@namingsignal/cli

CLI for NamingSignal: evidence-backed product naming for developers and agents. Local commands are keyless and deterministic; hosted commands call the NamingSignal REST API with your own key.

Install

npm install -g @namingsignal/cli
# or run without installing
npx -y @namingsignal/cli help

Requires Node 20 or newer.

Keyless local commands

No account, no API key, no telemetry. Domain checks talk directly to public RDAP registries from your machine.

# Score names and run live registry checks
namingsignal check offhook nicless --tlds com,app --namespaces --json

# Compile a privacy-bounded naming brief from a repository or file
namingsignal brief /path/to/project --dry-run
namingsignal brief /path/to/project --out naming-brief.json

# Deterministic candidate generation from an approved brief (degraded-mode starting set)
namingsignal generate --brief naming-brief.json --count 40

# Portable decision record from prior evidence
namingsignal compare offhook quitcore --brief naming-brief.json --evidence prior-check.json --format md

The brief scanner is allowlisted and bounded: it reads README/agent instructions/manifests/docs text only, excludes source code, .env files, credentials, lockfiles, and build output, and --dry-run previews the exact file selection before anything is compiled.

Hosted commands

research and health call the hosted API (default https://namingsignal.com). Create a free key at https://namingsignal.com/developers/keys and export it; never commit it.

export NAMING_SIGNAL_API_KEY=your-user-key

namingsignal research offhook quitcore nicless --brief naming-brief.json
namingsignal health

--api <url> or NAMING_SIGNAL_API_URL overrides the API origin (for example http://localhost:3000 for a local development server).

JSON mode

Machine-readable JSON is written to stdout whenever --json is passed or stdout is not a TTY, so agent pipelines get structured output by default. Diagnostics go to stderr.

Exit codes

| Code | Meaning | | --- | --- | | 0 | Success | | 1 | Unexpected or network error | | 2 | Usage error | | 3 | Auth error (401/403) | | 4 | Quota or rate limit (402/429) |

Evidence honesty

RDAP not-found means likely unregistered at check time, not a purchase guarantee. Timeouts, rate limits, and unsupported TLDs stay unknown and are never reported as available. Naming research is preliminary; it is not trademark clearance or legal advice.

License

MIT, Copyright (c) 2026 Zena Labs LLC.