domain-hunter

Overview of domain-hunter skill

The domain-hunter skill helps an AI agent do a practical domain-buying workflow instead of just brainstorming names. It is built for people who need to find available domains, compare registrar pricing, look for promo opportunities, and decide what to buy with less trial and error.

What domain-hunter is for

Use domain-hunter when your real goal is not “give me cool names,” but “help me actually buy a usable domain at a sensible price.” The skill is especially relevant for founders, indie hackers, marketers, and researchers doing product naming or web research around domain options.

Best-fit users

This domain-hunter skill is a good fit if you want to:

• generate shortlist-quality names from a project description
• verify availability before reviewing options
• compare registrars instead of defaulting to one provider
• account for TLD tradeoffs like .ai, .io, and .com
• get purchase recommendations, not just raw suggestions

What makes it different from a generic prompt

The main differentiator is workflow discipline. The upstream skill explicitly pushes the agent to:

1. generate multiple candidate domains,
2. verify availability before presenting them,
3. pause for user confirmation,
4. compare registrar prices,
5. then check promos and recommend where to buy.

That is more reliable than a normal naming prompt, which often invents names but skips availability and price validation.

What matters most before installing

For adoption, the biggest question is whether domain-hunter can reduce guesswork. It can, because the repository includes:

• a concrete availability-check flow using whois and registrar search URLs
• registrar guidance in references/registrars.md
• optional API-based checking via Spaceship in references/spaceship-api.md
• an example conversation in examples/auto-video-editing-domain.md

The tradeoff: this is a lightweight skill, not a full domain intelligence platform. You still depend on live checks, registrar pages, and possibly your own API keys.

How to Use domain-hunter skill

Install context for domain-hunter

Install domain-hunter from the opc-skills repository with:

npx skills add https://github.com/ReScienceLab/opc-skills --skill domain-hunter

If your environment uses another skill loader, the important part is the skill path: skills/domain-hunter.

Read these files first

If you want to understand domain-hunter install and behavior quickly, read in this order:

1. skills/domain-hunter/SKILL.md
2. skills/domain-hunter/examples/auto-video-editing-domain.md
3. skills/domain-hunter/references/registrars.md
4. skills/domain-hunter/references/spaceship-api.md
5. skills/domain-hunter/.claude-plugin/plugin.json

This path tells you the intended workflow first, then shows a real usage pattern, then gives the pricing and API context that affects output quality.

What input the skill needs

domain-hunter usage improves a lot when you give more than “find me a domain.” Strong inputs usually include:

• product or project description
• target audience
• preferred TLDs
• naming style constraints
• budget or renewal sensitivity
• whether you want cheapest first, brandability first, or .com first
• acceptable length and keywords to include or avoid

Without that, the agent can still produce names, but the shortlist is more generic and less purchase-ready.

Turn a vague request into a strong prompt

Weak prompt:

• “Find me a domain for my startup.”

Better prompt:

• “Use domain-hunter for Web Research on a B2B AI meeting assistant. I want short, brandable names under 12 characters, prefer .com and .ai, avoid hard-to-spell words, and care about low renewal cost. Check availability before showing options, then compare 2-3 registrars for the finalists.”

Why this works:

• it signals the skill directly
• it sets naming constraints
• it forces availability verification
• it adds purchase criteria, not just ideation criteria

Expected workflow in practice

A good domain-hunter guide session usually looks like this:

1. describe the product and naming constraints
2. ask for 5-10 candidate domains
3. require availability checks before results are shown
4. review only confirmed or clearly marked unverified options
5. pick finalists
6. compare registrar pricing and renewal implications
7. check promo opportunities
8. decide where to register

The “wait for confirmation before proceeding” step matters. It prevents wasted price comparisons on names you do not even like.

Availability checking methods the skill relies on

The repository supports a few practical methods:

• whois checks for the most reliable first pass
• registrar search pages such as Spaceship, Namecheap, and Dynadot
• Spaceship API calls if you already have credentials configured

The key operational rule from the skill is simple: do not present domains as ready options unless availability has been checked.

Registrar comparison guidance

The reference file is useful because it adds actual decision context:

• Cloudflare for at-cost pricing
• Spaceship for frequently cheap prices, especially on some TLDs
• NameSilo for steady renewal economics
• Porkbun and Namecheap for budget and feature tradeoffs
• GoDaddy is explicitly flagged as poor value due to renewals and upsells

That means domain-hunter is not only a naming skill. It is also a registrar-selection helper.

