The Application Programming Interface, related endpoints, API credentials, and technical documentation made available by WHC (together, the “API”) are operated by WHC Online Solutions Inc. (hereinafter “WHC”). These API Terms of Service (hereinafter the “API Terms”) supplement, and form part of, WHC’s Terms and Conditions of Service, Acceptable Use Policy, Domain Names Terms & Conditions, Privacy Policy, and the other policies published at https://whc.ca/legal (together, the “Terms and Conditions”).
By enabling the API, generating API credentials, or sending any request to the API, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by these API Terms in addition to the Terms and Conditions. If you do not agree, do not enable or use the API. Capitalized terms not defined here have the meaning given in the Terms and Conditions.
In case of any conflict or inconsistency, the Terms and Conditions govern, except on matters specific to the API, which these API Terms govern.
These API Terms were last modified on 2026-07-10 and apply to all users of the API. WHC may modify these API Terms from time to time to adapt to changing technologies, laws, and regulations. WHC may, at its sole discretion, provide prior written notice of significant changes but is not obligated to do so. Any changes shall enter into force within thirty (30) days of their publication at https://whc.ca/legal.
1. Eligibility and Acceptance
The API is available only to WHC clients with an account in good standing who have the legal capacity to contract. If you enable the API on behalf of a corporation, you certify that you are a duly authorized representative of that corporation and that you have the authority to bind it to these API Terms.
2. Access and License
Subject to these API Terms and the Terms and Conditions, WHC grants you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, and revocable right to access and use the API to purchase, provision, and manage WHC services for your own account and on behalf of your customers.
You may not: (a) resell, sublicense, or otherwise make the API itself available to any third party; (b) permit any customer or third party to use your API credentials; (c) use the API to build or operate a product whose primary purpose is to replicate or resell access to the API; or (d) use the API for any purpose other than the legitimate provisioning and management of WHC services.
WHC may add, change, or remove the services accessible through the API over time.
3. API Credentials and Security
WHC will issue you API credentials (keys, tokens, or secrets). You are entirely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality and security of your API credentials and for all activity that occurs under them, whether or not authorized by you. You agree to notify WHC immediately of any unauthorized use of your API credentials or any other breach of security.
You must not share your API credentials, embed them in client-side or publicly accessible code, or transmit them insecurely. WHC will not be liable for any loss you may incur as a result of another party using your API credentials, with or without your knowledge, and you may be held liable for losses incurred by WHC or another party arising from such use. WHC may revoke or require rotation of API credentials where necessary to protect the API or WHC infrastructure.
4. Provisioning for Your Customers
Where you use the API to provision or manage services for your customers, the Reselling provisions of the Terms and Conditions (Section 12) apply, and in addition:
- You contract directly with your customers. WHC has no contractual relationship with, and owes no obligations to, your customers.
- You are responsible for ensuring and enforcing that every customer for whom you provision services through the API abides by the Terms and Conditions, the Acceptable Use Policy, and all applicable policies.
- You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless WHC, its officers, directors, and employees from any and all liabilities, costs, and expenses, including reasonable legal fees, related to or arising from any act or omission of any such customer that would be a breach of the Terms and Conditions if committed by you.
- You are responsible for providing timely support to your customers, and you understand that WHC may deal directly with a customer where required by law, by an applicable registry or registrar requirement, or to protect the security or integrity of its services, including as described in Section 12 of the Terms and Conditions.
5. Acceptable Use of the API
Your use of the API is subject to the Acceptable Use Policy and to the following. You must not:
- exceed, evade, or attempt to evade applicable rate limits (see Section 6), or otherwise place an unreasonable load on the API or WHC infrastructure;
- use the API to perform mass domain availability checks, harvest availability data, or gain an unfair advantage in, or circumvent, WHC’s domain auction, backorder, or drop-catching platforms, which are governed by their own separate terms;
- scrape, harvest, or bulk-extract WHOIS, registrant, pricing, or other data except as strictly necessary to provision and manage services you or your customers have purchased;
- reverse engineer, decompile, or attempt to derive the source code or underlying structure of the API, except to the extent this restriction is prohibited by applicable law;
- conduct security testing, penetration testing, or vulnerability scanning against the API or WHC systems without WHC’s prior written authorization; or
- use the API for any unlawful, infringing, abusive, or deceptive purpose, or in a manner that violates any applicable registry or registrar requirement.
6. Rate Limits and Fair Use
WHC applies rate limits and fair-use thresholds to the API, published in the documentation at https://api.whc.ca and subject to change. WHC may throttle, queue, or reject requests that exceed these limits. Sustained or deliberate breach of applicable rate limits is a violation of these API Terms and may result in suspension under Section 13.
