The Live TON Sites directory: screenshots of sites on .ton domains

The Live TON Sites directory on apiton.org lists the .ton domains that serve a website of their own inside the TON network. Since October 2026 each row shows a screenshot of the site's first screen, so you can see what a site looks like before you open it. This article explains what a TON Site is, how to open one, how the directory is built and what the screenshots can and cannot tell you.

What a TON Site is

A .ton domain is an NFT on TON DNS. Besides pointing to a wallet, its owner can set a site record. That record points either to the ADNL address of a server reached over the TON network, or to a TON Storage bag that holds the site's files. Neither needs an ordinary web host, an IP address or a certificate: the browser talks to the site through the TON network itself.

The details of resolution, record categories and the two kinds of sites are in How TON DNS and TON Sites work.

How to open a TON Site

An ordinary browser cannot resolve .ton names on its own. You need one of these:

• A TON proxy on your computer. A small app (for example Tonutils Proxy) runs a local proxy that resolves .ton names and fetches pages over the TON network. You point your browser's proxy settings at it and type http://<name>.ton/ in the address bar.
• A wallet or browser with TON proxy support built in. Some TON wallets and their browser extensions can open .ton addresses directly. Support differs between apps and versions, so check the settings of the one you use.
• The apiton viewer. Every live site in the directory has a View button. It opens the site through apiton's gateway (site.apiton.org) in a sandbox on the domain's page — for example foundation.ton. There is also an "Open in a new tab" link. Nothing needs to be installed, but the page you see has passed through apiton's gateway rather than straight from the TON network to you.

How apiton finds and checks the sites

The list comes from the catalog apiton keeps of all .ton domains:

1. The site record. For every domain apiton reads its DNS records on-chain and keeps the site record. This step only reads the blockchain; no site is contacted.
2. The probe. Every domain with a site record is probed: a plain GET / over the TON network, sent with the domain's own name as the host. The answer is classified as live, parked (a "domain for sale" page, a hosting placeholder, a redirect away from TON), an error or unreachable. Live sites are re-checked every few hours.
3. The rank. Live sites are ordered by uptime over 30 days, speed, links from other live .ton sites, content and age. Copies of the same page on many domains count once.

Every step, the parked-page rules and the weights of the rank are described in Live TON Sites: how apiton finds and ranks sites.

Where the screenshots come from

A screenshot is taken by apiton's own servers, not by your browser:

• a headless browser opens http://<name>.ton/ the way a visitor with a TON proxy would. It runs in its own isolated container whose only way out is a proxy that reaches .ton sites over the TON network and nothing else;
• every screenshot starts with a fresh browser profile (no cookies, no storage from the site before) and is limited in time and size;
• apiton stores a small copy of the first screen and draws the directory card from it. Your browser loads that card from apiton.org and never contacts the TON Site to show it;
• the top sites of the directory are refreshed every few days; other sites get their screenshot when someone first looks at them in the list.

A screenshot shows the site as it looked when it was taken. A site that loads slowly, needs resources from the ordinary web or changes often may look different when you open it. When no screenshot is available yet, the card shows the site's title instead.

The directory

• Live TON Sites — every live site, ordered by rank, 50 per page, with its screenshot, title, 30-day uptime and the date it came alive.
• Recently live — the same sites ordered by when they came alive, newest first. The home page shows the five newest.
• Each domain's page — for example foundation.ton — has a TON Site block with the status, the page title, uptime, response time and when it was last checked, plus the View button.

The numbers come from the public apiton API. v2.Catalog/List with "site":"live" returns the same list; see Using the apiton API with curl.

Privacy and safety

• TON Sites are third-party content. apiton does not host, review or vouch for them. "Live" means the site answered with its own content, not that it is safe.
• Never enter a seed phrase or a private key on a site because it looks like a wallet or an exchange. Phishing works on .ton sites as it does on the ordinary web.
• The viewer is sandboxed. The site runs without access to apiton.org's cookies or storage. It cannot open camera, microphone, location or payments, and forms are not passed on. Pages that come through the gateway are cached for at most ten minutes.
• Who sees your visit. When you use the viewer, the TON Site sees apiton's gateway, not your IP address; apiton's gateway handles the request. With your own TON proxy, the request goes over the TON network from your computer.
• Something should not be listed? Sites and domains are removed only by a manual takedown; see takedown requests.

To check a domain's owner, expiry and sale status in Telegram, send its name to @apitonBot.