name: brand-name-checker
description: Check product and brand names for conflicts across trademarks, domains, social handles, and package registries. Returns a risk level and Proceed/Modify/Abandon recommendation. Skip for name brainstorming, logo design, or trademark filings.
license: MIT
effort: max
metadata:
    version: 1.4.2
    author: "Luong NGUYEN <luongnv89@gmail.com>"

Brand Name Checker

Check product and brand names for conflicts across trademarks, domains, social media, and package registries (npm, PyPI, Homebrew, apt).

When to Use

Use this skill before adopting a product or brand name. To stay within the agent's context budget, lean sections (templates, examples) live in references/*.md and per-source workers live in agents/*.md — only the orchestrator instructions are inlined here.

Subagent Architecture

This skill uses parallel subagents to handle 13+ sequential web fetches across independent sources. Pattern: B (Parallel Workers) + D (Research+Synthesis).

Agents

Parallelization Strategy

• Early-Exit Rule: If social-checker finds an exact handle taken on any of the 6 platforms, skip steps 2-4 (Registry, Domain, Trademark) and jump straight to the synthesizer with an "Abandon" verdict. This is referenced elsewhere in this file simply as the Early-Exit Rule.
• Independent Workers: Registry, domain, trademark checkers run in parallel without dependencies
• Sequential Flow: Social → (if clear) → Parallel {Registry, Domain, Trademark} → Synthesizer

Speedup: ~4x faster than sequential approach (13+ web fetches parallelized into 2-3 waves).

Environment Check

Before executing:

1. Verify WebSearch and WebFetch tools are available
2. Confirm internet connectivity for external service queries
3. Check rate limits on social platforms and registries

Repo Sync Before Edits (mandatory)

Before creating/updating/deleting files in an existing repository, sync the current branch with remote. See references/repo-sync.md for the exact git fetch / git pull --rebase commands and stash recovery flow.

Input

Name to analyze provided in $ARGUMENTS. If empty, ask user for the name.

Optionally check for prd.md in project to understand product context.

Analysis Protocol

Early-Exit Rule applies (see Subagent Architecture above): an exact social handle taken on any of the 6 platforms skips Steps 2-4 straight to Step 6 (Recommendation) with an "Abandon" verdict.

Step 1: Social Media Check (First Priority)

Use WebSearch to check handles on:

• X/Twitter: "@[NAME]" site:twitter.com OR site:x.com
• Instagram: "@[NAME]" site:instagram.com
• GitHub: "[NAME]" site:github.com/[NAME]
• LinkedIn: "[NAME]" site:linkedin.com/company
• TikTok: "@[NAME]" site:tiktok.com
• Discord: "[NAME]" site:discord.com

If exact handle taken (Early-Exit Rule): Return NEGATIVE: Exact social handle taken (@platform) and STOP. Suggest different name.

Step 2: Package Registry Check (if Step 1 clear)

Package registries are first-come-first-served namespaces. Unlike GitHub (which allows duplicate project names), registries enforce unique names — once someone claims "your-name" on PyPI or npm, you cannot publish under that name. This makes registry checks urgent: if the name is taken on a registry you plan to publish to, you either need a different name or a naming variant (e.g., prefix/suffix).

Use WebFetch to check these registries directly:

For each registry, report:

• Available: 404 / not found from the registry source — record the source evidence and scope
• Taken: Package exists — note the owner, description, and last publish date (a recently claimed but empty package could indicate namespace squatting)
• Similar: No exact match but close variants exist (e.g., name-js, py-name) — worth noting

If the name is taken on any target registry, flag it prominently and suggest variants (e.g., name-cli, name-py, name-lib, prefixed with org scope like @org/name for npm). If target registry intent is missing or unverifiable, record it as unknown rather than treating every registry as clear.

Step 3: Domain Check (if Step 1 clear)

Use WebSearch to check:

• .com (highest priority)
• .io, .app, .co
• Regional: .eu, .fr

Search: site:[NAME].com and "[NAME].com" domain availability

Status:

• Available: an authoritative availability result confirms the domain is unregistered
• Parked: Domain exists but is for-sale/parking
• Active: In use (flag if same industry)
• Unknown: the source is unavailable or only shows that no active site was found; do not infer availability

Step 4: Trademark Check (if Step 1 clear)

Use WebSearch for trademark databases:

Focus on Nice Classes 9, 35, 42 (software/technology). Note if marks are live or expired.

Step 5: Risk Assessment

This section is the single authority for qualitative risk policy. The synthesizer must read and follow this section rather than inventing a second matrix. Classify each source result as confirmed, clear, or unknown/unverifiable. Upstream worker labels and severity fields are evidence only; re-check their underlying facts and do not blindly trust numeric severity.

#### Qualitative risk matrix

Risk precedence is High > Moderate > Low. Select the highest matching trigger; never average findings. "Multiple handles" means two or more confirmed non-exact handle collisions on distinct platforms.

