.proto
Is .proto a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
Nobody has applied for .proto in its own right, as of 8 October 2026. Identity Digital named .proto as the replacement string of its .nation application. Identity Digital named .proto as the replacement string of its .journal application. Identity Digital named .proto as the replacement string of its .ion application.
Fits prototypes and protocol projects, but 'proto' reads as unfinished, so few teams will make it their main address.
developers, hardware and software makers labelling prototypes and demos, plus crypto and networking projects branded as a "protocol" who want a short tech-flavoured address
No applications recorded for this TLD yet.
The 2012 applications making the most similar bet. Chosen by AI from every string in that round, without being told what happened to any of them.
Same bet: a clipped software-lifecycle insider word with no corporate owner, which only pays off if engineers will put a piece of their internal jargon on a public identity.
The canonical developer-shorthand bet — an abbreviation legible mainly inside the engineering trade, aimed at the same buyer who would front a protocol or tooling project on it.
Also a bet that a file-format string known only to one technical discipline can carry primary identities, though it rests on a vendor-controlled format rather than an open community's jargon.
What a .proto domain is
.proto is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, filed under AI & tech. Nobody has applied for .proto in its own right. It is named on ICANN’s list as part of an application for another string.
Is the .proto domain extension real yet?
.proto is not yet a domain extension you can register: nothing resolves under it, and no registrar sells names in it. Nobody has applied for it on the public record; the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round is the process that would decide whether it becomes one.
When can you buy a .proto domain?
You can’t yet. ICANN publishes every applied-for string on Reveal Day, 7 October 2026 at 18:00 UTC. A .proto name can only be registered after that, once the string is delegated and its registry opens. Last round's closest parallel to .proto was .prod, delegated on 29 August 2014.
Is .proto a real TLD?
Not yet. .proto is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because ICANN’s list names .proto as part of an application for another string. Every entry on this page links to its source.
“FCL2632T-T47217 · Fore Course, LLC · replacement string of .ion FCL2632T-T52245 · Fore Course, LLC · replacement string of .journal FCL2632T-T68083 · Fore Course, LLC · replacement string of .nation”ICANN
“FCL2632T-T31379 · Fore Course, LLC · primary · contention set 2026-50 XL2625T-T91094 · XYZ.COM LLC · primary · contention set 2026-50”ICANN
- Band chosen: 30-49, usable but limited. The string is a short, real English word-fragment with two live meanings in tech: 'prototype' (makers, hackathon and demo builds, early-stage products) and 'protocol' (crypto and networking projects that brand themselves as 'X Protocol', plus a nod to protobuf for developers). That gives it a genuine registration audience and some mid-length brandable demand, which keeps it out of the 10-29 vanity band. It is not in the 50-69 band because the dominant meaning works against primary-identity use: a prototype is by definition something you expect to replace, so a project that matures tends to migrate to a conventional developer address, and 'protocol' projects already have well-established homes. By analogy (flagged as analogy), developer-flavoured new gTLDs that lack a single big-platform sponsor tend to see steady but modest registrations and thin aftermarkets, while the one developer TLD that became a near-standard did so with heavy distribution and tooling backing; nothing in the verified facts shows that kind of backing here. The verified facts record one application, from Identity Digital (Fore Course, LLC), filed as a standard application and as a replacement string for .ion, with no contention recorded; a single uncontested standard application with no category tag suggests ordinary portfolio distribution rather than a community or platform push, which I read as neutral-to-modest for adoption. Main market uncertainty: whether the 'protocol' crowd in crypto and infrastructure treats .proto as a credible permanent brand (which would push it toward the top of the band or into strong-niche territory) or whether the 'prototype = temporary' reading dominates and keeps it a throwaway staging address. Specific figures on comparable TLD volumes or resale prices are unknown to me under the rules and are not asserted.