Show HN: Domain Name Search with AI

313 points by kirillzubovsky ↗ HN
In my exploration of OpenAI, I just created a domain-name search that takes business description as an input, and generates interesting domain names for it. It then uses DNSimple API to check if .com is available.

In my view it is a much easier way to find a suitable domain, as the AI thinks of a much large pool of possible names than my own brain. SmartyNames found its own name, using the tool itself.

Hope you enjoy it! https://smartynames.com/

179 comments

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Update: Apologies to anyone who doesn't get the red/green light on .com availability. I hit API rate limit on that function and quickly updating the backend to use a different API. Will be done shortly!
it's actually possible to download a list of all domains in .com TLD. Google for how to download domains from ICANN. I think it takes like a day to your request approved.
You could just do WHOIS queries instead of API. That should be relatively accurate. EX https://pypi.org/project/python-whois/

You don't need to actually care about what it says, just if there is a record returned or not.

Pretty much all whois providers forbid this. For example, in a whois response for a .com domain, the output includes this:

> TERMS OF USE: You are not authorized to access or query our Whois database through the use of electronic processes that are high-volume and automated except as reasonably necessary to register domain names or modify existing registrations...

Since they aren't registering domain names or modifying existing registrations, their use would be prohibited by these terms of use.

You are probably right. But someone could argue semantics.

The project is for the express purpose of registering domain names. And the project only does queries as needed to verify domain ownership - falling under "reasonably necessary".

IANAL so my opinion means very little, but it seems like the TOS are targeted towards people who want to abuse the system for doing things like mass data collection, spamming, and other "bad behaviors". Not someone who wants to make sure domains are available for registration.

After all, how do the big players do it? Simply downloading the list of all valid domains even once a day would not be sufficient.

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Really excited to see this! It works surprisingly well.

Could you darken the red or lighten the green a bit? With red/green color blindness (about 5% of people I think) I can't really tell the border colors apart.

Thank you! And yes, good point. I just updated the colors, and made borders thicker so it's easier to see. Did that help?
I wasn't expecting much and entered 'increase your [junk] size' as a business description for the lols - got some good results like SuperInches.com and ManlyGain.com :D
lol. those are pretty good indeed! Who knows, maybe its your new calling. Next thing you own a billion-dollar supplements company.
Great idea. Thanks for sharing, and congrats on launching it!

As someone unfortunately prone to coming up with grand plans to build things, I could get a lot of use out of this. I have a handful of domains currently collecting dust, but hope to actually follow through on my plans at some point :) Far more time than I'd care to admit was spent on finding them, so something like this would have been a great time saver.

The most important feature IMO is the .com availability checking, which doesn't seem to be working at the moment. In addition to the AI-generated names, it might be nice to allow users to enter names manually as well (once I see an AI generated one, by brain starts to generate lots of similar ideas). Another cool feature could be to be able to select a domain you like, and then have it generate further suggestions similar to that name.

Thank you! I will definitely add these to a list of new features and get them shipped. Btw, I just switched the API, so .com checking should be available again.

Unlike the old API, this one will mark something as "available" whether it's actually not-taken, or if it costs $9,000 to buy. Not ideal, as I think a lot of us would prefer actually cheap domains, but it's a midway solution to make it work right away.

Maybe you could add an indicator that the domain is taken but for sale?

On a related note the whole business of domain squatting is bullshit and needs a better resolution system.

I agree. I personally own about 100 domains but use 10% of them. The other 20% are duplicates and misspelling of the first 10, so I am kind of using them too, but a big chunk is definitely sitting there waiting.

One of the problems is that no one wants to "spoil" their domains. I don't know if this is true or not, but I've pinged some domain owners before asking to rent their domains, and they said no, suggesting that once I've tainted their domain with my project, it is not longer as valuable.

If we could put 90% of the squatted domains for rent, even if it was like $100/m in rent, it could open so many opportunities!

This is really good! Unfortunately, I think the "checking" of the names isnt working - many I have tried were registered
Really cool! I did something very similar about a year and a half ago, and it's been coasting with okay traffic since then: namy.ai

Curious to know what you're using in the backend? Did you do any finetuning? Happy to share my process (what I did was scrape top 1mill websites and use that as training data for names on T5 nlp model)

I love the pencil-sketch style of your finding. Really cool.

I am using OpenAI GPT3 with a single (but long) prompt, explaining how to come up with the names that I think would be interesting.

Honestly, people who just about "prompt engineering" are pretty on point. It requires a bit of experimentation, but in this case I didn't have to do any fine tuning of the model itself, just the prompt.

I might come up with an array of different prompts to alter results, depends on user preferences.

Is that economic for you? What's the cost of asking GPT these days?

My numbers for affiliate earnings were relatively low, which is why im asking. OpenAI API is expensive.

I am curious - are you getting any referral fee from GoDaddy/Namecheap when you send users for registration? I've tried to find a program on their site, but it seems like a dark forest. There are some referral banners, but not direct "register this domain, and get back a dollar" kind of thing.
I used to, try checking out cjaffiliate, they have (or used to have) namecheap listed there as an affiliate partner
Is this thing front-running? Every domain in my search is "premium" for $1000+.
Heh. If only I had the budget for that. No, but the API I was using earlier was checking for truly available domains, but I got quickly rate-limited by that one. With the new api I get "available" even if it costs a house to buy it.

