deckhearth/.convoys/pick-a-name.md

pick-a-name (P1 — pre-launch brand consistency)

Status: in-progress Priority: P1 (pre-launch; not a security blocker, but a brand-consistency blocker that touches every user-facing surface) Convoy owner: parent (orchestration); role-architect then role-implementer(s) then role-doc-writer Opened: 2026-05-24 Operator decision (gate-0, already ratified): Deck Hearth wins.

Problem

AGENTS.md line 5 has called this out since project setup: the repo, README, seed data, package name, infrastructure, and admin email all say "TCG Vault" (and the kebab tcg-vault / camel tcgvault variants), while the actual rendered header brand in components/Layout.js says "Deck Hearth". Two distinct names, two distinct visual brands (the AnimatedFireLogo.js component is also affected). Pre-launch this MUST be one name end-to-end.

Operator's brand decision (gate-0)

Deck Hearth wins. Rationale (operator-stated): more distinctive, more ownable, and the brand the human-facing surface (Layout header) already renders. The trade is real: this is the higher-cost path because the already-shipped infrastructure ID is the losing name. The architect's job is to scope and minimize that cost — NOT to re-litigate the brand decision.

Initial surface inventory (architect to expand)

Pre-architect rough hit-count from rg, scoped to non-vendor files:

Surface	Files (sample)	"TCG Vault" or tcg(-)?vault hits
Marketing copy	README.md, pages/index.js, pages/login.js, pages/signup.js	4 + 5 + 4 + 1
Brand components	components/AnimatedFireLogo.js, components/ShareModal.js	4 + 1
Seed scripts (admin email)	scripts/setup-neon-db.js, scripts/create-test-users.js, scripts/seed-collections-*.js	2 + 7 + 6
Test guides	TESTING_GUIDE.md	7
Infrastructure-bound (rename has external blast)	package.json, lib/rate-limit.js (Redis prefix), .github/workflows/*.yml	1 + 5 + 3
Already-correct (Deck Hearth)	components/Layout.js, styles/globals.css, components/AnimatedFireLogo.js partial	n/a (these stay)

Hard scoping rules

• Strictly NO re-litigating the brand decision. Deck Hearth wins; the architect ratifies how to rename, not whether to.
• Keep the repo tcg-vault for now. GitHub rename is a separate concern (auto-redirects work, but Vercel-link / gh configs / local remotes / bookmarks all need touching). Track as a queued follow-up convoy rename-repo-and-vercel-project. This convoy renames the product brand in-app; the repo/Vercel rename is a downstream convoy.
• Redis prefix migration is in scope. lib/rate-limit.js uses tcgvault:auth/search/upload/generate/import as Redis key prefixes. These must rename to deckhearth:* (or similar) atomically with the convoy. Accept the one-time rate-limit-state reset (counters are per-15-min / per-1-hour anyway; no user-perceptible impact).
• Admin email migration is in scope. admin@tcgvault.com rename to admin@deckhearth.com (or similar — architect proposes the canonical email, operator ratifies). Includes the in-DB UPDATE for any existing admin@tcgvault.com row (write a one-off scripts/migrations/YYYY-MM-DD- rename-admin-email.js per the no-go-zones rule for new migrations).
• package.json name field: rename to deck-hearth in this convoy (npm package name; we don't publish, so blast is contained to lockfile + any local script reference).
• Lockfile regeneration: the architect ratifies whether to regenerate package-lock.json in this convoy or accept the rename mismatch short-term. (Recommended: regenerate; cheap; matches package.json shape.)
• DNS / domain: out of scope — separate convoy point-domain-at-deckhearth (you don't own a deckhearth.* domain yet per operator's pre-convoy statement; if/when acquired, that triggers DNS).
• Favicon / OG images / social cards: in scope IF source files exist; defer to follow-up convoy regenerate-brand-assets if they need new design.

Architect deliverables

1. Full surface inventory — every occurrence of TCG Vault, tcgvault, tcg-vault, plus every occurrence of Deck Hearth / deck-hearth / deckhearth (the latter set tells you what's already correct and what shape collisions need handling, e.g., if Layout.js has Deck Hearth but AnimatedFireLogo.js has DECKHEARTH — pick canonical casing).
2. Canonical-string ratification: propose the canonical product name ("Deck Hearth" with internal-cap; or "Deckhearth" one word; or other); the canonical kebab (deck-hearth); the canonical camel/lower (deckhearth); the canonical admin email (admin@deckhearth.com or variant); the canonical Redis prefix (deckhearth or dh). Mark each as D1-D5 (operator gate-1 for all five — they're naming choices, not architectural ones).
3. Slice plan: probably 2-3 briefs. Suggested split (architect can change): Brief 1 = in-repo string sweep + AnimatedFireLogo brand update (mechanical); Brief 2 = Redis prefix migration in lib/rate-limit.js + admin-email DB migration script + package.json rename + lockfile regen (operationally riskier — needs careful testing). Brief 3 (if needed) = visual baseline reset (because the smoke + visual-diff specs will all fail with the new brand).
4. Boot-the-brief verification for each: confirm specs compile, lint passes, vitest passes, smoke can still run against a preview.
5. Out-of-scope queued follow-ups: explicit list (repo rename, Vercel project rename, DNS / domain acquisition, brand asset regeneration, social card refresh).

Known constraints

• Cross-cutting smoke/visual diff blast. PR-#18's Playwright smoke spec ("sign-in page renders") + the visual-diff baseline are both predicated on the current brand strings. Brief 2 (or Brief 3 if split) MUST update the smoke spec expectations and either regenerate visual baselines or accept temporary baseline drift (the adopt-playwright-smoke Decision 4 continue-on-error swallow is still in effect, so visual-diff drift won't fail CI — but the queued seed-visual-baselines-on-linux convoy becomes harder to ship until after this convoy lands).
• Smoke spec lives at tests/smoke/app.smoke.spec.ts. Likely needs one-or-two-character edits to text matchers.
• AGENTS.md line 5's branding note is the canonical historical record of the inconsistency; the doc-writer pass MUST update it from "Pick one before launch" to "Deck Hearth (decided 2026-05-24 in pick-a-name convoy; commit X)."
• Operator-action-required pre-merge: smoke-test the rebranded preview manually before merge (every public page should render "Deck Hearth"; login + register should still work; admin import UI should still function with the renamed admin user).

Out of scope (queued follow-ups)

• rename-repo-and-vercel-project — GitHub repo rename + Vercel project rename + local git remote update. P2 polish. Auto-redirects make this low-risk-low-urgency.
• point-domain-at-deckhearth — DNS / domain. Blocked on domain acquisition (operator pre-convoy: doesn't own deckhearth.* yet).
• regenerate-brand-assets — favicon, OG images, social cards. P2 polish; requires design pass.
• migrate-existing-user-emails — if any existing user accounts have @tcgvault.com emails (besides admin), propose a migration. Architect to surface count via a rg/DB query during inventory.

Owns

role-architect (decisions D1-D5, slice plan) → role-implementer(s) (per brief) → role-doc-writer (AGENTS.md line 5 + this file's As-shipped + ship-readiness Status summary footer).

As-shipped

(To be appended post-merge by role-doc-writer.)