npm-look

NPM name availability at a glance for packages, accounts, and scopes

Overview

npm-look is a lightweight utility to quickly check the availability of npm package names and usernames. It supports both CLI usage and programmatic API access. It also checks for potential conflicts with similar names by generating common variants of the input names.

Why npm-look?

• 10x faster than npm-name
• Checks both packages and usernames
• Detects naming conflicts and variants
• Works for scoped packages (@scope/name)

Installation

npm install -g npm-look
# or
npm install npm-look

CLI Usage

npx npm-look [--package] <name>   Check npm package name availability
npx npm-look --user <username>    Check npm username availability

Options

| Option | Description | | --------------- | ----------------------- | | -p, --package | Check npm package names | | -u, --user | Check npm usernames | | -h, --help | Show help message | | -v, --version | Show version number |

Examples

# Check multiple packages
npx npm-look react vue vite

# Check scoped packages
npx npm-look @react/core

# Explicit flags
npx npm-look --package react vue vite @react/core
npx npm-look --user tj npm npmjs react

# Mixed usage
npx npm-look react vite -p git django --user npm js -p vue next -u express

Programmatic API

You can also use npm-look in your Node.js scripts or projects.

import { packageLook, userLook } from 'npm-look';

// Check package names
await packageLook(['react', 'vue', '@react/core']);

// Check usernames
await userLook(['tj', 'npm', 'express']);

Functions

packageLook(name: string | string[])

Check npm package name availability and potential conflicts.

• Parameters

  • name: A string or an array of package names.

• Behavior

  • Fetches data from https://registry.npmjs.org/.
  • Checks availability and logs conflicts using common variants (-, _, .).

• Example

  await packageLook('my-awesome-package');

userLook(username: string | string[])

Check npm username availability.

• Parameters

  • username: A string or an array of usernames.

• Behavior

  • Fetches data from https://www.npmjs.com/~.
  • Validates username format (lowercase letters, numbers, dashes only).
  • Logs whether the username is available or taken.

• Example

  await userLook(['tj', 'npm', 'express']);

Variant Checks

npm-look generates common variants of package names to detect potential conflicts:

• Replaces - with _ or . and vice versa.

• Removes characters for alternative naming checks.

• Example:

  import { variantsLook } from 'npm-look';
  
  variantsLook('my-package');
  // Output: ['mypackage', 'my_package', 'my.package', ...]

This ensures you can detect similar or conflicting package names before publishing.

License

Released under the Apache License 2.0.