irrevon
Record
ADR-0023
Status
accepted (owner written directive, 2026-07-21)
Date
2026-07-21
Supersedes
ADR-011 (working name "Detent", master doc §11)

Rename the project — Detent → Irrevon (engine), DetentBench → IrrevonBench (benchmark)

Context

ADR-011 adopted “Detent” as a working name with a pre-committed reopen trigger: “Registry/trademark screen reveals a Detent collision — fall back to a runner-up.” The screen ran on 2026-07-21 (review-queue §3 item 4 evidence, then the independent N1 naming exploration) and the trigger fired on three independent collisions, all in the project’s own field [VF]:

  1. PyPI detent is taken by a same-audience product (v1.2.0, active, Apache-2.0): a “verification runtime that intercepts AI coding agent file writes … and rolls back atomically,” with the CLI surface detent init / run / status / rollback (pypi.org/project/detent). Severity: HIGH — this is the decisive collision. It is not a squat; the audience (developers wiring safety layers around AI agents) is identical, and its pitch (“intercept, verify, rollback”) is genuinely confusable with “persist, dispatch, reconcile.” pip install detent would forever install a competitor; a renamed package (detent-engine) breaks the name-extension requirement on day one. PyPI names are permanent — this collision could never be fixed after publication.
  2. digitaldrywood/detent — an active Go project (v0.37.0): AI coding-agent orchestration with a detent CLI (detent doctor …) and web dashboard.
  3. DetentLabs (detentlabs.ai) — the same clicks-into-place safety metaphor, web3.

With at least two active prior users in AI/agent software, any “Detent” mark in IC 9/42 would enter the field as the junior user — inverting the MLPerf/SPEC-style conformance-mark strategy (ADR-0014) in which controlling what results may wear the benchmark’s name is the project’s long-term integrity lever. Keeping the name would also require actively overriding ADR-011’s own reopen rule — the kind of motivated reasoning this project exists to prevent.

Timing: nothing is published — no package, no preregistration stamp, no DOI, no filed mark, no site deployment. This is the cheapest moment the project will ever have to fix its name; after launch the cost compounds toward “never” (N1 switching-cost analysis, [EI]).

N1 generated 55 candidates across five semantic fields, filtered on meaning / memorability / pronunciation / spelling / international readings, then collision-screened the survivors (PyPI/npm/crates.io JSON endpoints, GitHub users API, Homebrew, RDAP for .com/.dev, DNS NS delegation for .io, Justia trademark web search). Finalists:

Rank Name Screen result Why it lost / won
#1 Irrevon Clear on every axis: PyPI/npm/crates/GitHub 404; irrevon.com/.dev RDAP-404; irrevon.io no NS; no company/product/mark surfaced Won on clearance + legal strength (fanciful mark, the strongest category — exactly what the ADR-0014 conformance strategy needs). Accepted weaknesses, eyes open: zero pre-loaded meaning, crowded “-on” coinage register, pharma cadence, stress ambiguity
#2 Talea PyPI/npm/crates clear; GitHub user taken; all three domains registered Best semantics found (the split tally stick = reconciliation-by-evidence), but a crowded trade-name field incl. an Italian class-42-adjacent ICT/SAP firm (talea.it) — a real trademark question
#3 Estop Registries clear; estop.com registered “E-stop” irreversibly means emergency stop to robotics/safety audiences — a standing mis-description of an engine that is not a kill switch
reserve Peractum Cleanest slate for a real Latin word Heavy, obscure, mishearing-prone

The incumbent failed the same screen (see Context). N1’s verdict: rename pre-launch, owner-gated. N1’s honest challenge to Irrevon is sustained, not waved away: it is a clear name, not yet a good one — everything must be bought with messaging.

