URL: /quickstart

---
title: Quickstart
description: Sign up, mint an API key, and register a domain — five minutes.
---

By the end you'll have a working API key and a domain registered against your org's balance. Five minutes if you're not stopping for tea.

## Prerequisites

- A DomainGenius account ([sign up](https://domaingenius.com.au/signup) — free).
- A [`bun`](https://bun.sh) or `curl` you can run.
- For `.au` domains: an ABN. Other TLDs have no eligibility check.

## 1. Top up the org balance

In the dashboard, [Billing → Top up](https://app.domaingenius.com.au/dashboard/billing). $50 is plenty for a `.com.au`.

## 2. Mint an API key

[API keys → New key](https://app.domaingenius.com.au/dashboard/api-keys). Give it `availability:read` and `domains:write`. Copy the value (it's only shown once).

```bash
export DG_KEY=dg_live_...
```

## 3. Find your org OID

```bash
curl -s https://api.domaingenius.com.au/api/v1/me/orgs \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $DG_KEY" | bun -e \
  'const r = await Bun.stdin.json(); console.log(r.items[0].oid);'
```

```text Output
org_01HF82YV...
```

```bash
export DG_ORG=org_01HF82YV...
```

## 4. Check availability

```bash
curl "https://api.domaingenius.com.au/api/v1/domains/availability?domain=hello-world.com.au" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $DG_KEY"
```

```json
{
  "domain": "hello-world.com.au",
  "available": true,
  "register_price_aud": 24.95
}
```

## 5. Register it

```bash
curl -X POST "https://api.domaingenius.com.au/api/v1/orgs/$DG_ORG/domains/hello-world.com.au/register" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $DG_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "years": 1 }'
```

```json
{
  "status": "registered",
  "domain": "hello-world.com.au",
  "expires_at": "2027-05-01T00:00:00Z"
}
```

The domain shows up in the dashboard immediately. DNS, contacts, and forwarding can be configured next — see the relevant guides.

## What now

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Configure DNS" icon="globe" href="/guides/dns-records">
    Add A, MX, TXT records or apply a preset.
  </Card>
  <Card title="Set contacts" icon="users" href="/guides/contacts-and-whois">
    Registrant, admin, technical, billing.
  </Card>
  <Card title="Try the MCP" icon="bot" href="/mcp/introduction">
    Drive the same flows from Claude or Cursor.
  </Card>
  <Card title="Read the API reference" icon="code" href="/api/introduction">
    Every endpoint, with a try-it.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>