fix(project create): never block on a name prompt — auto-generate a friendly name

[tonychang04]

Problem

insta project create (no arg) dropped into an interactive prompt:

project name [projects]:      ← hangs, waiting for input

So curl … | sh && insta project create — and any run from ~/projects — just hangs, with a nonsense default (the cwd basename projects). That's exactly the 'why doesn't it just work like Railway' friction.

Fix

Name resolution never prompts:

• explicit arg wins (slugified)
• else the cwd basename when it's a real project-dir name (~/my-app → my-app)
• else an auto-generated friendly name (Vercel/Render style, e.g. swift-meadow-482) for generic dirs (projects, tmp, ~, src, code, …) and the home dir itself

Removed the readline prompt path entirely — stdin is no longer touched. Pass a name or rename later for something specific.

Verification

• 77/77 tests green, tsc clean. New tests cover: generic dir → generated name, real dir → basename, and a regression test that resolution never depends on stdin/TTY.
• Built the binary and ran project create </dev/null — resolves a name instantly, no hang.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

https://claude.ai/code/session_01GMbAe5K1RfwaAcge5inX7P

---

Summary by cubic

Make insta project create non-blocking by removing the interactive name prompt. When no name is passed, we use the cwd basename if it’s meaningful; otherwise we auto-generate a friendly name like swift-meadow-482.

• Bug Fixes
  • Never reads stdin or requires a TTY, so it works in curl | sh and from dirs like ~/projects without hanging.
  • Name resolution: explicit arg wins; else use cwd basename unless it’s generic or your home; else generate adjective-noun-###.
  • Added tests for real vs. generic dirs, deterministic generator shape, and the no-stdin regression.

^{Written for commit f3d2ca8. Summary will update on new commits.}

[cursor]

Bugbot is not enabled for your account, so this pull request was not reviewed.

Enable Bugbot in the Cursor dashboard to get automatic reviews on future PRs.

[jwfing]

Summary

Removes the interactive name prompt from insta project create and replaces it with deterministic name resolution (explicit arg → cwd basename for real dirs → auto-generated friendly name), so the paste-and-run one-liner never hangs on stdin.

Requirements context

No matching spec/plan found — this repo has no docs/superpowers/ or docs/specs/ directory. Assessed against the PR description, the linked "why doesn't it just work like Railway" friction, and the repo-local developing-insta-cli skill. Test suite verified locally: 77/77 vitest green, matching the PR's claim.

Findings

Critical

(none)

Suggestion

• Software engineering — untested branch (src/commands/project.ts:57-58). The new base !== home guard is the one piece of resolution logic with no direct test. All added tests exercise the generic-dir, real-dir, and no-prompt paths, but none run from a cwd whose basename equals the home dir basename (e.g. resolveProjectName(undefined, '/Users/gary', ...) where homedir() is /Users/gary). A one-line test would lock in the "don't name the project after the user's home dir" behavior against future edits to slugifyName/homedir handling.
• Functionality — no collision handling on generated names (src/commands/project.ts:59, 62-66). generateProjectName picks from ~18×18×900 combos with no check against existing project names, so POST /orgs/:id/projects can still fail on a duplicate. This is not a regression (the old basename path had the same exposure) and the API error will surface, so it's non-blocking — but a create flow that "just works" would ideally retry once on a name conflict. Worth a follow-up rather than blocking here.

Information

• Functionality — empty-slug arg is pre-existing (src/commands/project.ts:55). if (nameArg) return slugifyName(nameArg) can return '' for an all-symbol arg (e.g. insta project create "!!!"), sending an empty name to the API. This behavior is unchanged from main (the old code had the same line, and the || 'app' fallback only ever applied to the dir path), so it's out of scope for this PR — flagging only for awareness.
• Software engineering — duplicate entry in NOUN (src/commands/project.ts:17-18). 'harbor' appears twice, slightly skewing name distribution and reducing effective variety. Harmless; drop one for tidiness.
• Scope/docs. README (README.md:47,63) documents project create without referencing the old prompt, so no doc change is required. The developing-insta-cli skill notes command/flag changes must be mirrored in the skills/ submodule's cli-reference.md; this is a behavior change with no command/flag surface change, so that mirror requirement doesn't apply here.

