Skip to content

naming.md

Latest commit

 

History

History
140 lines (110 loc) · 11.8 KB

naming.md

File metadata and controls

140 lines (110 loc) · 11.8 KB
Raw

Final decision (2026-10-05): dynamic-monorepo, chosen by the maintainer from the research shortlist below plus their own proposals. The working name dynamic-monorepos (plural) was renamed to the singular form, which matches the config file name dynamic-monorepo.config.json. It was free on GitHub Marketplace (slug 404), on npm, and as a GitHub user/org, and a repository search for the name returned 0 results. The repo and the Action share the name (uses: continuous-actions/dynamic-monorepo@v1), and the Marketplace display name is Dynamic Monorepo. The research recommendation was monorepo-impact (66/80). dynamic-monorepo is broader: it describes the outcome (dynamic CI for monorepos) rather than the mechanism, which leaves room for future features such as inference and test impact. We also considered monorepo-actions and rejected it: a GitHub org called Monorepo-Actions already exists, and the name reads as a collection of actions.

Naming: recommendation for the continuous-actions affected-project planning action

Research date: 2026-10-05. Org: continuous-actions (renamed from OpenMind-SI on 2026-10-05; GitHub redirects the old URLs).

Recommendation

monorepo-impact (repo continuous-actions/monorepo-impact, usage uses: continuous-actions/monorepo-impact@v1).

Runner-up: affected-plan.

Field Value
Repo name monorepo-impact
Marketplace name: Monorepo Impact (slug monorepo-impact, verified free)
description: (108 chars) Map changed files to projects, walk the dependency graph, and output affected-project matrices with reasons.
Branding icon share-2 (Feather; three joined nodes, reads as a dependency graph)
Branding color blue
Future CLI package monorepo-impact (npm free)

Why: it names the product's job (the impact of a change across a monorepo), is free on Marketplace, npm and as a GitHub user/org, has no famous repo or tool behind it, and does not borrow Nx/Turborepo's "affected" vocabulary or Terraform's "plan". "Impact" also fits the explain-why feature (impact = reason chain). The monorepo- prefix keeps the name product-specific, so sibling tools (security, cost, release) can get their own distinct names under the org.

Method and evidence

All checks run 2026-10-05:

  • Marketplace slug: curl -o /dev/null -w '%{http_code}' https://github.com/marketplace/actions/<slug> (404 = free). Probe validated: checkout, paths-filter, changed-files return 200; a nonsense slug returns 404.
  • Marketplace similar names: scraped https://github.com/marketplace?type=actions&query=<term>.
  • npm: https://registry.npmjs.org/<name> (404 = free).
  • GitHub user/org: https://api.github.com/users/<name> (404 = free).
  • Repos: gh api search/repositories?q=<name>+in:name&sort=stars.

Caveats: Marketplace name: uniqueness is only finally confirmed in the publish form; slug availability is the best proxy. No legal trademark search was done; only obvious tool/brand confusion was assessed.

Brainstorm

Vocabulary: affected, impact, scope, graph, plan, change, dependency, project, monorepo, build, CI, pipeline, matrix, reach, cascade, downstream, ripple, blast radius, fan-out, lineage.

Dropped before scoring:

  • gha-impact: gha- prefix is noise inside Actions; results are unrelated "impact" repos.
  • dependency-cascade: Marketplace already has dependency-cascade-query-affected-nodes.
  • ci-scope: 990 repo-name hits (CityScope etc.), too vague.
  • build-scope: implies only builds, not test/deploy.
  • change-map: 342 hits (OSM changeset-map).
  • monorepo-graph: suggests visualization.
  • impact-plan: 112 hits, reads as an environmental/social impact plan.
  • monorepo-plan: sounds like a roadmap.
  • downstream: npm package and GitHub user both taken.

Evidence table (ten serious candidates)

Candidate Marketplace slug Similar Marketplace actions npm GH user/org Notable repos / confusion
monorepo-impact free none for "monorepo impact" free free zAx4hub/monorepo-impact-radar (0 stars), Win-Technologie/impact-app-monorepo (2); no conflict
monorepo-scope free none free free JonMac1978/monorepo-scope-tool (0); "scope" also means npm scope / OAuth scope
affected-plan free many nx-affected-*, dotnet-affected, atmos-affected-stacks (adjacent) free free none; "plan" evokes terraform plan
impact-matrix free none free free generic risk-matrix meaning; ties name to one output
ripple-plan free pr-ripple, ripples-impact (adjacent) free free Ripple brand halo (XRP, Ripple Labs)
change-graph free none free free 133 hits, mostly GraphQL breaking-change tools (entria/graphql-find-breaking-changes-cli 43 stars)
monorepo-affected free many affected-* actions free free echoes Nx affected, AlekseyLeshko/affected-workspaces-github-action
affected-projects free nx-affected-projects, terraform-affected-projects (same words) taken free rogiervanstraten/terraform-affected-projects, jfandy1982/nx-affected-projects-and-deps
blast-radius free 12+ blast-radius-*, blastguard-*, cross-repo-blast-radius-* taken taken (org) 28mm/blast-radius (2193 stars, Terraform graph viewer), DataDog/package-blast-radius
ripple free pr-ripple, ripples-impact taken taken (org, 95 repos) Ripple-TS/ripple (7404 stars), XRPLF/rippled (5218)

Competitive field (not name collisions): dorny/paths-filter, leanix/nx-affected-dependencies-action (21 stars), leonardochaia/dotnet-affected-action (23), bmcszk/monorepo-matrix (1 star; Marketplace slug monorepo-matrix returns 200, taken, so any "monorepo-matrix" variant is out), Nx affected, Turborepo --affected. These are ecosystem-bound (Nx, .NET, Terraform) or path-filter only; none combines a generic declared graph with per-project reasons, so the product is differentiated and the name should not look like a clone of any of them.

