lp-do-assessment-05-name-selection — Name Selection (ASSESSMENT-05)

Produces a <YYYY-MM-DD>-naming-generation-spec.md tailored to a specific business. The spec is the input to a name-generation agent that produces 250 scored candidates, which are then batch-checked for .com availability via RDAP and ranked.

This skill replaced the former naming research prompt approach (obsolete since deep research tools cannot verify domain availability).

Upstream dependency: Operates on ASSESSMENT-04 output. Requires at minimum: a problem statement, a product/option decision, and a brand personality sketch.

Load: ../_shared/assessment/assessment-base-contract.md

When to use

Use when a brand name is open (not yet committed) and the business has sufficient ASSESSMENT stage context.

Run on user instruction: /lp-do-assessment-05-name-selection --business <BIZ>

The four-part naming pipeline

This skill produces Part 1 only. The full pipeline is:

Operating mode

SPEC AUTHORING ONLY

Allowed: read ASSESSMENT docs, synthesize context, write <YYYY-MM-DD>-naming-generation-spec.md.

Not allowed: generate candidate names, check domains, make naming recommendations.

Required inputs (pre-flight)

Read and synthesise from:

• docs/business-os/strategy/<BIZ>/<YYYY-MM-DD>-problem-statement.user.md — falsifiable problem, user segments
• docs/business-os/strategy/<BIZ>/s0c-option-select.user.md — selected product option(s), price points
• docs/business-os/strategy/<BIZ>/<YYYY-MM-DD>-brand-identity-dossier.user.md — brand personality, positioning, visual direction
• docs/business-os/strategy/<BIZ>/s0a-research-appendix.user.md — segment truth, purchase triggers, competitive set
• docs/business-os/strategy/<BIZ>/s1-readiness.user.md — ICP confirmation, outcome contract

Also check for prior naming rounds (any *-naming-shortlist*.user.md files under the strategy dir). If present, extract all eliminated names into the spec's elimination list.

If any file is missing, note the gap in a preflight comment at the top of the spec but proceed with available context. Do not halt.

Output

Save to:

docs/business-os/strategy/<BIZ>/assessment/naming-workbench/<YYYY-MM-DD>-naming-generation-spec.md

If the file already exists (a prior naming round was run), update it in place: add newly eliminated names to the elimination list, update the ICP section if it has changed, and increment the round note at the top. Do not overwrite a spec from scratch.

Spec structure (mandatory sections)

The output spec must contain all of the following sections. Sections §3, §4, and §5 are business-specific and must be populated from the ASSESSMENT docs. Sections §3.3 and §5 (generation patterns and output format) are universal infrastructure — copy them verbatim from the template below, do not rewrite.

§1–§2: Brand Context and ICP Resonance

Load: modules/part-1-2.md

§3–§4: Scoring Rubric and Generation Patterns

Load: modules/part-3-4.md

§5–§6: Hard Blockers, Output Format, and Quality Gate

Load: modules/part-5-6.md

Completion message

"Naming generation spec ready: docs/business-os/strategy/<BIZ>/assessment/naming-workbench/<YYYY-MM-DD>-naming-generation-spec.md. Next: spawn a general-purpose agent with this spec as input to generate 250 scored candidates. Then run the RDAP batch check. Then filter and rank."

Integration

Upstream (ASSESSMENT-03): Runs after /lp-do-assessment-03-solution-selection produces a product decision record.

Downstream — Part 2: Spawn a general-purpose agent with the spec. Prompt: "Read docs/business-os/strategy/<BIZ>/assessment/naming-workbench/<YYYY-MM-DD>-naming-generation-spec.md in full, then generate exactly 250 brand name candidates following the spec exactly. Save to docs/business-os/strategy/<BIZ>/assessment/naming-workbench/naming-candidates-<YYYY-MM-DD>.md."

Downstream — Part 3 (RDAP batch): Extract all names from the candidates file. Run:

while IFS= read -r name; do
  status=$(curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}" "https://rdap.verisign.com/com/v1/domain/${name}.com")
  echo "$status $name"
done < names.txt

Filter to 404s. For Pattern D names, check the domain string, not the spoken name.

Downstream — Part 4 (rank): Filter candidates table to domain-available names only. Sort by Score descending. Present top 20 as the working shortlist for operator review. Save to docs/business-os/strategy/<BIZ>/assessment/naming-workbench/naming-shortlist-<YYYY-MM-DD>.user.md.

Downstream (ASSESSMENT-06): /lp-do-assessment-06-distribution-profiling runs after the operator has confirmed a working name from the shortlist.