DNS Propagation Grounding Data

Overview

DNS Propagation Checker works by querying the same DNS record from multiple geographically distributed DNS servers. This helps identify if recent DNS changes have propagated globally or if some regions still have cached old records.

Live Test DNS Propagation Grounding Data Source →

The tool

Once your client is connected to the VerveContext server, this appears in its tool list as DNSPropagationGroundingData. It is read-only and open-world — it fetches and never mutates anything on your side — so most clients call it without asking you to confirm.

Tool call

{
  "name": "DNSPropagationGroundingData",
  "arguments": {
    "domain": "google.com"
  }
}

You do not name the tool yourself; the model picks it. Asking about google.com in the terms this source covers is enough for it to reach for DNSPropagationGroundingData on its own — naming it explicitly also works, and is the way to force the call.

Connecting

One server URL covers every source in the catalog, including this one. Authorization is OAuth: the client opens a browser once, and there is no key to paste into a config file.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "vervecontext": {
      "url": "https://api.vervecontext.com/v1/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Per-client setup — Claude, Cursor, VS Code, ChatGPT — is on the MCP setup page.

Arguments

These are the properties on the tool's inputSchema, so a well-behaved client validates them before the call is made. Premium arguments are accepted on every plan but only take effect on plans that include them.

Argument	Type	Description
`domain`Required	string	The domain name to check propagation for domain
`type`Optional	string	The DNS record type to check `AAAAAMXNSTXTCNAME` default A

What the model gets back

The result carries a structuredContent object matching the tool's declared outputSchema, so a client reads fields without parsing prose. status is "ok" and error is null on success; a null field means the value was not available for that input, not that the call failed.

Result

{
  "status": "ok",
  "error": null,
  "data": {
    "domain": "google.com",
    "recordType": "A",
    "propagationComplete": true,
    "serversChecked": 10,
    "serversResponded": 10,
    "uniqueResponses": 1,
    "results": [
      {
        "server": "Google",
        "location": "United States",
        "ip": "8.8.8.8",
        "success": true,
        "records": [
          "142.250.80.46"
        ],
        "error": null,
        "responseTime": 23
      },
      {
        "server": "Cloudflare",
        "location": "Global",
        "ip": "1.1.1.1",
        "success": true,
        "records": [
          "142.250.80.46"
        ],
        "error": null,
        "responseTime": 18
      },
      {
        "server": "OpenDNS",
        "location": "United States",
        "ip": "208.67.222.222",
        "success": true,
        "records": [
          "142.250.80.46"
        ],
        "error": null,
        "responseTime": 31
      },
      {
        "server": "Quad9",
        "location": "Global",
        "ip": "9.9.9.9",
        "success": true,
        "records": [
          "142.250.80.46"
        ],
        "error": null,
        "responseTime": 25
      },
      {
        "server": "Control D",
        "location": "Global",
        "ip": "76.76.2.0",
        "success": true,
        "records": [
          "142.250.80.46"
        ],
        "error": null,
        "responseTime": 42
      },
      {
        "server": "Level3",
        "location": "United States",
        "ip": "4.2.2.1",
        "success": true,
        "records": [
          "142.250.80.46"
        ],
        "error": null,
        "responseTime": 28
      },
      {
        "server": "Verisign",
        "location": "United States",
        "ip": "64.6.64.6",
        "success": true,
        "records": [
          "142.250.80.46"
        ],
        "error": null,
        "responseTime": 35
      },
      {
        "server": "DNS4EU",
        "location": "Europe",
        "ip": "86.54.11.100",
        "success": true,
        "records": [
          "142.250.80.46"
        ],
        "error": null,
        "responseTime": 89
      },
      {
        "server": "Yandex",
        "location": "Russia",
        "ip": "77.88.8.8",
        "success": true,
        "records": [
          "142.250.80.46"
        ],
        "error": null,
        "responseTime": 112
      },
      {
        "server": "Hurricane Electric",
        "location": "United States",
        "ip": "74.82.42.42",
        "success": true,
        "records": [
          "142.250.80.46"
        ],
        "error": null,
        "responseTime": 29
      }
    ]
  }
}

Response fields

Paths are relative to data. Premium fields are absent rather than zeroed on plans that do not include them, so check for presence instead of comparing to 0.

Field	Type	Example	Description
`domain`	string	`google.com`	The domain name that was checked for propagation
`recordType`	string	`A`	The DNS record type that was queried (A, AAAA, MX, etc)
`propagationComplete`	boolean	`true`	Whether DNS has propagated across all servers
`serversChecked`	number	`10`	Total number of DNS servers checked globally
`serversResponded`	number	`10`	Number of servers that responded successfully
`uniqueResponses`	number	`1`	Number of unique DNS values returned by all servers
`results`	array[10]		Array of propagation results from each DNS server checked
`results.0.server`	string	`Google`	DNS server provider name (Google, Cloudflare, OpenDNS, etc)
`results.0.location`	string	`United States`	Geographic location of the DNS server
`results.0.ip`	string	`8.8.8.8`	IP address of the DNS server being queried
`results.0.success`	boolean	`true`	Whether the query to this server succeeded
`results.0.records`	array	`["142.250.80.46"]`	Array of DNS records returned by this server
`results.0.error`	object	`null`	Error message if query failed, null if successful
`results.0.responseTime`Premium	number	`23`	Response time in milliseconds from this DNS server

Why ground on it

A model can produce something that looks like this answer from its training data, and be confidently out of date or simply wrong. This source returns the current value in a shape you can check, which is the difference between an answer you can cite and one you have to hedge.

Point an evaluation at recordType: it is the field most worth pinning a claim to, and it is either present and current or absent — never plausibly invented.

Failure modes

Errors come back as tool errors carrying a sentence the model can act on, not a bare status code. Error handling covers the full list.

Status	What it means
`400` / `422`	The arguments did not validate. The message names the offending one.
`401`	The OAuth session is invalid or expired — reconnect the server.
`403`	Blocked by a key restriction or an IP allow-list. Never a bad identity.
`404`	This source is not part of VerveContext. Check the catalog.
`429`	Out of credits, or a brief rate limit. The message tells them apart.

A call costs 30 credits each time the tool actually runs; a model that reasons about the tool without calling it costs nothing.

Use cases

DNS Change Verification: Verify that DNS changes have propagated globally after updating nameservers, A records, or other DNS settings
Troubleshooting: Diagnose DNS issues by checking if different regions see different DNS values
Migration Monitoring: Monitor DNS propagation during domain or hosting migrations to know when it's safe to proceed
TTL Verification: Verify that TTL settings are working correctly by checking propagation timing

Other ways to use DNS Propagation Grounding Data

Set up DNS Propagation Grounding Data on VerveContext, or reach the same source a different way. Your VerveContext account and credits work on all of them — one key, one balance.

Call it as a REST APIOne HTTPS endpoint and an x-api-key header, with SDKs for Node, Python and .NET.APIVerve →Reference →

Give it to an AI agentConnect over MCP and your agent calls it as a native tool — Claude, Cursor, ChatGPT.VerveKit →Reference →

Google Sheets or ExcelA =VERVE() formula fills a column — no script, no export, recalculates in place.VerveSheets →Reference →