else can register a name at the moment it drops, so act quickly.
Check a name before you buy
- Domain value estimate: heuristic USD value with a factor breakdown.
- WHOIS / RDAP lookup: registrar, dates, status, nameservers.
- The Wayback link on each listing shows what the site used to be. Avoid names with a spam or adult past if you plan a clean brand.
Related
Agents can set a drop alert over x402 for $0.01 with /api/v1/alerts, or follow the drops skill file. Uptime and data freshness are on the status page.
FAQ
How do I get notified when a domain drops?
Set a free watch with POST /api/v1/watch (email or webhook), or star the name on the expiring list. For any name matching a filter, save a Radar alert.
Can I register a domain in redemption? No. Only the previous owner can restore it. Watch it and register it once it shows Available.
How accurate is the drop date? It is an estimate based on the lifecycle stage. Registries do not all publish exact times.
Are the alerts free? Yes: 3 Radar alerts per IP, 25 with an API key, up to 20 events per alert per day. Domain watches are free too.
Is there an API for expiring domains?
Yes. GET /api/v1/radar is free (25 rows plus a summary). See the just-dropped domains API guide.
Can my AI agent catch drops?
Yes, with the MCP tools find_dropping_domains, drop_radar, radar_alert, watch_domain and create_order. See the MCP server.