gen-package-name

CLI utility that generates npm package name ideas and checks availability against the npm registry.

Features

• Interactive package-name selection flow with regenerate + exit actions
• Non-interactive generation mode for scripts and CI
• Availability checks for generated names and one-off names
• Package metadata lookup with --info
• JSON output for automation with --json
• Optional availability-only filtering with --available-only

Requirements

• Node.js >=16
• pnpm (for local development)

Installation

Install globally:

npm install -g gen-package-name

Run without installing:

npx gen-package-name

Local development setup:

git clone https://github.com/f3rnox/gen-package-name.git
cd gen-package-name
pnpm install

Usage

Interactive mode:

gen-package-name

Non-interactive generation from description:

gen-package-name -d "parse json streams" -n

Generate 10 names from explicit keywords, keep only available, emit JSON:

gen-package-name -k parse,json -c 10 -a -j

Check one package name:

gen-package-name --check my-package-name

Fetch package metadata:

gen-package-name --info chalk --json

CLI options

Usage: gen-package-name [options]

Generate available npm package names interactively or via flags.

Options:
  -V, --version             print version and exit
  -d, --description <text>  describe the package; used to extract keyword seeds
  -k, --keywords <list>     comma- or space-separated keyword seeds (overrides
                            --description extraction)
  -c, --count <n>           number of package names to generate (default: 5)
  -a, --available-only      only output names that are available on npm
                            (default: false)
  -j, --json                emit machine-readable JSON output (default: false)
  -n, --non-interactive     skip prompts; print generated names and exit
                            (default: false)
  --check <name>            check whether a specific package name is available
                            on npm
  --info <name>             fetch and print npm registry metadata for a package
  --no-color                disable colored output
  -h, --help                display help for command

How the interactive flow works

1. Resolve keywords from --keywords, --description, or an interactive prompt.
2. Generate a batch of candidate names.
3. Check npm availability for each candidate.
4. Pick a name, regenerate the list, or exit.
5. If the selected name is taken, display registry metadata for that package.

Development

pnpm install
pnpm dev
pnpm build
pnpm test
pnpm lint
pnpm lint:eslint
pnpm format

Scripts

| Script | Description | | --- | --- | | pnpm start | Run the CLI via tsx | | pnpm dev | Run in development mode | | pnpm build | Build TypeScript and generate docs | | pnpm test | Run tests with vitest | | pnpm lint | Run markdownlint and eslint | | pnpm lint:eslint | Run eslint only | | pnpm format | Format with prettier | | pnpm serve:docs | Serve generated TypeDoc docs locally | | pnpm serve:coverage | Serve coverage report locally |

Contributing

Contributions are welcome. Please open an issue before submitting a pull request for significant changes.

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feat/my-feature)
3. Commit using Conventional Commits
4. Push and open a pull request

Changelog

See CHANGELOG.md.

License

MIT © 2026 Cris Mihalache