Settled 2026-07-05: the suite is Subrosa. This file is kept as the decision record — the shortlist, the criteria, and the reasoning that produced the name. "Guise" below is the original working name that Subrosa replaced; it is preserved here only as the rejected candidate the analysis argues against.
Why the working name "Guise" was rejected: a guise is an outward appearance that conceals the real — it connotes deception. The suite's thesis is the opposite: honest selective disclosure — reveal exactly what's necessary, truthfully, and nothing more (Hughes 1993). The name argued against the product. It was also phonetically ambiguous (guise/guys/geese) and hard to search.
Criteria (Rams: less, but better):
- Encodes selective disclosure — not hiding, not masking: calibrated revealing
- Carries cypherpunk or legal-privacy lineage a reader can discover
- One word, spellable on hearing, works as CLI verb / repo / skill prefix
- No collision in the privacy/crypto space (availability below is unchecked — verify GitHub org, npm/crates, USPTO/CIPO, domain before committing)
"Under the rose" — the Roman/medieval symbol of confidentiality; a rose hung over the council table meant what is said here stays here. Legal English still uses sub rosa for "in strict confidence." Elegant, discoverable lineage, zero deception connotation — confidentiality by mutual understanding, which is exactly consent-based selective disclosure. Risks: two words (fine as subrosa); a small indie game and scattered brand uses exist — likely clear in this class, verify.
Theater fabric that is opaque or transparent depending on how it's lit — visibility controlled by the operator, not the audience. The best pure metaphor for selective disclosure on the list; short, unixy, verb-able ("scrim the schema"). Risks: obscure to non-theater people (a feature for a portfolio piece — it invites the explanation); minor JS-library namespace noise.
A calibrated opening — admits exactly as much light as the operator chooses. Photography metaphor maps one-to-one onto disclosure control (stop down = minimize). Risks: heavy cultural load (Portal's Aperture Science — affectionate but loud), crowded namespace in photo tooling.
| Name | Case for | Case against |
|---|---|---|
| Penumbra | The killer double meaning: partial shadow (selective light) AND Griswold v. Connecticut's "penumbras" — the doctrinal origin of the US constitutional privacy right. Perfect thesis fit | Same-space collision: Penumbra Labs is the Cosmos privacy chain. Likely disqualifying for a privacy-crypto portfolio piece |
| Lattice | Garden lattice = a screen you deliberately see through; lattice cryptography = the post-quantum future. Double crypto meaning | Lattice (HR platform) is a large trademark neighbor; noisy |
| Membrane | Semipermeable — biology's selective disclosure; passes what should pass | Clinical tone; long |
In Camera (incamera) |
Legal term for proceedings held in private chambers — judicial-grade confidentiality | Reads as photography app; two words |
| Nym | Direct cypherpunk lineage (pseudonym culture, nym servers) | Taken: Nym Technologies (mixnet company) — disqualified |
| Sieve | Selective passing as function | The idiom runs the wrong way ("leaks like a sieve") — disqualified, listed as a warning about metaphor direction |
| Palimpsest | Erasure-and-rewrite resonance (Art. 17 energy) | On inspection it's anti-privacy: a palimpsest is famous because the erased layer remains recoverable — a trap name |
Defensible reading: a guise is chosen self-presentation — Hughes' "power to selectively reveal oneself" is literally the power to choose one's guise, and skills/privacy-suite/SKILL.md already frames pseudonymity as first-class. Short, available (you hold the repo), and renaming has real cost (links, memory, momentum). If the deception connotation doesn't bother you in a portfolio context, keeping it is not a mistake — but Sub Rosa says confidence, Guise says cover.
Recommendation: subrosa first, scrim second. Decide after an availability sweep (GitHub org / npm / crates / TM databases / domains) — happy to run it.
Operator-selected. Repo: github.com/fevra-dev/Subrosa. The suite is Subrosa — under the rose: confidentiality by mutual understanding, selective disclosure by architecture. This file is retained as the decision record.