​
Overview

Domain expiry monitoring is automatically enabled for every website you monitor. There’s no setup required - when you add a site, Watchman Tower starts tracking its domain expiration date immediately.
Domain monitoring works automatically for all monitors. You don’t need to configure anything extra!

​
How It Works

Automatic Detection

When you create a monitor, we automatically extract and verify the domain information

Expiry Tracking

We read the registration expiry date from public WHOIS and RDAP records, and re-check it daily once the domain is within 30 days of expiring

Proactive Alerts

You receive reminders 30, 14, 7, 3, and 1 day before expiration

Expired Status

The day after expiration, you receive one “domain expired” notice, and the domain is shown as Expired in the dashboard

​
Alert Schedule

You’ll receive domain expiration alerts at these intervals:
Days Before ExpiryAlert TypePurpose
30 daysFirst WarningEarly heads-up to plan renewal
14 daysSecond WarningTime to initiate renewal process
7 daysUrgent WarningCritical: Renewal needed soon
3 daysCritical WarningRenew now if it has not been done
1 dayFinal WarningLast chance before expiration
After expiryExpired NoticeSent once, within 7 days after the expiry date
Reminders are checked once a day. If a site is added when its domain is already inside one of these windows, you receive the nearest reminder on the next daily run. The expired notice is sent once per expiry, only if the expiry date is within the last 7 days; domains that expired long ago do not trigger it.
Domain expiration can cause complete website downtime. Always renew before the expiration date!

​
What Information We Track

For each monitored domain, we track:
  • Domain Name: The root domain (e.g., example.com)
  • Expiration Date: When the domain registration expires
  • Registrar: Where the domain is registered
  • Days Remaining: Countdown to expiration
  • Status: Active, Expiring Soon, or Expired

​
Notification Channels

Domain expiry reminders are sent to the account that owns the site, on every plan:

Email Notifications

Sent to the account’s verified email address

Push Notifications

Sent to the Watchman Tower mobile app
Reminders also appear in the in-app notification list. Slack and SMS are not used for domain expiry reminders.

​
Alert Example

Your domain example.com expires in 30 days.

​
Dashboard View

View all your domain expiration dates in one place:
  • Domains List: All monitored domains with registrar, expiry date, and days left
  • Status: Active, Expiring Soon (30 days or less), or Expired
  • Search and Filter: Find a domain or filter the list by status
  • Export: Download the list as CSV, Excel, or JSON

​
Frequently Asked Questions

No! Domain monitoring is automatically enabled for every website you add. Just create a monitor and we handle the rest.
No. Reminders are sent at fixed points: 30, 14, 7, 3, and 1 day before expiration, plus one notice after the domain expires.
After expiration, your domain may enter a grace period, then redemption period, before becoming available for others to register. Your website will be inaccessible.
Domain monitoring is a core feature and cannot be disabled.
Yes! We automatically monitor SSL certificate expiration, with reminders starting 30 days before the certificate expires. This is separate from domain monitoring.
We track the root domain expiration. If you monitor multiple subdomains (blog.example.com, shop.example.com), they all share the same root domain expiry date.

​
Best Practices

Pro Tip: Enable auto-renewal at your domain registrar to avoid expiration issues entirely.
Recommended Actions:
  1. Enable Auto-Renewal: Most registrars offer automatic renewal - turn it on
  2. Keep Payment Info Updated: Ensure your registrar has current payment details
  3. Use Both Channels: Verify your account email and install the mobile app so reminders reach you twice
  4. Plan Ahead: Renew when you get the 30-day alert, not the final warning
  5. Check Regularly: Review the dashboard monthly for upcoming expirations

​
Supported Domain Types

Domain expiry monitoring works with:
  • ✅ Generic TLDs (.com, .net, .org, .info, etc.)
  • ✅ New TLDs (.app, .dev, .blog, .shop, etc.)
  • ✅ Country code TLDs whose registry publishes the expiry date
Some registries, mostly country code TLDs, do not publish an expiry date in WHOIS or RDAP. If the expiry date cannot be read, we try again after 1, 3, 7, and 14 days, and the site’s Domain Expiration card says so while we retry. If it still cannot be read, the card says the domain cannot be tracked and no reminders are sent. Track those domains at your registrar.

​
Next Steps

Create Your First Monitor

Add a website and start domain monitoring automatically

Configure Alerts

Set up notification channels for incident alerts

Email Notifications

Configure email alerts for domain expiration

Slack Integration

Get incident alerts in your Slack channels