diff --git a/cmd/thv/app/run.go b/cmd/thv/app/run.go
index 0f743ae3f..756965db7 100644
--- a/cmd/thv/app/run.go
+++ b/cmd/thv/app/run.go
@@ -183,14 +183,16 @@ func runCmdFunc(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
 		return fmt.Errorf("failed to create workload manager: %v", err)
 	}
 
-	if runFlags.Name != "" {
-		exists, err := workloadManager.DoesWorkloadExist(ctx, runFlags.Name)
-		if err != nil {
-			return fmt.Errorf("failed to check if workload exists: %v", err)
-		}
-		if exists {
-			return fmt.Errorf("workload with name '%s' already exists", runFlags.Name)
-		}
+	if runFlags.Name == "" {
+		runFlags.Name = getworkloadDefaultName(serverOrImage)
+		logger.Infof("No workload name specified, using generated name: %s", runFlags.Name)
+	}
+	exists, err := workloadManager.DoesWorkloadExist(ctx, runFlags.Name)
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("failed to check if workload exists: %v", err)
+	}
+	if exists {
+		return fmt.Errorf("workload with name '%s' already exists", runFlags.Name)
 	}
 	err = validateGroup(ctx, workloadManager, serverOrImage)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -238,6 +240,43 @@ func deriveRemoteName(remoteURL string) (string, error) {
 	return hostname, nil
 }
 
+// getworkloadDefaultName generates a default workload name based on the serverOrImage input
+// This function reuses the existing system's naming logic to ensure consistency
+func getworkloadDefaultName(serverOrImage string) string {
+	// If it's a protocol scheme (uvx://, npx://, go://)
+	if runner.IsImageProtocolScheme(serverOrImage) {
+		// Extract package name from protocol scheme using the existing parseProtocolScheme logic
+		_, packageName, err := runner.ParseProtocolScheme(serverOrImage)
+		if err != nil {
+			return ""
+		}
+
+		// Use the existing packageNameToImageName function from the runner package
+		return runner.PackageNameToImageName(packageName)
+	}
+
+	// If it's a URL (remote server)
+	if networking.IsURL(serverOrImage) {
+		name, err := deriveRemoteName(serverOrImage)
+		if err != nil {
+			return ""
+		}
+		return name
+	}
+
+	// Check if it's a server name from registry
+	// Registry server names are typically multi-word names with hyphens
+	if !strings.Contains(serverOrImage, "://") && !strings.Contains(serverOrImage, "/") && !strings.Contains(serverOrImage, ":") {
+		// Likely a registry server name (no protocol, no slashes, no colons), return as-is
+		return serverOrImage
+	}
+
+	// For container images, use the existing container.GetOrGenerateContainerName logic
+	// We pass empty string as containerName to force generation, and extract the baseName
+	_, baseName := container.GetOrGenerateContainerName("", serverOrImage)
+	return baseName
+}
+
 func runForeground(ctx context.Context, workloadManager workloads.Manager, runnerConfig *runner.RunConfig) error {
 	ctx, cancel := context.WithCancel(ctx)
 	defer cancel()
diff --git a/pkg/runner/protocol.go b/pkg/runner/protocol.go
index f8dbfb7a6..a06be04e8 100644
--- a/pkg/runner/protocol.go
+++ b/pkg/runner/protocol.go
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ func BuildFromProtocolSchemeWithName(
 	imageName string,
 	dryRun bool,
 ) (string, error) {
-	transportType, packageName, err := parseProtocolScheme(serverOrImage)
+	transportType, packageName, err := ParseProtocolScheme(serverOrImage)
 	if err != nil {
 		return "", err
 	}
@@ -70,8 +70,8 @@ func BuildFromProtocolSchemeWithName(
 	return buildImageFromTemplateWithName(ctx, imageManager, transportType, packageName, templateData, imageName)
 }
 
-// parseProtocolScheme extracts the transport type and package name from the protocol scheme.
-func parseProtocolScheme(serverOrImage string) (templates.TransportType, string, error) {
+// ParseProtocolScheme extracts the transport type and package name from the protocol scheme.
+func ParseProtocolScheme(serverOrImage string) (templates.TransportType, string, error) {
 	if strings.HasPrefix(serverOrImage, UVXScheme) {
 		return templates.TransportTypeUVX, strings.TrimPrefix(serverOrImage, UVXScheme), nil
 	}
@@ -266,7 +266,7 @@ func generateImageName(transportType templates.TransportType, packageName string
 	tag := time.Now().Format("20060102150405")
 	return strings.ToLower(fmt.Sprintf("toolhivelocal/%s-%s:%s",
 		string(transportType),
-		packageNameToImageName(packageName),
+		PackageNameToImageName(packageName),
 		tag))
 }
 
@@ -335,10 +335,10 @@ func buildImageFromTemplateWithName(
 	return finalImageName, nil
 }
 
-// Replace slashes with dashes to create a valid Docker image name. If there
+// PackageNameToImageName replaces slashes with dashes to create a valid Docker image name. If there
 // is a version in the package name, the @ is replaced with a dash.
 // For local paths, we clean up the path to make it a valid image name.
-func packageNameToImageName(packageName string) string {
+func PackageNameToImageName(packageName string) string {
 	imageName := packageName
 
 	// Handle local paths by cleaning them up
diff --git a/pkg/runner/protocol_test.go b/pkg/runner/protocol_test.go
index 74ecbf1e4..1fdec986d 100644
--- a/pkg/runner/protocol_test.go
+++ b/pkg/runner/protocol_test.go
@@ -113,9 +113,9 @@ func TestPackageNameToImageName(t *testing.T) {
 	for _, tt := range tests {
 		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
 			t.Parallel()
-			result := packageNameToImageName(tt.input)
+			result := PackageNameToImageName(tt.input)
 			if result != tt.expected {
-				t.Errorf("packageNameToImageName(%q) = %q, want %q", tt.input, result, tt.expected)
+				t.Errorf("PackageNameToImageName(%q) = %q, want %q", tt.input, result, tt.expected)
 			}
 		})
 	}