LaunchForge

LaunchForge turns a startup idea into a brand, a real domain, and a first website.

Describe what you are building in a few sentences. LaunchForge analyzes the business, generates name options, searches live name.com inventory for availability and pricing, registers a domain (sandbox by default), configures DNS, and generates a landing page you can preview immediately.

Features

• Startup analysis — problem, audience, industry, tone, and brand personality from a short idea
• Brand names — scored candidates with reasoning for memorability and relevance
• Live domain search — availability and purchase/renewal prices from the name.com CORE API
• Domain ranking — hybrid AI + rules scoring (brand fit, TLD, pronunciation, price)
• Registration — explicit confirm step, registrant contacts, and idempotent sandbox registration
• DNS and email — root A, www CNAME, SPF, optional Google verification, and hello@ forwarding
• Landing page — generated copy in Aurora, Editorial, or Signal templates, with in-app and full-page preview

Tech stack

Layer	Choice
App	Next.js (App Router), React, TypeScript
UI	Tailwind CSS
AI	Groq
Domains	name.com CORE API
Validation	Zod

Launch sessions are stored in memory. Restarting the server clears them.

Getting started

Prerequisites

• Node.js 20+
• A Groq API key
• name.com API credentials (sandbox recommended)

Install

npm install

Copy the example env file and fill in credentials:

cp .env.example .env.local

GROQ_API_KEY=
GROQ_MODEL=openai/gpt-oss-20b

NAMECOM_USERNAME=
NAMECOM_API_TOKEN=
NAMECOM_API_BASE_URL=https://api.dev.name.com
NAMECOM_WEBHOOK_URL=
NAMECOM_WEBHOOK_SECRET=
NAMECOM_SKIP_WEBHOOK_SIGNATURE=true

DEPLOYMENT_IPV4=76.76.21.21

Sandbox usernames are typically your-username-test plus the Development/Test API token. Production uses https://api.name.com — keep sandbox as the default unless you intend to purchase real domains.

npm run dev

Open http://localhost:3000.

GET /api/health reports whether Groq is configured and whether name.com credentials pass GET /core/v1/hello.

Usage

1. Enter a startup idea and start a launch.
2. Review the analysis, then generate brand names and pick one.
3. Search name.com, compare ranked domains, and select one.
4. Confirm registrant details and register (sandbox unless you change the API host).
5. DNS records are created for @ and www. Preview the generated site and switch templates.

The public preview lives at /site/[sessionId]. Sandbox domains are not reachable on the public internet; the LaunchForge preview is the working page.

Project structure

app/
  (app)/                 Home and launch workspace
  site/[sessionId]/      Full-page landing preview
  api/                   Launch, domain, site, and webhook routes
components/
  launch/                Idea, analysis, brands, workspace
  domains/               Search, ranking, registration, DNS
  site/                  Preview, templates, completion
lib/
  ai/                    Groq client, prompts, schemas
  launch/                Session store, ranking, workflow
  namecom/               CORE API client (search, register, DNS, email)

name.com CORE API

Credentials use HTTP Basic Auth. Default host is the sandbox: https://api.dev.name.com.

Capability	Endpoint
Credential check	GET /core/v1/hello
Keyword search	POST /core/v1/domains:search
Availability	POST /core/v1/domains:checkAvailability
Premium pricing	GET /core/v1/domains/{domain}:getPricing
Registration	POST /core/v1/domains (X-Idempotency-Key)
DNS	GET/POST/PUT /core/v1/domains/{domain}/records

Exact checks cover .com, .ai, .app, and .dev. Registration requires an explicit confirmation from the UI.

Scripts

npm run dev      # development server
npm run build    # production build
npm run start    # serve the production build
npm run lint     # ESLint