dog DNS Client

dog is a command-line DNS client written in Rust by Benjamin Sago (ogham, the same developer behind exa). With over 7,000 stars as of 2026, dog is designed as a modern, colorful alternative to the traditional dig command, providing more readable output and a simpler command syntax. dog uses colorful output to distinguish between different DNS record types and response sections, making DNS query results immediately understandable. Key features include: support for all major DNS record types (A, AAAA, MX, NS, CNAME, TXT, SOA, SRV, CAA, PTR, DNSKEY, DS, and more), JSON output format (--json for machine-readable results), customizable output formatting, multiple nameserver support (querying specific DNS servers via @server syntax), transport protocol selection (UDP, TCP, and TLS via --udp, --tcp, --tls flags), DNSSEC validation, colorized output with ANSI color codes (disabled when not in a terminal or when --color=never is specified), short and long output modes, query class selection (IN, CH, HS, and NONE), EDNS support (OPT records), reverse DNS lookups (--short mode for PTR queries), batch querying (multiple names or types in a single invocation), human-readable durations and timestamps, and configuration via ~/.dogrc file. dog aims to make DNS troubleshooting faster and more intuitive than dig, with a focus on sensible defaults and clean presentation. The project is written in Rust using trust-dns-proto and trust-dns-resolver libraries.