PublicToolNames.md

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---
status: in-force
summary: 'The FNS_ prefix is an operator-name convention, not a product name. Every listing a user reads shows the public name (the package FNS_BeatMod displays as BeatMod); identity keys, file names, shortcuts and COMP names keep the prefix. The rule, the surfaces it reaches, and the one identity move it cost.'
since: 2026-09-03 (owner ask: the prefix is noise wherever names are sorted or listed)
verified: 2026-09-03 -- console Settings, Install and Updates tabs read live in the browser; command registry, hotkey list and docs site rebuilt and read back
---

Public tool names: where the FNS_ prefix earns its place and where it does not

Inside TouchDesigner the FNS_ prefix does real work. It groups the toolkit in a network, keeps a dropped COMP from colliding with a user's own Console or Hub, and says at a glance who owns an operator. That argument holds for operator names and for nothing else.

Everywhere a name is put in a LIST, the prefix is noise, and worse than noise when the list is sorted: twenty-seven packages collapse under "F" and the letter that actually distinguishes them is the fifth character. The launcher's command list, the console's settings sidebar, the hotkey list, the docs site and the install picker all sorted that way.

The rule

Identity keeps the prefix. Display drops it.

The public name of a package is its name with a leading FNS_ removed. FNS_BeatMod displays as BeatMod, FNS_ToolbarRegistry as ToolbarRegistry. A package with no prefix displays as itself. The derivation is mechanical, not curated, so nothing has to be maintained in step:

def public_name(name):
    return name[4:] if name.startswith('FNS_') else name

Verified 2026-09-03: stripping the prefix collides with no other package name, so public names stay unique across all 58 packages.

Sort on what is printed. A list that prints public names and sorts on canonical ones is the same wall of "F" with the prefix hidden. Every listing below sorts on the public name.

Never derive an identity from it. These keep the prefixed name, and changing any of them breaks something already on disk or in a project:

Thing	Why it is frozen
COMP name in the network	the reason the prefix exists
.tox file name	the installer writes <name>.tox
package name in catalog.json / manifest.json	the Worker's entitlement map keys on it, as do install records
OP shortcut (op.FNS_HOTKEYMANAGER)	resolved by name at runtime, everywhere
tags (fnscommands, FNS_hotkeys), storage keys, registry canonical names	registry keys and roaming config keys
docs URL slugs (/docs/fns-beatmod/)	help_url values are baked into manifests that already shipped and into FNS_About.Helpurl on installed copies
command ids	CommandRegistration.md: ids are public API

Where a surface has only one string doing both jobs, the fix is to add a label beside the key, never to change the key. Three surfaces work that way now: the config registry's UiState() gained label next to name, the manifest gained title next to name, and the console page reads label || name.

What each surface does

Surface	Shows	How
Launcher quick-launch list, in-TD Command Palette	Autosave	FNSCommandRegistryExt.Register() stores _publicName(comp.name) as tool (registry 1.10.0)
Console Settings page, sidebar and headings	Autosave	ConfigRegistryExt.UiState() adds label, sorts on it; console_page.html prints toolLabel(t) and matches a search against both spellings
Console Updates tab	Autosave	console_page.html prints and sorts on publicName(r.package)
Console Install tab, /get/, the picker in the installer	Autosave	configurator/index.html prints and sorts on titleOf(p) = p.title from the manifest, falling back to the derivation
Docs site: titles, sidebar, cards, landing catalogue, Plus page	BeatMod	build-site.mjs carries p.title on every page object and sorts on it
Hotkey manager list	BeatMod	HotkeyManagerExt._toolName() returns the public name; bindings are still keyed by owner path and par name
Hub tabs, Console tabs, Palette Browser tabs	already clean	canonical names were prefix-free from the start (BeatMod, HotkeyManager, Console)
packaging/docs/*.md prose	Hub, ConfigRegistry	stripped in prose and link text; kept inside backticks, where the string names a COMP, a shortcut, a tag or a path
docs/*.md, this repo's engineering notes	FNS_Hub	kept: they name real operators

Two derivations of one rule have to agree, the same way packageSlug and _helpUrl already do: PublicName() in packaging/build_manifest.py writes the manifest's title, and publicName() in website/tools/build-site.mjs and in the two HTML shells falls back to it. Every consumer prefers the stored value, so the fallback only fires against a manifest published before title existed.

What it cost

The command registry's tool field is the curation identity (tool#id) for favourites, hidden overrides and presets, shared with the launcher through CommandCuration.md. Changing the field moved every FNS key once: FNS_Autosave#save-now became Autosave#save-now, and any entry curated under the old key orphans.

That was chosen over adding a second wire field, deliberately and with the owner's decision, because the cost was near zero on 2026-09-03: the tool#id identity was adopted on 2026-09-02 and the launcher side had not shipped it. Measured rather than assumed, on the machine that has had the identity longest: command-curation.json held zero entries and zero presets, and the palette's legacy pars held no keys, so nothing was orphaned at all. The bill only ever grows. There is no second free move -- the public name is now as permanent as a command id.

The launcher needs no release for this: it prints the field the wire gives it. The registry version says what happened, 1.9.0 to 1.10.0.

Doing the sweep surfaced an unrelated defect worth naming here because it was found by it: console_page.html and ConfigRegistryExt.py were committed source bound to nothing, so a change committed to the file never reached the running tool. Measured, fixed for all 50 files across 18 package toxes, and written up in ExternalizationOwnership.md.

Left open

• manifest.json carries no title until the next manifest build (it is generated inside TD from the live components). Nothing is blocked meanwhile: the site and both pickers derive the same string when the field is absent.
• A curated title in catalog.json overrides the derivation. Nothing sets one today. Whether the CMS preserves an unknown key through a package edit has not been checked, so treat curated titles as unproven until it is.
• Renaming the unprefixed tools (AltSelect, SwapOps, QuickPane and the rest) so the whole fleet carries FNS_ in the network. The same idea from the other end, and still open: it moves COMP names, .tox file names and package identity at once, so it is its own piece of work with its own migration.