https://github.com/avigoldman/dibs
Call dibs on a name — check availability across domains, social media, package registries, and trademarks.
https://github.com/avigoldman/dibs
availability cli developer-tools domain naming npm social-media trademark typescript
Last synced: about 2 months ago
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Call dibs on a name — check availability across domains, social media, package registries, and trademarks.
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/avigoldman/dibs
- Owner: avigoldman
- License: mit
- Created: 2026-03-08T17:39:52.000Z (2 months ago)
- Default Branch: main
- Last Pushed: 2026-03-08T20:15:06.000Z (2 months ago)
- Last Synced: 2026-03-08T21:35:30.282Z (2 months ago)
- Topics: availability, cli, developer-tools, domain, naming, npm, social-media, trademark, typescript
- Language: TypeScript
- Homepage:
- Size: 324 KB
- Stars: 0
- Watchers: 0
- Forks: 0
- Open Issues: 0
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
- License: LICENSE
Awesome Lists containing this project
README
# dibs
Call dibs on a name — check availability across domains, social media, package registries, and trademarks in one command.
```
dibs acme
```
dibs checks your name across 18+ platforms simultaneously and tells you what's available and what's taken. Optionally generate variants like `useacme`, `acmehq`, `acmedev` to find the best available version.
## Install
```sh
npm install -g calldibs
```
Or run directly:
```sh
npx calldibs acme
```
## Quick Start
```sh
# Check a name on all platforms
dibs acme
# Pass a domain — extracts the name and ensures that TLD is checked
dibs notion.so
# Interactive mode — prompts for everything
dibs
# Also check variants (useacme, acmehq, etc.)
dibs acme -v all
# Only check specific variant patterns
dibs acme -v hq,use,app
# Check specific platforms only
dibs acme -o github,npm,domain
# Check specific TLDs only
dibs acme -t com,ai,dev
# Output as JSON
dibs acme -f json
# Export as CSV
dibs acme -f csv > report.csv
```
## Domain Input
Pass a full domain and dibs will do the right thing:
```sh
dibs notion.so
```
- Extracts the name (`notion`) and TLD (`.so`)
- Formats the name per platform: `notionso` for social handles, `notion-so` for package registries
- Ensures `.so` is always in the TLD check list
- Skips variant generation (you're checking a specific brand)
- `.com` is treated as a plain name — `example.com` just checks `example`
## What It Checks
| Category | Platforms | Flag IDs |
| ------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Domains** | WHOIS lookup for any TLD | `domain` |
| **Social** | GitHub, X/Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, YouTube, Reddit, Ghost | `github`, `twitter`, `instagram`, `linkedin`, `tiktok`, `youtube`, `reddit`, `ghost` |
| **Packages** | npm, npm org, PyPI, crates.io, RubyGems, Go (pkg.go.dev), Homebrew, Docker Hub | `npm`, `npm-org`, `pypi`, `crates`, `rubygems`, `go`, `homebrew`, `dockerhub` |
| **Legal** | USPTO Trademark | `trademark` |
### Default TLDs
`.com`, `.dev`, `.io`, `.ai`, `.co`, `.app`
Any valid IANA TLD is supported (1,400+). Just pass whatever you need via `--tlds`.
## Variants
By default, only the exact name is checked. Use `--variants` / `-v` to also check common alternatives and find the best available version for your brand. Variants are disabled when passing a domain as input.
**Prefixes:** `use___`, `get___`, `try___`, `go___`, `hey___`, `my___`, `the___`, `with___`, `on___`, `by___`
**Suffixes:** `___hq`, `___app`, `___dev`, `___io`, `___labs`, `___so`, `___inc`, `___co`, `___team`, `___run`, `___now`, `___ai`, `___sh`, `___cli`, `___api`, `___js`
```sh
# Check all variants
dibs acme -v all
# Check specific patterns only
dibs acme -v hq,use,app
```
With `-v all`, checking `acme` also checks `useacme`, `getacme`, `acmehq`, `acmeapp`, `acmedev`, and 21 more variants. Each is scored and ranked.
## Scoring & Recommendations
Each check result is one of three statuses:
| Status | Meaning |
| ----------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `available` | The name is not taken on that platform |
| `taken` | The name is already registered/in use |
| `error` | The check failed (rate limit, timeout, etc.) — does not penalize the score |
Platforms are weighted by importance to a business:
| Weight | Platforms |
| -------- | -------------------------------------------------------- |
| **15×** | `.com` domain |
| **12×** | USPTO Trademark |
| **8×** | X / Twitter |
| **7×** | Instagram, LinkedIn |
| **6×** | GitHub, `.ai` domain |
| **5×** | TikTok, YouTube, `.com`-adjacent domains |
| **4×** | Reddit, `.co`, `.app` domains |
| **2-3×** | Package registries (npm, npm org, PyPI, crates.io, etc.) |
| **2×** | Ghost |
The weighted score produces a verdict:
| Score | Verdict |
| ----- | ------------------------------------------------- |
| ≥ 80% | 🎉 **Great** — widely available, grab it now |
| ≥ 60% | 👍 **Good** — solid choice with minor conflicts |
| ≥ 35% | 🤔 **Fair** — notable gaps, consider a variant |
| < 35% | 👎 **Poor** — largely taken, try a different name |
## Output Formats
### Pretty (default)
Human-readable report with colors, progress bars, and grouped results:
```sh
dibs acme
```
Shows a variant ranking table, detailed per-platform results for the best variant, and a recommendation with actionable details.
