How to renew a .ton domain

A .ton domain is not rented from a registrar. It is an NFT, and its term is a timestamp inside the item contract, last_fill_up_time: the domain is valid for 366 days after it. To renew, the owner sends one transaction that rewrites the item — the timestamp becomes "now" and a new year starts.

1. Find the end date

• Open apiton.org/domain/<name>.ton, for example foundation.ton: the page shows the expiry date and the days left.
• Or send name.ton to @apitonBot for a live read.
• Domains expiring soon lists the names whose year ends within 30 days.

The bot does not send a reminder before a domain expires, so note the date.

2. Renew it from the owner wallet

Every domain page on apiton.org links to the domain on dns.ton.org, the TON DNS app ("Open on dns.ton.org"). There:

1. Open https://dns.ton.org/#<name>.
2. Connect the wallet that owns the domain with TON Connect.
3. Choose to renew the domain. Editing one of its DNS records renews it as well.
4. Check the transaction your wallet shows and confirm it.

Some wallets offer a renew button on the domain's NFT too; it sends the same kind of transaction. Renewing does not cost the domain's price again: you pay the network fee and the small amount the message carries, and your wallet shows the total before you sign.

3. Know what renewing does

The new year starts at the moment of the transaction, not at the old end date: renewing two months early does not add those two months. Renewing often is fine — each time, the domain is valid for 366 days from that day.

4. Check the new date

Open the domain in @apitonBot — the card is read live. The page on apiton.org is cached for up to about ten minutes, and lists follow later, when the catalog re-reads the domain.

If the year has already run out

Nothing happens the second a domain expires, and the old owner stays recorded. But from then on anyone may send the domain dns_balance_release with at least its minimum price: that starts a one-week release auction, every bid at least 5 % higher than the last, and the previous owner loses the domain. So renew before the date. Domains in that state are listed under expired .ton domains; the details are in How .ton domains expire.