Nomina

Overview

Nomina is a Python command line tool that checks if package names are valid and available on popular package registries. Currently, it supports checking availability on PyPI, and future versions will support other ecosystems like Rust (crates.io) and Go (pkg.go.dev).

Nomina is useful for:

• Validating that your package name follows naming rules (e.g., PEP 426/508 for PyPI)
• Checking if the name is already taken
• Getting normalized versions of your name (e.g., collapsing . and _ into -)
• Avoiding surprises when uploading packages or publishing projects

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Installation

Clone the repository and install it in development mode:

git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/nomina.git
cd nomina
pip install -e .

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Usage

View CLI Help

Run the following command to see all options:

nomina -h

Basic Example

To search PyPI for availability of pandas and numpy:

nomina pandas numpy

Output

This will generate a table like the following:

+--------------+-------------------+----------+----------------------------+
| Input Name   | Normalized Name   | Status   | Message                    |
+==============+===================+==========+============================+
| pandas       | pandas            | True     | Package found - Status 200 |
| numpy        | numpy             | True     | Package found - Status 200 |
+--------------+-------------------+----------+----------------------------+

Handling Invalid Names

Nomina validates names according to PEP 426/508. For example:

nomina "my--invalid__name" ".badStart" "good_name"

Will return:

+---------------------+-------------------+----------+------------------------------------------+
| Input Name          | Normalized Name   | Status   | Message                                  |
+=====================+===================+==========+==========================================+
| my--invalid__name   |                   | False    | Invalid package name - not searched      |
| .badStart           |                   | False    | Invalid package name - not searched      |
| good_name           | good-name         | True     | Valid, but normalized to good-name       |
+---------------------+-------------------+----------+------------------------------------------+

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Running Tests

Tests are discovered automatically. From the root directory of the project, run:

python3 -m unittest discover -s tests

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Roadmap

Planned features for future releases:

• Support for other registries:
  • crates.io (Rust)
  • pkg.go.dev (Go)
  • npm (JavaScript)
• Name suggestion/generation if the desired name is unavailable
• JSON or markdown output formats
• GitHub Action integration for CI checks on repo names

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Related Tools

• pkg-name-validator: Basic PyPI name validator
• twine check: Validates PyPI metadata before upload

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License

MIT License