Site Naming

Site Naming

Help users discover, evaluate, and shortlist available domain names through a structured brand interview, direction round, targeted generation, and live availability + pricing checks.

Announce at start: "I'm using the site-naming skill to find the right domain name."

Checklist

You MUST create a TodoWrite task for each item and complete them in order:

1. Session orientation + project/personal brand detection (Phase 1)
2. Brand interview — 7 questions, one per message (Phase 1)
3. Direction Round — 18 samples, archetype selection (Phase 2)
4. Deep Generation — 15–20 names across selected archetypes (Phase 3)
5. Availability + pricing check with API gate (Phase 4)
6. Results with Source column + conditional Spotlight (Phase 5)
7. Write names.md to project directory (Phase 5)
8. Feedback loop — Wave 2 / Wave 3 / Track B (Phase 6)
9. Post-shortlist checklist (Phase 7)

Red Flags — STOP

Phase 1: Orient + Interview

Session Orientation

Check whether names.md exists in the current working directory.

If it exists, read it and output a session brief before doing anything else:

Previous session: [project description from names.md header]
Brand profile: Tone=[X] | Direction=[Y] | Mode=[Z] | Length=[W]
Shortlisted: [name1], [name2], [name3]
Options:
  1. Continue — run Wave 2 or refine shortlist
  2. Start fresh — new interview, new wave
  3. Track B — all previous picks were taken; run fallback strategies

Wait for the user's choice before continuing.

• If they choose (1) Continue: load ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/site-naming/references/brand-interview.md and ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/site-naming/references/generation-archetypes.md now — both are needed for Wave 2/3 weighting. Then skip to Phase 6.
• If they choose (2) Start fresh: proceed with Project File Detection below.
• If they choose (3) Track B: load ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/site-naming/references/generation-archetypes.md now, then follow the Track B section. Skip to Phase 6.

If names.md does not exist, proceed immediately to Project File Detection.

Project File Detection

Check for any of these files in the current working directory: README.md, package.json, pyproject.toml, Cargo.toml, go.mod

If found, offer once: "I noticed you have project files here — want me to read them to better understand what you're building before we start?"

If accepted, read the file(s). Extract: project name, description, key features, target audience. Use this context to pre-fill Q1 of the brand interview.

Personal Brand Detection

Before running the standard interview, scan the user's description for personal brand signals:

• Keywords: "portfolio", "freelance", "personal site", "personal website", "my name", "my website", "my work", "consulting"
• Pattern: a human first/last name as the primary subject

If signals are detected, load ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/site-naming/references/brand-interview.md and follow the Personal Branding Flow section in that file. Generate and check name patterns from that section, present results, then offer to continue to the standard interview for additional options.

• If user accepts → proceed to Brand Interview (skip Q1 re-entry; use the detected name as Q1 answer)
• If user declines → proceed to Phase 4 to check availability of the personal brand names generated above, then Phase 5 (results), then write names.md

If no signals, proceed to Brand Interview.

Brand Interview

Load ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/site-naming/references/brand-interview.md now.

Ask the 7 questions from that file one per message. Wait for each answer before asking the next. Never ask multiple questions in a single message.

After Q7, output a summary before proceeding:

Brand profile locked:
- Building: [Q1 answer]
- Tone: [A/B/C label]
- Direction: [A/B label]
- Mode: [A/B/C label]
- Length: [A/B label]
- Constraints: [Q6 answer or "none"]
- Vocabulary: [Q7 answer or "none"]

Hard gate: Do NOT proceed to Phase 2 until all 7 questions are answered and brand profile is locked.

Phase 2: Direction Round

Purpose: Calibrate direction before weighted generation. Show the user what each archetype looks like for their project. Collect resonance signal. Gate deep generation on explicit selection.

How it works

1. Load ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/site-naming/references/generation-archetypes.md. Generate 2 name candidates per archetype, UNWEIGHTED (equal representation). 8 archetypes × 2 = 16 names. Append 2 wildcards (cross-archetype combinations). Total: 18 candidates. Do NOT check availability yet.

2. Present as a compact table, one archetype per section:

## Direction Round — which of these feels closest?

**Short & Punchy**         `kredex` · `devlum`
**Descriptive**            `coderank.dev` · `devprofile.io`
**Abstract/Brandable**     `ranqova` · `veltrix`
**Playful/Clever**         `forkfame` · `codewitch`
**Domain Hacks**           `cod.er` · `build.rs`
**Compound/Mashup**        `gitpulse` · `stackmark`
**Thematic TLD Play**      `dev.so` · `code.run`
**Suffix Family**          `coderdex` · `devissimo`
─────────────────────────────────────────
**Wildcards**              `primo.dev` · `lexos.dev`

Which direction resonates — or is there a word from any domain you want to explore?