### JSON
```sh
dibs acme -f json
```
```json
{
"recommendation": {
"verdict": "poor",
"summary": "\"acme\" is largely taken. Try a different name or variant.",
"details": [
"✗ .com domain is taken — consider a variant or alternative TLD",
"✗ Only 2/8 social handles available — branding will be inconsistent",
"◐ 5/8 package registries available",
"⚠ Possible USPTO trademark conflict — consult a lawyer before proceeding"
]
},
"best": {
"name": "acme",
"pattern": "bare",
"score": 28,
"available": 10,
"taken": 14,
"errors": 0,
"total": 24,
"results": [
{
"platform": "Domain acme.com",
"status": "taken",
"url": "https://acme.com",
"message": null
},
{
"platform": "GitHub",
"status": "taken",
"url": "https://github.com/acme",
"message": null
},
{
"platform": "npm",
"status": "available",
"url": "https://www.npmjs.com/package/acme",
"message": null
}
]
},
"variants": [
{
"name": "acme",
"pattern": "bare",
"score": 28,
"available": 10,
"taken": 14,
"errors": 0,
"total": 24
}
]
}
```
Pipe to `jq` for extraction:
```sh
# Get the best variant name
dibs acme -f json | jq -r '.best.name'
# List all available platforms for the best variant
dibs acme -f json | jq '.best.results[] | select(.status == "available") | .platform'
# Get all variant scores
dibs acme -v all -f json | jq '.variants[] | {name, score}'
```
### CSV
```sh
dibs acme -f csv > report.csv
```
```
variant,pattern,platform,status,url,message
acme,bare,Domain acme.com,taken,https://acme.com,
acme,bare,GitHub,taken,https://github.com/acme,
acme,bare,npm,available,https://www.npmjs.com/package/acme,
```
## CLI Reference
```
dibs [OPTIONS] [NAME]
```
| Flag | Short | Description |
| ------------ | ----- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `NAME` | | The name or domain to check (omit for interactive mode) |
| `--only` | `-o` | Platforms to check (comma-separated) |
| `--tlds` | `-t` | TLDs to check (comma-separated, e.g. `com,ai,dev`) |
| `--variants` | `-v` | Enable variants: `all` for every pattern, or comma-separated list (e.g. `hq,use,app`) |
| `--format` | `-f` | Output format: `pretty`, `json`, or `csv` (default: `pretty`) |
| `--help` | `-h` | Show help with full documentation |
| `--version` | | Show version number |
### Interactive Mode
Run `dibs` with no arguments to enter interactive mode. You'll be prompted to:
1. Enter the name
2. Select which platforms to check
3. Select which TLDs to check
4. Choose whether to generate variants and which patterns to use
Your selections are saved between sessions — next time you run `dibs`, your previous choices are pre-selected.
### Non-Interactive Mode
Pass the name as a positional argument. All options can be set via flags. This is ideal for scripts, CI, and LLM tool use.
```sh
# Minimal — just check npm and GitHub for one name
dibs myproject -o npm,github -f json
# Full sweep with JSON output
dibs myproject -f json
# Full sweep with variants
dibs myproject -v all -f json
# Narrow check — just domains
dibs myproject -o domain -t com,dev,ai,app -f json
# Check a specific domain
dibs open.ai -f json
```
## Error Handling
Every platform check is wrapped in error handling. If a check fails (network timeout, rate limit, service down), it returns `{ status: "error" }` with a message instead of crashing. Errors do **not** count against the score — they reduce the total possible score so your recommendation isn't unfairly penalized.
The CLI always exits with code 0 when given valid arguments, regardless of check failures.
## How It Works
1. **Input parsing** — if the input is a domain (e.g. `notion.so`), extracts the name and TLD, formats per platform
2. **Name cleaning** — the input is lowercased and stripped to `[a-z0-9-]`
3. **Variant generation** — prefixes and suffixes are applied to create alternatives (when `-v` is used, disabled for domain inputs)
4. **Parallel checking** — all variants × all platforms are checked concurrently
5. **Scoring** — each variant gets a weighted score based on platform importance
6. **Recommendation** — variants are ranked by score, the best is highlighted with a verdict
## Development
```sh
git clone https://github.com/avigoldman/dibs
cd dibs
npm install
# Run in development
npm run dev
# Type check
npx tsc --noEmit
# Unit tests (114 tests, mocked, fast)
npm test
# Integration tests (real network calls)
npm run test:integration
# Build
npm run build
# Link globally for local use
npm link
```
## License
MIT