Scoring (each /10)

Mem = memorability, Tech = technical relevance, Uniq = uniqueness, Use = GitHub Action usability, Mkt = Marketplace suitability, Repo = repo name quality, Fut = future expansion, Pron = ease of pronunciation.

Candidate Mem Tech Uniq Use Mkt Repo Fut Pron Total /80
monorepo-impact 8 9 8 8 8 8 8 9 66
affected-plan 7 8 8 8 7 8 7 9 62
impact-matrix 7 7 8 7 8 7 6 9 59
ripple-plan 8 6 8 7 7 7 7 9 59
monorepo-affected 6 8 8 7 7 7 6 8 57
monorepo-scope 6 6 7 7 7 7 7 9 56
change-graph 6 6 5 6 6 6 6 9 50
affected-projects 6 8 3 6 5 6 6 9 49
blast-radius 9 6 1 5 2 5 6 9 43
ripple 8 5 1 4 3 3 6 9 39

Scores are judgment-based; the evidence table drives Uniq, Mkt and Repo. The top two are the only candidates with both a clear technical meaning and a clean namespace.

Reasoning

Why monorepo-impact wins

  • Technical relevance: "impact" is the established term for "what does this change affect" (impact analysis); it covers the reverse-transitive walk and the explain-why output. "Monorepo" names the domain.
  • Namespace: free slug, free npm, no user/org, no notable repo (nearest are 0 to 2 stars).
  • Usability: uses: continuous-actions/monorepo-impact@v1 reads naturally; output names (affected, matrix, reasons) stay free to be precise without the name promising a format.
  • Marketplace: "Monorepo Impact" is distinctive and does not use a competitor's name (Nx, Turbo).
  • Weakness: "impact" is somewhat generic and a reader may not guess it emits matrices. The description, README tagline and topics cover that.

Why affected-plan is only runner-up

  • Pros: matches the term users search (Nx, Turbo); short; free everywhere.
  • Cons: borrows another tool's term and risks looking like an Nx clone; "plan" suggests Terraform; about a dozen existing *-affected-* Marketplace actions crowd the space.
  • It is the fallback if monorepo-impact is unavailable at publish time.
  • For either name, put "affected" in the description and Marketplace topics to capture that search term without putting it in the name.

Rejected alternatives

  • blast-radius: good metaphor but taken on npm and as an org, 2193-star 28mm/blast-radius, 12+ similar Marketplace actions, and a security connotation that clashes with the planned security action.
  • ripple: org taken (95 repos), 7404-star Ripple-TS/ripple, XRPLF/rippled, financial-brand baggage.
  • affected-projects: npm taken; same-word Marketplace actions.
  • monorepo-scope: "scope" collides with npm and OAuth scopes; weaker meaning.
  • change-graph: GraphQL schema-change tooling owns the phrase; implies visualization.
  • impact-matrix: locks the name to one output; reads as a risk-management artefact.
  • ripple-plan: cute but vague; Ripple halo; "plan" not core.
  • monorepo-affected: derivative of Nx's term and an existing action.
  • Others: see Brainstorm.

Decision: Action name vs repo name

Use the same string everywhere: repo monorepo-impact, Marketplace slug monorepo-impact, future npm monorepo-impact, usage continuous-actions/monorepo-impact@v1.

  • Marketplace display name (name: in action.yml) is Monorepo Impact; it must be globally unique and the slug derives from it, so repo and slug match automatically.
  • No gha- prefix or -action suffix: the repo already lives in the Actions context and uses: would read redundantly. Keep -action only as a fallback if a clash appears.
  • Release tags: moving v1 major tag plus semver tags (independent of naming).

Decision: Org

continuous-actions is fixed and currently has no repos. The name is deliberately product-specific, not an umbrella like gha-plan, ci-tools or pipeline, so future siblings (security, optimizer, cost, release) can take their own descriptive names. Avoid org-prefixed names (openmind-*); the org already appears in uses:.

Pre-publish checklist

  1. Create continuous-actions/monorepo-impact; re-run the slug probe right before first release (expect 404 from https://github.com/marketplace/actions/monorepo-impact).
  2. Set name: Monorepo Impact, the description above, and branding: { icon: share-2, color: blue }.
  3. Marketplace category: Continuous integration (plus Utilities). Topics: monorepo, affected, dependency-graph, github-actions, matrix.
  4. Claim npm monorepo-impact only when the CLI is real (no squatting).
  5. Fallbacks in order: affected-plan, impact-matrix.

Sources