Token naming worksheet

Determines the vocabulary the name must speak. A primitive is infrastructure — it doesn't need to communicate meaning. A semantic token must be legible to both designers and engineers.

Describe the decision, not the value. What is this token not for? That negative boundary is often the most useful thing to document — it prevents misuse.

Global tokens apply everywhere. Contextual tokens apply within a specific theme or mode. Component-scoped tokens only operate inside one component — consuming them elsewhere creates invisible coupling.

What state or condition activates this token? For stateless tokens (most primitives), document that explicitly — it tells the reader this token has no interaction dependency.

This is the question most often skipped and the one that pays off most over time. The reasoning you document today prevents the same debate from being relitigated by every future team member who encounters this name.

A token is a node in a network, not a standalone object. Documenting its connections makes the network visible — and makes the system navigable by anyone, including an LLM.