diff --git a/internal/pkg/create/create.go b/internal/pkg/create/create.go
index ee079fb3..e050dcb7 100644
--- a/internal/pkg/create/create.go
+++ b/internal/pkg/create/create.go
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ import (
 	"os"
 	"os/exec"
 	"path/filepath"
+	"regexp"
 	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/go-git/go-git/v5"
@@ -166,15 +167,28 @@ func Create(ctx context.Context, clients *shared.ClientFactory, log *logger.Logg
 	return appDirPath, nil
 }
 
-// getAppDirName will validate and return the app's directory name
+// multiDashRe matches consecutive dashes.
+var multiDashRe = regexp.MustCompile(`-{2,}`)
+
+// nonAlphanumericRe matches any character that is not a lowercase letter, digit, or dash.
+var nonAlphanumericRe = regexp.MustCompile(`[^a-z0-9-]+`)
+
+// getAppDirName will validate and return the app's directory name in kebab-case
 func getAppDirName(appName string) (string, error) {
 	if len(appName) <= 0 {
 		return "", fmt.Errorf("app name is required")
 	}
 
-	// trim whitespace
+	// Normalize to kebab-case: lowercase, replace non-alphanumeric with dashes, collapse, and trim
 	appName = strings.TrimSpace(appName)
-	appName = strings.ReplaceAll(appName, " ", "-")
+	appName = strings.ToLower(appName)
+	appName = nonAlphanumericRe.ReplaceAllString(appName, "-")
+	appName = multiDashRe.ReplaceAllString(appName, "-")
+	appName = strings.Trim(appName, "-")
+
+	if len(appName) == 0 {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("app name must contain at least one alphanumeric character")
+	}
 
 	// name cannot be a reserved word
 	if goutils.Contains(reserved, appName, false) {
diff --git a/internal/pkg/create/create_test.go b/internal/pkg/create/create_test.go
index baaa5583..dc80185b 100644
--- a/internal/pkg/create/create_test.go
+++ b/internal/pkg/create/create_test.go
@@ -38,33 +38,75 @@ func TestCreate(t *testing.T) {
 }
 
 func TestGetProjectDirectoryName(t *testing.T) {
-	var appName string
-	var err error
-
-	// Test with empty name returns an error
-	appName, err = getAppDirName("")
-	assert.Error(t, err, "should return an error for empty name")
-	assert.Equal(t, "", appName)
-
-	// Test with app name
-	appName, err = getAppDirName("my-app")
-	assert.NoError(t, err, "should not return an error")
-	assert.Equal(t, "my-app", appName, "should return 'my-app'")
-
-	// Test with a dot in the app name
-	appName, err = getAppDirName(".my-app")
-	assert.NoError(t, err, "should not return an error")
-	assert.Equal(t, ".my-app", appName, "should return '.my-app'")
-
-	// Spaces replaced with hyphens
-	appName, err = getAppDirName("my cool app")
-	assert.NoError(t, err)
-	assert.Equal(t, "my-cool-app", appName)
-
-	// Leading/trailing spaces trimmed
-	appName, err = getAppDirName("  my-app  ")
-	assert.NoError(t, err)
-	assert.Equal(t, "my-app", appName)
+	tests := map[string]struct {
+		input    string
+		expected string
+		hasError bool
+	}{
+		"empty name returns error": {
+			input:    "",
+			hasError: true,
+		},
+		"simple kebab-case name": {
+			input:    "my-app",
+			expected: "my-app",
+		},
+		"spaces replaced with hyphens": {
+			input:    "my cool app",
+			expected: "my-cool-app",
+		},
+		"leading and trailing spaces trimmed": {
+			input:    "  my-app  ",
+			expected: "my-app",
+		},
+		"uppercase converted to lowercase": {
+			input:    "My Slack App",
+			expected: "my-slack-app",
+		},
+		"mixed case normalized": {
+			input:    "My-Slack-App",
+			expected: "my-slack-app",
+		},
+		"special characters replaced with dashes": {
+			input:    "my_app!@#test",
+			expected: "my-app-test",
+		},
+		"consecutive special characters collapsed to single dash": {
+			input:    "my---app",
+			expected: "my-app",
+		},
+		"leading and trailing special characters trimmed": {
+			input:    "---my-app---",
+			expected: "my-app",
+		},
+		"dots converted to dashes": {
+			input:    ".my-app",
+			expected: "my-app",
+		},
+		"only special characters returns error": {
+			input:    "!!!",
+			hasError: true,
+		},
+		"numbers preserved": {
+			input:    "app123",
+			expected: "app123",
+		},
+		"complex mixed input": {
+			input:    "  My Cool App! (v2)  ",
+			expected: "my-cool-app-v2",
+		},
+	}
+	for name, tc := range tests {
+		t.Run(name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			result, err := getAppDirName(tc.input)
+			if tc.hasError {
+				assert.Error(t, err)
+			} else {
+				assert.NoError(t, err)
+				assert.Equal(t, tc.expected, result)
+			}
+		})
+	}
 }
 
 func TestGetAvailableDirectory(t *testing.T) {