An email sent to the Automaton must include a subject line specifying the operation type (see below), body text and a PGP signature.

Subject line

Each e-mail sent to the Automaton must specify an operation in the subject line, which must read TAG OPERATION, where TAG is your tag-name in block capitals, and OPERATION is chosen from the operation list below.

Body text

Fields should be specified using the following form, where [Field] is replaced by the field name and [Value] by the value you wish to use.  Any spaces or tabs immediately after the colon will be stripped out and there should not be a space or tab before the colon:

[Field]:[Value]

key:automaton-example.co.uk

There is a full list of the allowable fields and their definitions.

Some fields can be blanked, using the word 'null' as the value.

Each e-mail may contain up to 100 separate requests, each of which must share the same operation as the subject header.  Each request should be separated by one or more blank lines.

Any e-mail signatures or other extraneous text at the bottom of the message are likely to be interpreted by the Automaton as a request, and will generate error messages.

PGP Signatures

All e-mails to the Automaton must be PGP-signed with a registered PGP key. See PGP registration for more details.

Operation List

REQUEST This operation is used to register a domain name. The domain can only be within one of the Second Level Domains (SLDs) that we manage. sch.uk domain names cannot be registered through this operation, see the sch.uk section for further details.

MODIFY This operation is used to make changes to an existing domain name registration, for example if the registrant moves address.  Not all of the information held for a registration can be changed by the registrar (see field definitions).

account MODIFY This operation is used to make changes to an existing registrant account, for example if the registrant moves address.

nameserver MODIFY This operation is used to make changes to an existing nameserver object.

contact MODIFY This operation is used to make changes to an existing contact object.

RELEASE This operation is used to change the tag of a domain name.  The only way for a tag holder to change the tag on a domain name is to release control of a name currently on their tag to another Nominet tag holder.

RECEIVE This operation is used as part of the Registrar Change Handshake mechanism to either accept or reject a domain moving onto one of your tags.

RENEW This operation is used to renew a domain name registration and can only be carried out during the renewal period.

QUERY This operation is used to obtain full details of a domain name registered on your tag. It cannot be used to get additional information on a domain not on your tag.

DELETE This operation is used to delete a domain name registration made in error. The DELETE operation must not be used to delete a domain name registered on purpose but not now needed or wanted, or to allow transfer of the domain name to a third party.

LIST This operation is used to obtain a list of details of all or some of the domain names on your tag. This list is a format that can more easily be manipulated programmatically.

BULK This operation is used to carry out a bulk modification or query on some or all domains on your tag. It uses a programmer-friendly syntax that gives you a high degree of control over those changes.