Unknown policy: if checks or target intent are missing or unverifiable and there is no known High finding, use provisional Moderate + Modify pending verification. Unknown is not a confirmed collision and never Low clearance. An existing High finding remains High. No averaging or mitigation reduces High. Checks skipped by the Early-Exit Rule remain skipped, not cleared.

The exact-handle Early-Exit Rule is unchanged: an exact handle collision on any of the 6 platforms immediately returns an Abandon recommendation and skips the remaining checks. Report those checks as skipped, not clear.

#### Recommendation semantics

• Proceed: only for a fully verified Low result; state the evidence and limitations, and never represent unknown checks as clearance.
• Modify: for Moderate, including provisional Moderate; suggest variants that address confirmed conflicts and identify pending verification.
• Abandon: for High; mitigation or available alternatives cannot lower the High result.
• Any alternative that was not checked through the applicable sources must be labeled unverified; never invent availability or a Low assessment.

Step 6: Recommendation

Follow the recommendation semantics above and the registration order in Final Action.

Output Format

Return this compact text report. Replace bracketed fields with observed evidence only; use Unknown when a check is unverifiable and Skipped (not cleared) for checks omitted by the Early-Exit Rule. The RISK line must state the highest matching trigger and its policy rationale, not only the level.

SOCIAL: [Clear | NEGATIVE: reason | Unknown: reason]
REGISTRY: npm ([status]) | PyPI ([status]) | Homebrew ([status]) | apt ([status])
DOMAIN: .com ([status]) | .io ([status]) | .app ([status])
TM: WIPO ([status]) | EUIPO ([status]) | INPI ([status])
SKIPPED: [sources, if any; skipped is not cleared]
RISK: [Low | Moderate | High] - [highest matching trigger, evidence, and policy rationale]
RECOMMEND: [Proceed | Modify | Abandon] - [reason and checked or unverified alternatives]

PRD Integration

If prd.md found, add:

Name Fit Assessment:

• Alignment with product vision
• Memorability, pronunciation, spelling
• Target audience fit

Alternative Suggestions:

Step Completion Reports

After each major step, emit a status report. The general template, plus per-step examples (Social, Registry, Domain, Trademark, Risk, Recommendation), live in references/step-reports.md. Adapt check names to what the step actually validates; use √ for pass, × for fail.

Acceptance Criteria

• Social media check completed across all 6 platforms with explicit available/taken/unknown status
• Package registry status confirmed for npm, PyPI, Homebrew, and apt (unless the Early-Exit Rule fired)
• Domain availability checked for .com and at least two alternative TLDs (unless the Early-Exit Rule fired)
• Trademark search completed against WIPO, EUIPO, and INPI (unless the Early-Exit Rule fired)
• Risk level assigned (Low / Moderate / High) with supporting rationale
• Final recommendation delivered (Proceed / Modify / Abandon) with named alternatives if needed

Expected Output

For check "acme-flow" where no hard conflicts surface but .com is parked:

SOCIAL: Clear
REGISTRY: npm (available) | PyPI (available) | Homebrew (available) | apt (available)
DOMAIN: .com (taken) | .io (available) | .app (available)
TM: WIPO (clear) | EUIPO (clear) | INPI (clear)
RISK: Moderate - .com held by unrelated parked page; socials and registries clear
RECOMMEND: Proceed - pair the .io domain with the clear social handles

Edge Cases

• Exact social handle taken on any of the 6 platforms: Early-Exit Rule (see Subagent Architecture) — skip all remaining checks and return an Abandon recommendation with alternative name suggestions.
• Rate-limited registry API: Retry once after 5 seconds; if still blocked, mark the registry as "unchecked"/unknown and note it in the report — do not skip silently. Apply the unknown policy; do not infer availability.
• Trademark database unavailable: Note the outage per database and mark the affected check unknown. Do not downgrade a known High finding; without a known High finding, use provisional Moderate + Modify pending verification.
• Name contains special characters or spaces: Normalize to slug form (e.g., my tool → my-tool) before all checks; report both the original and normalized forms.
• Very short names (1–3 characters): Flag high trademark collision risk upfront; abbreviations are almost always claimed across social and TM databases.
• Name already in use by a well-known brand (typosquat risk): Escalate to High risk even if all technical checks pass.

Final Action

• Proceed: Only for a fully verified Low result; state the evidence and limitations, then suggest registration order:

1. Package registries first — claim names on npm/PyPI/Homebrew immediately, even with a placeholder package. These are first-come-first-served and the most vulnerable to namespace squatting.
2. Domain — register the primary domain.
3. Social handles — secure handles on key platforms.

• Modify: Recommend a variant addressing confirmed conflicts and list any pending verification. Alternatives not checked are unverified, never available by assertion.
• Abandon: Recommend the best alternative from suggestions; mark unchecked alternatives unverified and do not claim that any option is clear.