3. Present exactly 3 response options (numbered, no prose):

   1. Pick archetypes (e.g. "1, 3, 5")
   2. Give me a seed word to explore
   3. None of these — show me different samples
   

4. Rejection loop: Track rejectionCount. On option 3, increment counter and regenerate Phase 2 with fresh samples from the same archetypes. After 3 consecutive rejections, force a pivot: "Let's try a different approach — give me 2 words you find interesting from any domain (a place, a brand, a concept)." Use those words as seed vocabulary for Deep Generation; proceed to Phase 3.

5. Archetype cap: Maximum 3 archetypes may be selected. If user selects more, respond: "Let's keep it focused — pick your top 3."

Hard gate: Do NOT proceed to Phase 3 until user has either (a) selected at least one archetype, (b) provided a seed word, or (c) triggered the forced seed-word pivot after 3 rejections.

Reference files to load: generation-archetypes.md (before generating samples)

Phase 3: Deep Generation

Load ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/site-naming/references/generation-archetypes.md now (if not already loaded from Phase 2).

Apply the weighting rules from ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/site-naming/references/brand-interview.md against the brand profile. Generate 15–20 name candidates across selected archetypes (max 3) + any seed vocabulary from Q7/pivot.

Load ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/site-naming/references/tld-catalog.md now. (Archetypes 5 and 7 require it regardless of Mode; loading it unconditionally at this step avoids mid-generation gaps.)

Suffix Family: If selected, generate the full suffix family exploration block (see generation-archetypes.md Suffix Family section): one -dex cluster, one -issimo cluster, one ccTLD hack cluster — 3–4 names each.

Generate the full candidate list before any availability check. No availability check yet.

Phase 4: Availability Check

API Gate explanation runs HERE — the user has names in front of them, so the explanation lands with context. Output before running scripts:

Before checking these [N] names — I'll use whichever API tier is configured:
- Cloudflare API → confirmed availability + pricing in real-time (best accuracy)
- Porkbun API → confirmed availability, good for .io (Cloudflare doesn't support .io)
- whois fallback → less reliable; .dev domains often show no DNS even when registered

Checking credentials now…

Check environment variables before running scripts:

[[ -n "$CF_API_TOKEN" ]] && echo "CF_API_TOKEN: set" || echo "CF_API_TOKEN: not set"
[[ -n "$CF_ACCOUNT_ID" ]] && echo "CF_ACCOUNT_ID: set" || echo "CF_ACCOUNT_ID: not set"
[[ -n "$PORKBUN_API_KEY" ]] && echo "PORKBUN_API_KEY: set" || echo "PORKBUN_API_KEY: not set"
[[ -n "$PORKBUN_SECRET" ]] && echo "PORKBUN_SECRET: set" || echo "PORKBUN_SECRET: not set"

• Both CF_API_TOKEN and CF_ACCOUNT_ID set → Tier 1 (Cloudflare)
• Both PORKBUN_API_KEY and PORKBUN_SECRET set → Tier 2 (Porkbun)
• Neither set → load ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/site-naming/references/api-setup.md, show setup instructions, then proceed with Tier 3 (whois fallback)

Execute availability check (batch into groups of ≤20 if more than 20 candidates):

${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/site-naming/scripts/check-domains.sh domain1.com domain2.io ... domainN.dev

Execute pricing lookup (always runs, no auth needed):

${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/site-naming/scripts/get-prices.sh com io dev app co xyz icu

Parse check-domains.sh output (one line per domain):

• available <domain> <price> → ✅
• taken <domain> na → ❌
• redemption <domain> na → ⚠️ (recently expired, elevated price at recovery)
• unknown <domain> na → ❓

Phase 5: Results

Load ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/site-naming/references/registrar-routing.md now.

Format results using this structure — note the Source column (new). Emit the Top Picks block first, then one table per selected archetype (every candidate appears in its archetype's table, with taken shown as ❌):

## Wave [N] Results — [one-line project description]

**Top Picks**
✅ [name].[tld]   $[price]/yr  — [one-sentence rationale]
   [[Registrar] →]([registration_url])

### [Archetype Name]
| Name | Domain | Status | Price | Source |
|------|--------|--------|-------|--------|
| [name] | [domain.tld] | ✅/❌/⚠️/❓ | $[price]/yr | CF/Porkbun/whois/DNS |

### [Next Archetype Name]
| Name | Domain | Status | Price | Source |
|------|--------|--------|-------|--------|
| ... |

Source values: CF / Porkbun / whois / DNS

Show ⚠️ redemption domains with a note: "recently expired — may cost $80+ to recover at auction".

