A DNS record that holds arbitrary text data. You point a domain name at a string of characters—anything up to 255 bytes per segment. No parsing, no routing, just storage.
Why it matters: TXT records became the Swiss Army knife of DNS. SPF records (email authentication) live here. DKIM signatures too. DMARC policies. ACME challenges for Let's Encrypt validation. Domain verification for third-party services. Some people dump PGP keys in them. TLSA records for DANE. The spec says "text", but what goes in is entirely up to you.
Bunkerdomains perspective: if you're running a bulletproof mail server or operating pseudonymously, TXT records are how you prove ownership without exposing infrastructure. SPF and DKIM are non-negotiable for deliverability. DMARC keeps your domain from becoming a spam relay. Set these up correctly or mail providers will dump you in junk—or reject you outright.
Common use: email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), domain verification, SSL/TLS certificate challenges, service discovery, arbitrary metadata storage.