About Tools Ninja / Methodology
How to read our results — and report a correction
Tools Ninja publishes these tools and guides under the Tools Ninja name. This page describes the methods used by the core diagnostic tools, what their results can establish, and where to ask for a correction.
Updated .
Observations have a location and a time
A network check is a snapshot. DNS caches, geographic routing, firewalls and server changes can produce different results for different users. Keep the hostname and check time when comparing results.
- DNS Checker: your browser queries Google Public DNS over HTTPS. The report includes answer types and TTL values. It shows one recursive resolver's answers, not all authoritative servers or every region.
- Port Checker: our server attempts a TCP connection to a public address. An open port means a connection was established; it does not identify the application, test UDP or establish that a service is safe. A timeout is inconclusive.
- SSL Certificate Checker: our server retrieves the certificate presented on port 443 and makes a separate connection with trust and hostname verification enabled. Certificate dates, serial number and negotiated protocol come from that connection. Trust depends on the server's CA store; revocation and all browser/protocol combinations are not tested.
- JSON Formatter: formatting and parsing run in your browser. Syntax validation does not validate an application schema or the meaning of the data. JavaScript number precision and duplicate object keys can affect round trips.
- Web Check: combines observations from several checks. Some depend on external services and may be unavailable. Its scores and estimates are diagnostic hints, not a security certificate, malware clearance or Google ranking prediction.
Examples, sources and changes
Worked examples are labelled as illustrative and can use reserved domains such as example.com or documentation addresses such as 192.0.2.10. Those values are not claimed to be current measurements. A live check makes a separate request.
Protocol explanations link to specifications or provider documentation where relevant. A guide's publication date is kept when it is edited. A visible update date records a content revision; it is not a promise that every external fact has been rechecked on that day. Reading times are estimates based on the text length.
Useful references include the Google Public DNS response specification, DNS specification (RFC 1035), JSON specification (RFC 8259) and TLS 1.3 specification (RFC 8446).
Send a reproducible correction
Use the contact form or email hello@tools-ninja.com. Include the page URL, the time of the check, your browser, a non-sensitive input, the observed output and what you expected instead. A reference or a comparison with a local command can help isolate the issue.
Please redact credentials, personal data and private hostnames. We cannot promise a response time. If a result is uncertain, verify it with an independent tool before relying on it for a production change.
Advertising and privacy
Advertising may help fund the project. Ad placements are labelled and do not change the diagnostic result. Login, account, status, contact and policy screens do not carry our AdSense placements. Details of browser processing, external services and cookie choices are in the privacy policy.