Decision

  1. The name is Irrevon. Owner written directive of 2026-07-21 (“the name change has to reflect everywhere — the code, the docs, the repo name, everything”); the directive is the ratification for the master-doc amendment this rides with (AM-22, AM-16 mechanics: targeted product-name find-replace + hash re-pin in scripts/master-doc.sha256).
  2. The benchmark is IrrevonBench — one word, capital I capital B, matching the <Name>Bench pattern the claims registry, preregistration, and conformance-policy skeleton all pattern on. N1’s crisper sub-brand idea (“IrrevBench”) is explicitly a separate, later owner decision — not invented here.
  3. Counsel-screening caveat (preserved, load-bearing): all availability and trademark findings above are automated research as of 2026-07-21, labeled “appears available” — none of it is legal clearance. A professional IC 9/42 clearance search on “Irrevon” is required before any trademark reliance, and stays on the launch checklist. Domain purchase, USPTO filing, and PyPI registration remain human spend/publication acts; PyPI registration of irrevon is unblocked pending those clearances.
  4. Schema $id move: placeholder host detent.invalid → https://irrevon.dev/schemas/…. $id is metadata (identifier, not locator), not shape — recorded here because schema files change only with an ADR. The host stays an explicit placeholder until the domain is purchased.
  5. Migrations edited in place; NO 0006 rename migration. detent_app → irrevon_app and the journal table detent_schema_migrations → irrevon_schema_migrations directly in migrations 0001–0004. The migrations are unreleased — no wheel, no tag, no external database has ever applied them; a rename migration exists to migrate an installed base, and there is none. Shipping one would bake detent_* roles into every future database forever. The one real cost — developers’ stale local DBs — is mitigated by irrevon doctor, which detects the pre-rename signature and hints docker compose down -v && … && irrevon init. The ADR-0022 append-only journal discipline governs applied journals, which are all disposable/recreated; editing unreleased files is a normal edit.
  6. Fixtures regenerated, never hand-edited: the workbench fixture set was re-captured from a real engine run (seed 777) after the code rename, so provenance stays honest. The flagship effect id 0bb7e8d6…85f5 is expected byte-identical — identity derives from business stable_ids + contract fields, never the product name; any drift is stop-and-investigate.
  7. Append-only discipline: prior ADR texts, review-queue history rows, task files (tasks/T-1xx), and git history keep the old name — historical record, working as designed. ADR-011 receives only this supersession (status line in the index; its full text in master doc §11 is amended solely by AM-22’s product-name sweep). The GitHub repository rename (PranavMishra28/detent → …/irrevon) is a settings mutation, human/coordinator only, after merge; in-repo URLs already carry the new path and go live with it.

Alternatives

  • Keep “Detent” — fails ADR-011’s own reopen trigger on recorded evidence; permanent PyPI mismatch against a confusable same-audience product; junior-user trademark position.
  • Talea / Estop / Peractum — see finalists table; each lost on a concrete axis Irrevon clears.
  • Rename-later (post-launch) — cost compounds (stamped preregistration, permanent PyPI name, citations, filed marks); rejected on the switching-cost asymmetry.
  • 0006 rename migration — rejected (no installed base; permanently pollutes future databases with legacy role names).
  • Two-token “Irrevon Bench” — rejected: the conformance policy protects a single-token mark; <Name>Bench consistency is worth more than marginal readability.

Consequences

  • Easier: canonical names everywhere (pip install irrevon when published, irrevon init, IrrevonBench, Irrevon Workbench); a fanciful mark for the ADR-0014 conformance strategy; the name screen (review-queue §3 item 4) resolves to a decision instead of a standing risk.
  • Harder: a coined name with zero stored meaning must be earned through messaging; every historical document now reads under a superseded name (mitigated: this ADR + AM-22 record the mapping once).
  • Enforced by: make check-all green before and after (the rename is a naming sweep, never a behavior edit); the fixture drift gate + flagship-id stability check; the residual-name sweep (old-name occurrences allowed only in history/ADRs/review-queue/tasks/.scratch).