Security

No security-relevant concerns. The change reduces attack surface by removing stdin/readline reading; the resolved name flows to the platform API as a JSON body field (parameterized server-side), nothing reaches shell/SQL, no secrets or PII are logged, no auth/authorization paths are touched, and no dependencies are added.

Performance

No concerns. Resolution is pure string work with no added I/O or loops; removing the readline prompt eliminates a blocking stdin read from the create path.

Verdict

approved (informational — human approval is still required via the separate approve flow). Clean, well-scoped fix with good test coverage and a solid DI pattern (generate/rand injected for determinism). The two Suggestion items are non-blocking polish. Zero Critical findings.

[jwfing]

Code review — fix(project create): never block on a name prompt

Summary: Replaces the interactive name prompt with deterministic, non-blocking name resolution (explicit arg → real cwd basename → auto-generated friendly name); the change is focused, well-tested, and I found no blocking issues.

Requirements context

No matching spec/plan found — this repo has no docs/superpowers/ or docs/specs/ directory (verified: docs/ is absent entirely). Assessed against the PR description, the linked "why doesn't it just work like Railway" intent, and repo conventions in .claude/skills/developing-insta-cli/SKILL.md. The project create [name] command/flag surface is unchanged, so the SKILL's "mirror command changes in skills/insta/cli-reference.md" rule does not apply here.

Findings

Critical

(none)

Suggestion

• Functionality — home-dir basename false positive — src/commands/project.ts:56-58. The generic-dir guard rejects a basename that equals the home-dir basename (base !== home). This correctly catches "cwd is the home dir", but also mis-fires for a legitimately-named directory that happens to match the username — e.g. user gary running in /Users/gary/work/gary gets an auto-generated name instead of gary. Very low blast radius (and the user can always pass a name / rename), but a comment noting the trade-off, or comparing the full home path rather than just the basename, would be more precise.
• Software engineering — untested branch — test/create-name.test.ts. The docstring and PR body both call out "the home dir itself" as a generate case, but no test exercises the base === home branch. The generic-dir path is covered via GENERIC_DIRS (/tmp, /Users/gary/projects) but not the home-match path. Add a case like resolveProjectName(undefined, '/Users/gary', () => 'x') (with homedir() → /Users/gary) to lock in that behavior.

Information

• Duplicate word in list — src/commands/project.ts:17-18. 'harbor' appears twice in NOUN. Harmless, but it slightly skews the random distribution and looks unintentional — likely meant to be a distinct 18th noun.
• Generated names aren't checked for collision — src/commands/project.ts:66. generate() output goes straight to POST /orgs/:id/projects with no dedup against existing project names. Name space is ~18×17×900 ≈ 275k, so collisions are rare, and this matches the prior basename behavior (no regression) — but if the platform enforces unique names within an org, a colliding create fails with no retry. Optional: on a duplicate-name error, regenerate once and retry.
• Empty-slug edge (pre-existing, not a regression) — src/commands/project.ts:55. A garbage explicit arg (e.g. insta project create '!!!') slugifies to '' and is sent as-is; this path predates the PR and is unchanged by it. Noting only for completeness — not introduced here.

Dimension coverage

• Security: No security-relevant changes. Removing the readline/process.stdin path reduces surface; the resolved name is slugified before reaching the API; no secrets/PII, no auth changes, no new dependencies.
• Performance: No concerns — pure in-memory string operations, and the change removes I/O (the interactive prompt) from the create path.

Verdict

approved (informational — human approval is still a separate action). Zero Critical findings; the Suggestion/Information items are non-blocking. Nice cleanup: the removed prompt path had no other callers, and src/resolve-project.ts (the separate project picker) is correctly left untouched.

[jwfing]

LGTM - approved.

[jwfing]

LGTM - approved.