Generate registration links from registrar-routing.md for each ✅ domain.

Conditional Spotlight

After the results table, compute a 6-point framework score for each ✅ candidate:

1. Short enough to be a hashtag — max 2 syllables ideally (Twitter, Slack, Figma) → 1 point
2. The "click" moment — a small insight when name meets product → 1 point
3. Works in possession — "my [Name]" sounds natural → 1 point
4. Creates a social sharing sentence — "Just checked my [Name] profile" works as a tweet → 1 point
5. Unique enough to own search — invented or rare word → 1 point
6. Satisfying to say aloud — rhythm, hard consonants, satisfying ending → 1 point

If any candidate scores ≥ 4, output a --- separator and a deep single-name analysis for the highest-scoring candidate (if tied, pick the shortest domain):

• The tweet: exact tweet text a user would send
• The question that spreads it: the question people ask that spreads the brand
• Product fit: how name maps to the product's core mechanic
• Cultural resonance: gaming/dev culture or other community connection
• The Notion pattern: how it fits the repurposed-word brand archetype
• SEO ownership: why this name wins search
• Works in every context: "Check their X" / "my X card" / "I'm on X" / "According to X..."

Write names.md

Write names.md to the current working directory:

# Name Shortlist — [project description]
_Generated: [YYYY-MM-DD] | Mode: [mode] | Tone: [tone] | Direction: [direction]_

## Shortlisted
| Name | Price/yr | Status | Source | Rationale |
|------|----------|--------|--------|-----------|
| [name] | $[price] | ✅ available | [CF/Porkbun/whois] | [rationale from conversation] |

## Considered / Taken
| Name | Status | Source | Alternative |
|------|--------|--------|-------------|
| [name] | ❌ taken | [source] | [alternative if known] |
| [name] | ⚠️ redemption | [source] | recently expired — elevated price |

## Brand Interview
- Building: [Q1]
- Tone: [Q2 answer]
- Direction: [Q3 answer]
- Mode: [Q4 answer]
- Length: [Q5 answer]
- Constraints: [Q6 answer]
- Vocabulary: [Q7 answer]

Populate Shortlisted with the top 3–5 available names. Populate the Rationale column with the verbatim "Why" string from the conversation output.

Closing Prompt (HARD REQUIREMENT)

This prompt MUST always appear after results — it is the Wave 2 trigger:

[N] of [Y] checked available. Want to go deeper on any of these, or start Wave 2?

Phase 6: Wave 2+

Present wave output. Wait for the user's response.

User selects specific names: Add them to the Shortlisted table in names.md.

User requests Wave 2: Load ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/site-naming/references/generation-archetypes.md and ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/site-naming/references/brand-interview.md (needed for weighting rules after context compaction). Generate 20+ new candidates refined toward preferences stated ("more like X", "avoid Y"). Repeat Phases 3–5. No candidate from Wave 2 may repeat a Wave 1 name.

User requests Wave 3 / "check more TLDs" / "deep scan": Output a scope warning first:

Wave 3 will scan 1,441+ TLDs for your top 5 base words — this may take several minutes. Proceed?

Wait for confirmation. Then load ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/site-naming/references/generation-archetypes.md and follow the Wave 3 section. Apply all 10 techniques exhaustively to every synonym of the core concept.

All top picks are taken: Load ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/site-naming/references/generation-archetypes.md and follow the Track B section. Run the 4 fallback strategies in order: close variations → synonym exploration → creative reconstruction → domain hacks. Stop as soon as 5+ available options are found. If all 4 strategies complete with fewer than 5 available, show what was found and offer: "Want to broaden constraints, or start fresh with a different direction?"

Phase 7: Post-Shortlist

After the user confirms their final shortlist, load ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/site-naming/references/post-shortlist.md. Work through each section in order: pronunciation test, social handle check, trademark check, registration strategy, names.md update. Report findings after each section before proceeding to the next.

Reference Files

Scripts

Both scripts must be executable: chmod +x ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/skills/site-naming/scripts/*.sh

Example

See examples/example-session.md for a complete run: developer productivity SaaS → 7-question interview → Direction Round → Deep Generation → results with Spotlight → final names.md.