Skill: Preserve Directus Code Identifiers

Purpose

When rebranding a Directus fork (e.g., Directus → d9), you must distinguish between prose text (which should be renamed) and code identifiers (which must NEVER be renamed). Code identifiers are tied to npm packages, database schemas, and environment variable parsing that will break if renamed.

Triggers

• A mass rename/replace of "directus" to another name is being performed
• A rebrand script (sed, replace-all, or similar) is being run
• Files with .md, .ts, .js, or .vue extensions are being modified with string replacement

Actions

1. SPLIT the rename operation into two categories:

OK to rename (prose):

• Documentation text, comments, UI labels
• README content, page titles, descriptions
• Marketing copy, feature descriptions

NEVER rename (code identifiers):

• @directus/ — npm package scope (imports, package.json dependencies)
• directus_ — database table prefix (directus_users, directus_roles, etc.)
• DIRECTUS_ — environment variables (DIRECTUS_SECRET, DIRECTUS_DB_*, etc.)
• npx directus — CLI invocations
• new Directus() — SDK constructor calls
• createDirectus() — SDK factory function
• directus/ in import paths

1. If using a script: add exclusion patterns for code blocks, import statements, and env var references
2. After any mass rename: grep for the protected patterns to verify none were accidentally changed
3. Run the test suite to catch broken imports early

Errors Prevented

• Broken npm imports: @d9/sdk does not exist on npm — the package is @directus/sdk. Renaming the import scope causes build failures. (30min debug)
• Database tables not found: d9_users doesn't exist — the schema uses directus_users. Renaming table prefixes causes API 500 errors on every data request. (1h debug)
• Environment variables ignored: D9_SECRET is not read by the Directus engine — it expects DIRECTUS_SECRET. The app starts with default (insecure) values silently. (2h debug, security risk)
• SDK constructor fails: new D9() is not a valid constructor. The SDK exports Directus or createDirectus. (30min debug)

3 contributors made these mistakes independently during the d9 rebrand. Each occurrence cost 30min to 2h of debugging.

Restrictions

• Do NOT create aliases or re-exports (e.g., export { Directus as D9 }) — this adds maintenance burden for no benefit
• Do NOT rename database tables — this requires a migration and breaks existing data
• Do NOT rename environment variables — this breaks every existing deployment's .env file
• The @directus/ npm scope is owned by Directus Inc. — you cannot publish packages there anyway