laurent22/joplin · error · Error

This plugin name cannot be converted to a package name: ${pl

Error message

This plugin name cannot be converted to a package name: ${pluginName}

What it means

Thrown by packageNameFromPluginName() in generator-joplin utils.js. The plugin name is run through a special-character replace and slugify; if the result is an empty string, the name cannot become a valid npm package name and the generator aborts. The prefix `joplin-plugin-` is added only after this check, so a fully-empty slug never reaches it.

Source

Thrown at packages/generator-joplin/generators/app/utils.js:64

	return `${output.filter((item, pos) => {
		if (!item) return true; // Leave blank lines
		return output.indexOf(item) === pos;
	}).join('\n').trim()}\n`;
}

function packageNameFromPluginName(pluginName) {
	let output = pluginName;

	// Replace all special characters with '-'
	output = output.replace(/[*+~.()'"!:@[\]]/g, '-');

	// Slugify to replace non-alphabetical characters by letters
	output = slugify(output, { lower: true });

	// Trim any remaining "-" from beginning of string
	output = output.replace(/^[-]+/, '');

	if (!output) throw new Error(`This plugin name cannot be converted to a package name: ${pluginName}`);

	// Add prefix
	output = `joplin-plugin-${output}`;

	// Package name is limited to 214 characters
	output = output.substr(0, 214);

	// Trim any remaining "-" from end of string
	output = output.replace(/[-]+$/, '');

	return output;
}

module.exports = { mergePackageKey, mergeIgnoreFile, packageNameFromPluginName };

View on GitHub (pinned to 2654b33620)

Solutions

1. Re-run the generator and enter a plugin name containing at least one ASCII letter or number (e.g. "My Cool Plugin").
2. Avoid names made only of symbols, emoji, or whitespace.
3. If a non-Latin name is desired, append a transliterated ASCII portion so the slug is non-empty.

Example fix

# before
? Plugin name: ✨✨✨
# after
? Plugin name: Star Notes

// Before calling the generator, sanity-check the proposed name slugifies to non-empty.
const slugify = require('slugify');
const slugified = slugify(pluginName.replace(/[*+~.()'"!:@[\]]/g, '-'), { lower: true }).replace(/^-+/, '');
if (!slugified) throw new Error('Plugin name has no usable characters for a package name');

const isUsablePluginName = (name) => !!slugify(name.replace(/[*+~.()'"!:@[\]]/g, '-'), { lower: true }).replace(/^-+/, '');

try { packageNameFromPluginName(name); }
catch (e) { if (/cannot be converted to a package name/.test(e.message)) { /* ask for a new name */ } else throw e; }

When it happens

Trigger: User runs yo joplin (or the generator programmatically) and enters a plugin name consisting entirely of characters that slugify strips — e.g. only symbols, only emoji, only CJK that slugify removes, or only whitespace.

Common situations: Plugin name is pure punctuation or a single emoji; name is empty; name uses a script slugify does not transliterate.

Related errors

• Failed to extract a valid commit hash. Ensure that git is pr
• You are in a detached HEAD state. Checkout a branch (e.g. gi
• Remote HEAD is empty. Make sure you have pushed your changes
• Unexpected git ls-remote output: "${remoteHeadLine}". Make s
• Failed to extract a valid remote commit hash.

AI-assisted analysis of laurent22/joplin@2654b33620 (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e012a2e48dd6ca53. Report an issue: GitHub.