I'll try to add some additional checks and differentiate naked domains and expensive ones.

I just inputted [My company will _]: "deliver zero value through the use of advanced cryptographic algorithms and web3 protocols" and got some pretty nice names, alas most of them are already taken.
Cool idea, but it shows unavailable domains as green.
Indeed

I got "TeachPlus.com" in green, but it's taken.

I double-checked this manually. It seems the domain itself isn't responding, but in the database it's marked as "marketed", which means the owner has it for sale. At least that's my understanding of it right now.
If anyone else is planning to sell ice to Eskimos, I just saved you an API call:

- IceEskimos.com

- ArcticIceCo.com

- ChillyChillers.com

- ChillInn.com

- FrostBites.com (my favorite)

This is so fun, but also not good for my domain buying addiction. Great job!

Oh that's fun! Maybe I should offer to optionally save the queries so that others can browse all these great use cases. Ice to Eskimos. Brilliant!
Good good stuff. Immediately useful product with a clear revenue stream and effective implementation.
Oops! Hacker News folks are too kind. Just got rate-limited again, by the new API this time. I think 11k requests in less than hour was a bit too much. Working with them to increase the limit!
Got good names suggested.. but they cost 40,000 to buy!
Wow! Those must have been really good names. Do you have some examples?
"My company will make earmuffs that provide candy to the wearer."

"Earmunchiez.com"

I'm now looking for VC funding.

here is 100k, please agree to 30k salary and give me 80% of your company.
I'll sell it for 20k flat and you can have 100% right now.
"My company will search domain names with AI by taking user input that describes their company or project."

Didn't get smartynames.com though unfortunately :)

Amazing, the suggestions aren't bad at all!

Not much value in it, but I'd love to use the opposite of this tool: enter a domain name and have the language model tell me what they're selling. As snarky as possible ;)

THAT for Senators, Governors, other Politicans - based on their claim, would be awesome.

like a text2data….

Surprisingly great suggestions. However, it shows some .coms to be available when they're not. Either way, neat work!
I was going to comment the same. Great suggestions, but often not available. Or at such a premium sale they may as well not be available.
Shameless plug - I made a site that lets you track taken domain names and will email you if they ever become available.

Site is called skinny domain .com

Is it ok to post my own site here? Feel free to tell me if I should remove this.

It should be fine to post about your own projects, as long as it is

- in context

- not excessive

- and you make clear that you are involved

So this looks all good ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I suggest editing your link somewhat because the space between skinny and domain can be confusing aha.

Thanks. There must be a time limit on editing as I can't do it anymore. Oh well, I will know for next time.
Same here! If there is a way to skip domains that are taken, that would be amazing.
Actually, I think I will try to go on step further and for domains that are taken, run another loop to try and find similar but available names. Will report back when/if it works.
The suggestions are nice but indeed many aren't available.

One of the suggestions included: techstartup.com. I thought, no way that one is available, and unfortunately it isn't.

"A dating platform that can only be accessed through a rather complex command line tool" yields: LoveShell.com
OMG I hope you bought it. That's priceless.
That's an example of an expensive one. 4,000 for it.
Dammit, that's what I was going to use for my Satan enthusiasts' website!
Ironically I met my GF online because I mentioned I was a Lisp developer and it turns our so was she.

Not surprisingly it turned out we knew a lot of people in common, so it's surprising that we hadn't previously met. Sounds like you might have a good dating niche.

Sounds like a functional relationship
Like Lisp it's multi-paradigm
I'm sure they'll make wonderful parens
sexp is crucial for happy relationships.
I'm dead. <skull emoji>
> Not surprisingly it turned out we knew a lot of people in common

I for one am surprised. Are there only a handful of Lisp developers in the world or something?

It isn’t common, but they are easy to find because they’ll let you know.
Well, there was an academic bias (I left academia for industry long ago but stay in touch with many past colleagues; she lived on the campus of $MAJOR_UNIVERSITY when we met).

I think it’s less that there aren’t an enormous number of lisp developers (though perhaps there aren’t) but ppl who use Lisp mostly do so in certain domains.

I’d like to see the vulnerability with that name.
huh cyberdate still available
I showed your comment to my friend, and here's what he said:

"That’s like the texting app that makes you take a test. Basically stops you from drunk texting! Haha"

Shebang.com. For those who understand.
"CommandCouples.com"
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Genius way to harvest lots of business ideas!
Thanks, although I am not currently recording the queries or their responses. I thought it was more valuable to make something interesting and useful than to harvest it on day one.
Consider the domize UX, also let folks save domains they like, and include a way to click a link to buy and get an affiliate commission.

Let users chose their fav domain seller.

I love that. That is the slickest way to show all the extensions in one go.

It seems like I will definitely have to create sign-in option, to allow users to save domains, but also to make sure I don't get flooded with spam.

Apparently it's very likely that scrapers are going to use me for a free service. But, one thing at a time. Thank you for the suggestions, definitely adding them to my list!

great idea and execution!

Noticed several of the great domains it recommended were already taken tho

Thank you! On a rare occasion it would report taken as available; most often it reports domains that are for sale privately or at a high price as available because well, theoretically they are available, just not for a good price of $12, but something like 3 to 10 thousand dollars. I should find a way to filter those and perhaps mark them as "premium".
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AbscondFund.com

SmoothScam.com

NaiveVault.com