Risks

  • Counsel screen could surface an “Irrevon” conflict later → fall back to N1’s #2 (Talea) / #3 (Estop) before any publication act; nothing is stamped or published under the new name yet, so the blast radius stays in-repo.
  • Registry names are unregistered until the human act → squatting window. Mitigation: PyPI registration is flagged unblocked-pending-clearances in the review queue; the owner decides timing.
  • The -on register grows more crowded → accepted with eyes open (decision weighs clearance and legal strength over beauty).

Reopen trigger

Counsel’s IC 9/42 clearance search surfaces a live “Irrevon” (or confusably similar) mark or prior same-field user; or any registry/domain in the §3.1 matrix is taken by a same-space product before the owner registers it. Either fires a fallback evaluation of the N1 runners-up before any publication act.

Appendix — touchpoint inventory as executed (2026-07-21)

Nine zones, ~40 touchpoints (REBUILD-BRIEF §1.1, verified against the tree):

  • A — Python package + CLI: src/detent/→src/irrevon/ (all imports); pyproject name, [project.scripts] irrevon, import-linter root + contracts, wheel packages/force-include (irrevon/_schemas), description; env vars DETENT_*→IRREVON_* (DSN, REFDEST_URL, CONFIG, LOG_FILE, TEST_HOOKS, BENCH, CRASH_AT, SYNC_AT, SYNC_DIR, REREAD_GAP_S, STUCK_THRESHOLD_S, AUTO_REDISPATCH_TYPES, TEST_ADMIN_DSN) incl. all test seams; detent.toml→irrevon.toml (config precedence chain, init scaffold, doctor, tests, site copy); JSONL logger docstrings; demo kept-DB irrevon_demo_s<seed>; demo summary key detent_leg→irrevon_leg (product-named artifact field); CLI --leg irrevon; DetentError→IrrevonError; uv.lock regenerated.
  • B — DB roles + migrations (edited in place, no 0006): irrevon_app in 0001/0003/0004; irrevon_no_rewrite() + irrevon_schema_migrations in 0002/db.py; doctor stale-DB hint added; integration conftest DSNs.
  • C — schemas: $id → https://irrevon.dev/schemas/… (placeholder until domain purchase); $comment wording; examples + reference-destination declarations (Irrevon reference destination, citations host).
  • D — web/: package irrevon-web; __IRREVON_DATA_MODE__ / VITE_IRREVON_DATA_MODE / IRREVON_VRT_CONTAINER; index.html titles; wordmark text slot (geometry untouched); narration copy (stage.tsx), route copy, brand SVG title text; localStorage keys irrevon.*; codegen + schema-pins regenerated; fixtures regenerated via the real engine (see Decision 6); motion/density token comments reworded to the mechanism (“seated click”), not the old product name.
  • E — site/: SITE_NAME = "Irrevon" + full copy sweep (pages, DemoTranscript, styles); claims registry updates (not-published rewritten: name decided, PyPI pending clearances, future-tense uv tool install irrevon; demo-provenance engine commit refreshed) + CLAIMS.md regenerated; package irrevon-site.
  • F — docs/ + root: README, AGENTS.md, docs/ci.md (incl. gh api …/irrevon examples, live at repo rename), RFC-001/002, security-policy, execution-plan (P2 + release-gate item updated to “adopted; counsel clearance open”), benchmark-preregistration (DRAFT throughout; no FROZEN section exists — verified), Makefile comments + IRREVON_VRT_CONTAINER (target names unchanged: role-named), CI workflow header comments + lychee placeholder exclude (irrevon.dev), dependabot/gitleaks comments, .cursor (BUGBOT, environment name, deny-hook comment, contracts rule), scripts/ (bootstrap comment, IRREVON_REPO).
  • G — GitHub repo rename: NOT in this change; coordinator/owner, post-merge (settings mutation).
  • H — unchanged by design: git history; prior ADR texts and review-queue history rows; tasks/T-1xx files (append-only records); .scratch/; engine semantics, schema shapes, state tables, budgets, gates; mark/icon geometry and token values.