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yoi/docs/branding.md
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ticket: plan yoi rename
2026-06-01 17:29:58 +09:00

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Branding notes

Rename rationale

The project must move away from the name insomnia. Kong already operates a well-known developer product named Insomnia, with overlapping surfaces such as an API/developer tool product, an insomnia package/binary, documentation, plugins, CLI tooling, and .insomnia project data. Even without making a legal judgment here, keeping insomnia would create unnecessary user confusion and distribution risk.

The rename should not be a shallow package-name change. The public product name, CLI command, data/config directory names, environment variable prefix, documentation language, and repository-facing terminology should converge on the new name.

Product identity

This project is not just an AI chat client. It is a local agent runtime for delegating long-running development work while preserving state, context, authority boundaries, and resumability.

The product promise is:

You can leave the keyboard, and the system remains present with your work.

That includes:

  • running and restoring Pods;
  • preserving session history, memory, workflows, and WorkItems;
  • coordinating delegated work through scoped permissions;
  • keeping human review and approval points explicit;
  • making long-running or interrupted work observable and resumable.

The name should therefore avoid generic AI-agent vocabulary such as agent, forge, sentinel, or autopilot. It should express presence, custody, watchfulness, and delegated work without implying reckless full autonomy.

Proposed name: Yoi

The leading candidate is Yoi, from the archaic Japanese word 夜居.

夜居 means staying up or being present at night, including the sense of night duty or remaining at the workplace until late. This preserves the original emotional source of Insomnia—AI-induced sleeplessness and the desire for something to keep watch on the user's behalf—while moving the framing from a personal condition to a product role.

Insomnia described what happened to the user.

Yoi describes what the system does instead:

It stays with the work after the user leaves.

Why Yoi fits

Short and tool-shaped

yoi is short, easy to type, and works naturally as a command name:

yoi
yoi pod
yoi memory
yoi workflow

It also maps cleanly to project/runtime surfaces:

.yoi/
~/.yoi/
YOI_*

Japanese but not overly literal

The name has the same kind of compact Japanese-derived shape as names like Hono or Shiki. It does not sound like a generic enterprise AI product, and it leaves room for the project to develop its own vocabulary.

Presence rather than automation

The important word in 夜居 is not only night, but 居: to be there.

That matches the system's architecture. Pods, sessions, memory, workflow state, WorkItems, and runtime metadata remain present so the user can return to them. The product is less about a single model response and more about maintaining a durable place where delegated work can continue.

Keeps the original story without keeping the problem

The old name centered sleeplessness. The new name centers the replacement for sleeplessness: a system that remains at the worksite on the user's behalf.

A useful internal phrasing is:

Insomnia was the problem. Yoi is the night presence that makes it unnecessary.

Handling ambiguity

Yoi is intentionally short and has Japanese homophones or near associations such as 良い, 宵, and 酔い. This ambiguity is acceptable if the official spelling and explanation consistently anchor the name as Yoi (夜居).

The ambiguity should be handled as follows:

  • Use Yoi for the product name in English-facing text.
  • Introduce it as Yoi (夜居) in README and high-level docs.
  • Use copy centered on presence, delegated work, and returning later.
  • Do not lean into alcohol-related 酔い wordplay.
  • Do not over-explain the name in every document; establish the origin once and then use Yoi normally.

Candidate tagline directions

Possible English taglines:

  • Yoi is a local AI agent runtime that stays with your work after you leave.
  • Yoi keeps a presence at your desk while your agents work.
  • Yoi lets you delegate long-running development work without staying at the keyboard.

Possible Japanese descriptions:

  • Yoi（夜居）は、あなたが離れたあとも仕事場に居続けるローカル AI エージェント実行環境です。
  • Yoi は、Pod、履歴、メモリ、ワークフローを保ち、長く続く開発作業の委譲を支えます。

Rename surfaces to update

If Yoi is adopted, the rename should cover at least:

  • product name: Insomnia -> Yoi;
  • CLI command: insomnia -> yoi;
  • workspace directory: .insomnia/ -> .yoi/;
  • user data directory: ~/.insomnia/ -> ~/.yoi/;
  • environment variables: INSOMNIA_* -> YOI_*;
  • Nix package/app names;
  • Cargo package names where public-facing;
  • prompt and resource text;
  • docs, reports, AGENTS instructions, tickets, and release material;
  • socket/runtime path labels and diagnostics where user-visible.

Compatibility aliases should be considered separately, but the public identity should not preserve insomnia longer than necessary.

Adoption checks

The required check for this project is Nixpkgs package-name availability, because the project is expected to be distributed as a Nix package.

Checked on 2026-06-01:

  • Nixpkgs: nix search nixpkgs '^yoi$' --json returned no package.
  • Nixpkgs: nix eval nixpkgs#yoi.meta.name --raw reported that nixpkgs does not provide yoi.
  • Nixpkgs: a direct <nixpkgs> attribute check returned false for builtins.hasAttr "yoi" pkgs.
  • Nixpkgs: nearby existing attributes include yo and yoink, but not yoi.

This satisfies the current required availability check for adopting Yoi.

A broader package-manager pass was also performed on 2026-06-01. Results:

  • crates.io: https://crates.io/api/v1/crates/yoi returned 404; no exact crate found by cargo search.
  • npm: exact package yoi exists. npm view yoi reports name: yoi, version: 1.9.15, description Easy (but powerful) NodeJS Server, created in 2013 and modified in 2022. No bin field was reported. This blocks using the exact npm package name without owner coordination, but does not appear to be a CLI-name conflict.
  • PyPI: https://pypi.org/pypi/yoi/json returned 404.
  • Homebrew formula: https://formulae.brew.sh/api/formula/yoi.json returned 404.
  • Homebrew cask: https://formulae.brew.sh/api/cask/yoi.json returned 404.
  • Arch official packages: exact name search returned no package.
  • AUR: https://aur.archlinux.org/rpc/v5/info/yoi returned no result.
  • Alpine packages: package-name search returned no exact yoi package.
  • Debian packages: package-name search returned no exact yoi package.
  • Fedora packages: https://src.fedoraproject.org/rpms/yoi returned 404.
  • Gentoo packages: exact package pages checked under likely categories returned 404.
  • MacPorts: package search returned no exact yoi port.
  • Snap: Snapcraft API reported No snap named 'yoi' found in series '16'.
  • Flathub: direct appstream lookup did not find an app named yoi.
  • Scoop Main bucket: bucket/yoi.json returned 404.
  • winget-pkgs: manifests/y/yoi returned 404.
  • Chocolatey community package page returned 404.
  • Docker Hub: library/yoi and yoi/yoi returned 404.
  • RubyGems: https://rubygems.org/api/v1/gems/yoi.json returned 404.
  • NuGet: https://api.nuget.org/v3-flatcontainer/yoi/index.json returned 404.
  • Maven Central: artifact/group search did not show an exact yoi package identity.
  • Packagist: https://packagist.org/packages/yoi/yoi.json returned 404.

The main package-manager concern found is the stale npm package. Since Nixpkgs is the required distribution target and npm distribution is not currently required, this does not block adopting Yoi, but it should be recorded as a known name collision if npm distribution is ever planned.

Optional broader checks before a public release may still include:

  • GitHub repository/name availability;
  • domain availability such as yoi.dev, yoi.rs, yoi.sh, or getyoi.dev;
  • trademark search results in relevant jurisdictions.

The main risk of Yoi is not semantic ambiguity but short-name collision. The required Nixpkgs check is clear, and the broader package-manager pass is acceptable apart from the npm package-name collision.