# runs-on.dev

A free subdomain registry: claim yourname.runs-on.dev with a GitHub account, and the claim itself is one git commit to a public repository.

Status: Live.

## What it is

runs-on.dev gives away subdomains under a domain Advance Labs registered and is responsible for. There is no hidden database: the registry is a directory of JSON files, the history is the git log, and the rules CI checks on every pull request are readable in lib/. A wildcard *.runs-on.dev DNS record points every possible subdomain at one Vercel project, so claiming a name is a git commit rather than a DNS write; pointing a name at your own hosting merges a record and a GitHub Actions workflow pushes it to Vercel's DNS API. Open source, AGPL-3.0.

## Why we built it

A real top-level domain means an ICANN application; the 2026 round's evaluation fee alone is $227,000, before a registry exists to back it. That is not a plausible way to get a distinctive address for a side project. runs-on.dev gets the same feeling — an ending other than vercel.app or github.io — for the cost of one domain, by giving subdomains away and keeping the registry itself public and auditable. It follows prior art (is-a.dev, js.org, eu.org) rather than inventing a new trust model.

## What it proves

That we ship developer infrastructure we would use ourselves — Ninebrains' own public site runs on a claimed name (ninebrains.runs-on.dev), and the first project anyone else built on it (Overlap, a timezone scheduler) resolved with a valid certificate before any DNS was configured for it specifically. Saying plainly what the registry is, instead of dressing it up as a TLD, is the trust model, not a caveat on it.

## Facts

- **ICANN evaluation fee: $227,000** — The 2026 new-gTLD round's evaluation fee alone, cited as why a subdomain registry exists instead. (source: runs-on.dev/README.md (§Why this exists))
- **Record types: 5** — CNAME, A, TXT, MX, URL — the combinations DNS actually permits. (source: runs-on.dev/README.md (§Point it at your own hosting))
- **License: AGPL-3.0** — Network-service copyleft; code up to commit 3492bf7 stayed MIT under NOTICE. (source: runs-on.dev/README.md (§License), runs-on.dev/NOTICE)
- **Claim limit: 1 name / GitHub account** — Account must be 30+ days old with one public repository. (source: runs-on.dev/README.md (§The rules))

## Links

- [Repository](https://github.com/zordhalo/runs-on.dev)
- [Site](https://runs-on.dev)
- [Policy](https://runs-on.dev/policy)

License: AGPL-3.0 (https://github.com/zordhalo/runs-on.dev/blob/main/LICENSE)
Platforms: Web

— An Advance Labs instrument. https://advancelabs.dev/lab/runs-on