Skill: crates-io-name-check

Purpose

Verify that a new Rust crate name is available and appropriate on crates.io before committing to it in Cargo.toml. This is a generic skill for any Rust project using this template — run it whenever you create a new crate (workspace member or standalone).

Availability Check

Method 1: cargo search (CLI, recommended)

cargo search <your-crate-name>

• If the exact name appears in results → taken, choose another.
• No exact match → likely available (confirm with Method 2).

Method 2: crates.io API

STATUS=$(curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}" https://crates.io/api/v1/crates/<your-crate-name>)
if [ "$STATUS" = "404" ]; then
  echo "✓ Name is available"
else
  echo "✗ Name is taken (HTTP $STATUS)"
fi

Method 3: Browser

Open https://crates.io/crates/<your-crate-name> — 404 page = available.

Naming Best Practices

Similarity Check

Also check for confusingly similar names that could mislead users:

# Search for similar prefixes
cargo search <prefix>

# Check typosquat risk manually on crates.io
# https://crates.io/search?q=<your-name>

Cargo.toml Name vs Package Directory

Note that the [package] name in Cargo.toml is the published crate name. The directory name under crates/ can differ but should match for clarity:

crates/
  my-tool-core/    ← directory
    Cargo.toml     → [package] name = "my-tool-core"  ✓

Template Usage Note

The template includes a placeholder crate crates/example-crate/. When you replace it with your real crate, rename both the directory and the [package] name in Cargo.toml, and run this skill to verify availability before your first commit.

Rationalizations

Red Flags

• Publishing without checking name availability first
• Using generic names like utils, helpers, common
• Ignoring similar existing crate names that could confuse users

References

• crates.io policies
• Cargo naming guidelines
• crates.io search