7. Fees
Enabling the API is free. Services purchased or provisioned through the API are billed at your applicable rates under the Terms and Conditions, in the same manner as services purchased through any other WHC channel. You set your own prices to your customers; those prices are a matter between you and your customers, and you remain responsible for all amounts owed to WHC regardless of what your customers pay you. All fees are exclusive of applicable taxes. WHC may introduce fees specific to the API on no less than thirty (30) days’ notice, published at https://whc.ca/legal.
8. Domain Names via the API
Domain name registrations, renewals, and transfers performed through the API remain subject to the Domain Names Terms & Conditions and to all applicable registry and registrar requirements. You determine who is listed as the registrant for each domain name you register through the API, whether that is you or your customer. You are responsible for ensuring that each registrant is bound by the applicable requirements and for submitting and maintaining complete and accurate registrant and registration data, as required under the Domain Names Terms & Conditions and by ICANN and CIRA.
9. API Availability
The API is provided on a best-effort basis. WHC does not offer a separate service level agreement or uptime guarantee for the API. The server availability guarantee in Section 14.3 of the Terms and Conditions applies to the underlying services, not to the availability of the API itself. WHC may perform scheduled or emergency maintenance and may make features available on a beta or preview basis “as is.” WHC is not liable for API unavailability, latency, or interruption, subject to Section 12.
10. Changes, Versioning, and Deprecation
WHC may modify, add to, or discontinue the API or any endpoint at any time. For changes WHC reasonably determines to be breaking (that is, not backward-compatible), WHC will use reasonable efforts to provide at least ninety (90) days’ prior notice through the documentation at https://api.whc.ca or another reasonable channel, and to maintain the affected version during that period. WHC may make changes with immediate effect where required for security, legal compliance, or to protect the integrity of its services. You are responsible for keeping your integration current.
11. Intellectual Property
As between the parties, WHC owns all right, title, and interest in and to the API and its documentation, and the WHC trademarks referred to in Section 22 of the Terms and Conditions. No implied licenses are granted, and WHC reserves all rights not expressly granted here. You may not use WHC’s names, logos, or trademarks without WHC’s prior written consent, except as reasonably required to describe your integration with WHC. If you provide feedback or suggestions about the API, you grant WHC a perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free right to use it without restriction.
12. Disclaimer and Limitation of Liability
The disclaimers and limitation of liability set out in Section 19 of the Terms and Conditions apply in full to your access to and use of the API. In addition, and to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, the API is provided “as is” and “as available,” and WHC makes no warranty that the API will be uninterrupted, timely, secure, or error-free, or that defects will be corrected. Nothing in these API Terms limits any liability or warranty that cannot be limited or excluded under applicable law, including the Civil Code of Québec.
13. Suspension and Termination
WHC may suspend or terminate your access to the API, in whole or in part, without prior notice, where WHC reasonably believes it is necessary to address a security risk, abuse, or rate-limit breach, to comply with law or an applicable registry or registrar requirement, to protect its services or other clients, or where you are past due on amounts owed. WHC will attempt to notify you of any suspension or termination, but may act without prior warning to avoid serious harm or service degradation.
Termination or expiry of the Terms and Conditions, or closure of your WHC account, automatically terminates your access to the API. On termination, your rights under Section 2 end and your API credentials are revoked. Services already provisioned through the API continue to be governed by the Terms and Conditions and the applicable registry and registrar requirements.
14. Assignment
You may not assign or transfer these API Terms, or any rights or obligations under them, without WHC’s prior written consent. WHC may assign these API Terms to an affiliate or in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets.
15. Language
A French-language version of these API Terms is available at https://whc.ca/mentions-legales/termes-de-services-api.
16. Applicable Law and Jurisdiction
These API Terms and their interpretation are subject to the laws of the Province of Quebec and the laws of Canada applicable therein, without giving effect to any principles of conflicts of laws. The parties must irrevocably submit all disputes arising out of these API Terms to the courts of the District of Montreal, Province of Quebec.
17. Severability and Survival
Should any provision of these API Terms be contrary to law, void, unenforceable, or illegal for any reason, that provision shall be deemed severable and shall not affect the validity or enforceability of the remaining provisions. Provisions relating to fees owed, disclaimers, limitation of liability, indemnification, intellectual property, and any provision that must survive to fulfill its essential purpose survive termination of these API Terms.
18. Entire Agreement and Priority
These API Terms, together with the Terms and Conditions, the related policies at https://whc.ca/legal, and any Service Orders signed by the parties, constitute the entire agreement between the parties regarding the API. In case of any dispute or inconsistency, any Service Order takes first priority and the Terms and Conditions take second priority in interpreting the parties’ rights and obligations; these API Terms are interpreted consistently with them on API-specific matters.
19. Questions and Complaints
For questions about these API Terms, please contact WHC through the helpdesk in your Client Area. Complaints or policy violations must be reported to [email protected] or by mail at Web Hosting Canada, 7250 Clark Street #301, Montreal, Quebec H2R 2Y3 Canada.
