DNS Resolver with Compressed Trie

A small full-stack project that demonstrates how a DNS resolver can be built on top of a compressed trie for fast look-ups while persisting results on disk. The Flask backend exposes a simple HTTP API, and a React + Vite frontend lets you query domains and visualise the trie in real time.

Tech Stack

• Backend: Python 3.11, Flask, Gunicorn
• Data structure: Custom compressed trie (backend/ct.py)
• Storage: JSON file via DNSStorage
• Frontend: React 18, Vite, Tailwind CSS
• Containerisation: Docker & Docker Compose, Nginx (serves the built frontend)

API Overview

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	/resolve?domain=	Resolve a domain; fetches and stores if new
POST	/store	Store a randomly generated IP for a domain
GET	/trie	Return the current trie structure

The backend listens on port 5000 inside the container.

Project Structure

backend/          # Flask API, compressed trie, storage layer
frontend/         # React UI that consumes the API and renders the trie
Dockerfile.*      # Image definitions for each service
docker-compose.yml

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Docker and Docker Compose 1.29+ installed

Prefer a manual setup? See “Running locally without Docker” below.

Quick Start (Docker)

git clone <repository-url>
cd dnsResolver
# build images and start both services
docker compose up --build

Once the containers are ready:

• Frontend: http://localhost:8080
• Backend API: http://localhost:5000

Running locally without Docker

Backend (Flask):

cd backend
python -m venv .venv && source .venv/bin/activate  # Windows: .venv\Scripts\activate
pip install -r requirements.txt
python app.py   # runs on http://127.0.0.1:5000

Frontend (React/Vite):

cd frontend
npm install
npm run dev      # by default on http://localhost:5173

Example API Usage

# Resolve a domain
curl "http://localhost:5000/resolve?domain=google.com"

# Store a random IP for a domain
curl -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{"domain":"example.com"}' \
     http://localhost:5000/store

# Retrieve the current trie
curl http://localhost:5000/trie

Deployment Notes

The provided Dockerfiles are production-ready:

• Dockerfile.backend installs only run-time dependencies and serves the app via Gunicorn.
• Dockerfile.frontend uses a multi-stage build; Nginx serves the static bundle.

Deploy the stack anywhere Docker is available:

docker compose up -d --build

License

This project is open-sourced under the MIT license (see LICENSE if present).