> For clean Markdown of any page, append .md to the page URL.
> For a complete documentation index, see https://docs.itential.com/itential-platform/2023-2/developer-guide/naming-conventions/llms.txt.
> For AI client integration (Claude Code, Cursor, etc.), connect to the MCP server at https://docs.itential.com/_mcp/server.

# Naming conventions

> Rules for naming applications, parameters, return values, and job variables in Itential Platform.

This guide covers the naming convention rules for certain values inside Itential Platform.

## Application names

For custom applications, the `id` in the `pronghorn.json` file is a combination of the scope and the application name, which also represents the file path for the application within the `node_modules` directory. For example, a scope of `@scope` and a name of `app-name` produces the id `@scope/app-name`.

The rules for the scope and the application name are:

1. Must have a length of at least one character.
2. Must not contain any uppercase characters.
3. Must start with a lowercase character.
4. Can contain a dot (`.`).
5. Can contain a dash (`-`).
6. Can contain an underscore (`_`).

## Parameter and return value names

Parameter and return values in methods and manual tasks are defined in the `pronghorn.json` model for an application. Names for these values must follow these rules:

1. Must have a length of at least one character, with a maximum length of 255.
2. Can contain letters and characters from any Unicode-supported written language (see the note below for the recommended approach).
3. Can contain numbers.
4. Can contain underscores (`_`).
5. Can contain dashes (`-`).
6. Cannot contain punctuation from any Unicode-supported written language.
7. Cannot start with a number or dash.
8. Cannot contain other special characters.
9. Cannot contain whitespace characters.

It is recommended that parameter and return value names be limited to alphanumeric characters only and not Unicode characters.

### Examples

* `device`
* `Device`
* `router_device`
* `_device`
* `device2`
* `gerät`
* `端末`

## Job variable names

Any job variable names created by an automation designer within Automation Builder must follow the same rules as [Parameter and return value names](#parameter-and-return-value-names).

> Rules for naming applications, parameters, return values, and job variables in Itential Platform.