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Package Name Lookup

Package names differ between every manager in the chain, and frequently differ from the CLI binary name. Never guess — always verify against the authoritative sources below.

If a lookup returns nothing, the package is not available via that manager. Do not fabricate a name. Move down the priority chain.

Prefer a live query over a web page. On the user's own machine the managers are right there, and a local query is faster, offline-capable, and exactly matches the channel/commit the host will actually resolve against:

nix search nixpkgs <term>              # authoritative for this host's nixpkgs
nix eval --raw nixpkgs#<pkg>.name      # confirm an attribute path resolves
guix search <regex>                    # authoritative for this host's Guix
brew search <regex>
flatpak search <term>
snap find <term>                       # read-only, no root needed

If the harness exposes a package-search tool or MCP server for the manager (a NixOS-aware search server, for example), prefer it over scraping the web UI — it is current, structured, and cheaper than fetching HTML.

Fall back to the web pages below when no local manager is installed or the host is offline from the registry but you still need the canonical name.

Lookup sources

Guix

  • Online: https://packages.guix.gnu.org/
    • Direct page pattern: https://packages.guix.gnu.org/packages/<n>/
    • "Couldn't find any package named …" means the package is not packaged.
  • CLI: guix search <regex> or guix package -s <regex>

Nix

One-shot runners (npx / uvx)

  • npm (npx): https://www.npmjs.com/
    • Direct page pattern: https://www.npmjs.com/package/<n>
  • PyPI (uvx / pipx run): https://pypi.org/
    • Direct page pattern: https://pypi.org/project/<n>/
  • Confirm the package exposes a CLI / console-script before running. For Python, when the command name differs from the distribution use uvx --from <pkg> <command>.

Cargo

  • Online: https://crates.io/
    • Direct page pattern: https://crates.io/crates/<n>
  • CLI: cargo search <n>
  • Important: the crate name and the installed binary name often differ (e.g. the fd-find crate installs a binary named fd). Check the crate's README before assuming.

Homebrew

Flatpak / Flathub

  • Online: https://flathub.org/
  • CLI: flatpak search <term>
  • App-ids are reverse-DNS (e.g. org.inkscape.Inkscape, com.github.tchx84.Flatseal).
  • Flathub is strongly biased toward GUI apps. Most CLI tools are not on Flathub — only use Flatpak when a confirmed app-id exists.

AppImage

  • Authoritative: the upstream project's own releases (GitHub Releases or the project download page) — that is where the correct *.AppImage asset URL lives.
  • Catalogue: https://appimage.github.io/ (AppImageHub) — searchable index of apps that ship an AppImage.
  • Prefer an asset with a published checksum/signature and verify it when offered.

Snap

  • Online: https://snapcraft.io/
    • Direct page pattern: https://snapcraft.io/<n>
  • CLI: snap find <term>
  • Many snaps are community-maintained with no upstream endorsement — prefer a higher-ranked manager whenever one has the package.

Cross-manager naming conventions

Rough rules only. Always verify the exact name via the lookup sources above.

Aspect Guix nixpkgs Cargo Homebrew
Python interpreter python python3 — python@3.12
Python lib X python-X python3Packages.X — python-X (rare)
Node runtime node nodejs — node
Typical attr style flat name dotted path (a.b.c) flat crate name flat formula name
Binary vs package usually matches usually matches often differs usually matches

When names diverge (especially for language ecosystem wrappers, legacy aliases, and Rust crates whose binary differs from the crate name), look each one up individually.

Verification policy

  • Guix names used in this skill's examples have been confirmed against https://packages.guix.gnu.org/.
  • Cargo crates have been confirmed against https://crates.io/.
  • Homebrew formulae have been confirmed against https://formulae.brew.sh/.
  • Flatpak and Snap examples use placeholder <app-id> / <pkg> because Flathub is dominated by GUI apps and Snap CLI packages are often upstream-disowned (e.g. upstream ripgrep explicitly discourages the snap).