TLD tradeoffs that affect the output

The included registrar reference surfaces a major purchase reality many naming prompts ignore:

• .ai often costs much more and may have a 2-year minimum
• .io is premium-priced relative to .com
• .com remains broadly affordable and familiar
• budget TLDs can be cheap up front but weaker for some brands

If you care about total cost, tell the skill whether to optimize for first-year promo price or long-term renewals.

Using the Spaceship API path

If you already use Spaceship, the skill includes a more automatable path in references/spaceship-api.md. It documents:

• expected environment variables
• auth headers
• batch availability checks
• single-domain checks
• purchase endpoint patterns

This is valuable if you want repeatable checks at scale, but it is optional. Most users can start with whois and registrar pages.

Practical prompt patterns that work well

Use prompts like:

• “Generate 10 names for a climate fintech app, check .com and .ai availability, and only show likely available options.”
• “Shortlist domains under 14 characters for a developer tool, then compare pricing at Cloudflare, Spaceship, and NameSilo.”
• “Find a cheap but credible domain for a side project, prioritize .com, and avoid names that sound generic or hard to pronounce.”

These work because they specify scope, TLDs, and decision criteria up front.

domain-hunter skill FAQ

Is domain-hunter better than asking for domain ideas normally?

Yes, if you need action-ready results. A generic prompt is fine for brainstorming, but domain-hunter is better when you want availability checks, registrar comparison, and a buying recommendation in one workflow.

Is domain-hunter suitable for beginners?

Yes. The skill is simple enough for beginners because the main job is conversational: describe your project, review checked options, and choose finalists. The main caveat is that live validation may require shell access, browser checks, or API credentials depending on your setup.

Does domain-hunter actually buy domains?

Not by itself in a guaranteed end-to-end way. The repository includes reference material for Spaceship API purchase flows, but most users will treat domain-hunter as a research and decision skill, then complete checkout with the registrar.

When should I not use domain-hunter?

Skip domain-hunter if:

• you already know the exact domain you want
• you only need pure branding ideation with no purchase workflow
• you need deep trademark clearance or legal review
• you want bulk portfolio management beyond simple checks

It is strongest at pre-purchase research, not legal validation or registrar operations management.

Can I use domain-hunter for Web Research tasks?

Yes. domain-hunter for Web Research is a natural fit when your research task involves comparing market naming patterns, checking registrar economics, or validating whether a set of names is realistically purchasable.

Which TLDs are best with this skill?

The skill supports any domain ideas, but the reference materials clearly discuss .ai, .io, .co, .com, .net, .org, and some lower-cost alternatives. If you do not specify, the agent may mix premium and standard TLDs, which can muddy the buying decision.

How to Improve domain-hunter skill

Give tighter naming constraints

The biggest quality lever for domain-hunter is input quality. State:

• exact audience
• tone
• must-have or banned keywords
• max length
• preferred TLD order
• budget ceiling
• whether renewals matter more than intro pricing

This reduces shallow suggestions and improves registrar comparison relevance.

Ask for staged output, not one big answer

Better results usually come from a staged flow:

1. ideas plus availability check
2. user selects finalists
3. registrar comparison
4. promo search
5. purchase recommendation

This matches the repository logic and prevents the agent from doing noisy work on names you would reject anyway.

Force clear status labels

A common failure mode is mixing checked and unchecked domains. Ask the agent to label every result as:

• available
• taken
• reserved
• unverified

That makes the domain-hunter skill much more trustworthy in real buying decisions.

Optimize for renewal cost, not just first-year deals

Promo hunting is useful, but domain cost surprises usually happen at renewal. If price matters, ask the agent to compare:

• first-year registration
• renewal price
• privacy cost
• transfer restrictions
• registrar friction or upsells

This is where the registrar reference adds more value than a standard naming assistant.

Use bulk checks for larger shortlists

If you want to test many names, tell the agent to generate a larger list first, then run batch-style checks where possible. The Spaceship API reference is especially useful for this, while browser and whois methods are better for smaller sets.

Compare names by business fit, not creativity alone

After the first pass, ask the agent to re-rank finalists by:

• memorability
• pronunciation
• typo resistance
• trust signal
• TLD credibility
• cost to own over time

That turns domain-hunter usage from ideation into decision support.

Watch for false confidence in availability

WHOIS output can vary, registrar pages can lag, and premium/reserved domains may appear differently across providers. Treat the skill's checks as strong screening, then do a final registrar confirmation before purchase.

Improve the repo-backed workflow yourself

If you want to improve domain-hunter beyond stock usage, the best places to extend are:

• add more registrar references with renewal data
• add bulk comparison scripts
• add examples for different naming styles
• add clearer decision rules for premium TLDs versus .com

Those changes would increase the skill's value far more than adding more generic brainstorming language.