# DNS-AID discovery record

> DNS-AID discovery record: Lets agents read discovery information over DNS without an HTTP round trip. Cloudflare added it to its readiness checklist.

- Source: /checks/dns-aid
- Site: AgenticWebScore
- Language: English

---
Lets agents read discovery information over DNS without an HTTP round trip. Cloudflare added it to its readiness checklist.

| Property | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Check id | `dns-aid` |
| Dimension | Discoverability (20%) |
| Tier | Emerging — pool 5 pts |
| Weight inside tier | 2 |
| Impact | Medium |
| Maturity | Experimental — An early convention that may still change shape. |
| Conditional | No |
| Publishing skill | `dns-aid` |
| Standards | — |

## What is measured

The scanner queries DNS-AID records over DNS: SVCB records (RR type 64) at the organization entry point _index._agents.<domain>, as defined by DNS-AID (draft-mozleywilliams-dnsop-dnsaid), and at _agent.<domain>, the older single-record form. It does not query the agent names an index advertises. Pass = at least one SVCB record resolves with a TargetName and at least one SvcParamKey such as well-known, alpn, port or cap. Partial = only the TXT fallback form is published, or a record exists but carries no SvcParamKeys. Fail = NXDOMAIN, or no SVCB and no TXT record at those names. Not measured = the DNS-over-HTTPS resolver answers none of the DNS-AID questions.

## Reproduce it yourself

You do not have to take our word for any of this. Run the same measurement against your own domain:

```bash
DOMAIN=example.com
dig +short TYPE64 _index._agents.$DOMAIN; dig +short TYPE64 assistant.$DOMAIN
```

## The fix

This is the artifact to ship. It is the complete change, not a description of one.

```text
; DNS-AID records for example.com (draft-mozleywilliams-dnsop-dnsaid)

; Organization index entry point: the agents this domain advertises.
_index._agents.example.com. 3600 IN SVCB 1 agent-index.example.com (
    alpn="h2"
    port=443
    well-known=agent-card.json
)

; One SVCB record per advertised agent.
assistant.example.com. 3600 IN SVCB 1 . (
    alpn="mcp,h2"
    port=443
    ipv4hint=192.0.2.1
    ipv6hint=2001:db8::1
    well-known=agent-card.json
    cap=https://example.com/.well-known/agent-card.json
)
```

> TYPE64 is the SVCB record type by number, which also answers on older dig builds where the SVCB mnemonic silently returns nothing; publish on the authoritative nameservers for the apex domain, not on www.

## Related checks

| Check | Tier | Impact | Same skill |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `reachable` — Homepage open to agent access | Essential | Critical | — |
| `robots-txt` — robots.txt with agent directives | Essential | High | — |
| `sitemap-xml` — sitemap.xml valid and current | Essential | High | — |
| `llms-txt` — /llms.txt published and well-structured | Essential | Critical | — |
| `link-headers` — Discovery via Link response headers | Emerging | Medium | — |
| `canonical` — Canonical and hreflang discipline | Recommended | Medium | — |
| `llms-full` — /llms-full.txt expanded context | Recommended | Low | — |
| `agents-md` — AGENTS.md with the required sections | Recommended | High | — |