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Chimera

Otter Trademark Policy

Otter Trademark Policy

Section titled “Otter Trademark Policy”

Scope

Section titled “Scope”

This policy governs how the chimera otter subcommand and its supporting docs, tests, and CI machinery refer to the real-world server-first coding agent that otter is modelled on.

Otter is not a fork, port, or rebrand of any upstream project. It is a fresh implementation built from existing Chimera primitives that happens to be shaped like that upstream so that users coming from there feel at home.

The rule

Section titled “The rule”

In live source, docs, error messages, and CLI text, do not name the upstream by its brand. Use one of:

  • otter — our subcommand
  • “the upstream”
  • “the open-source coding agent”

Comparative analysis under research/otter/ — other than the canonical SPEC.md — is fair-use research notes and is out of scope for the scrub.

Allowed exception: filesystem-fact paths

Section titled “Allowed exception: filesystem-fact paths”

~/.opencode/config.json, .opencode/agent/, .opencode/command/*.md, and similar dotted-directory references are allowed because they describe an on-disk layout we ingest. They are filesystem facts, not brand claims.

The scrub script implements this exception by filtering matches that contain ~/.opencode, .opencode/, or a bare .opencode directory reference.

How we enforce it

Section titled “How we enforce it”

Two layers:

  1. Local + CI script: scripts/otter_trademark_scrub.sh runs git grep -nE 'OpenCode|opencode\.ai|opencode-ai' over the live tree (chimera/otter/, docs/otter/, tests/otter/, research/otter/SPEC.md, README.md), filters allowed filesystem paths, and exits 1 on any remaining hit.
  2. CI job: .github/workflows/ci.yml registers a job otter-trademark-scrub that runs the script on every push and pull request.

When the scrub fires

Section titled “When the scrub fires”

You’ll see output like:

otter trademark scrub: FAIL
chimera/otter/cli.py:42:    print("compatible with OpenCode v1.x")

Rewrite the offending line to use otter, “the upstream”, or “the open-source coding agent”. Re-run:

Terminal window
bash scripts/otter_trademark_scrub.sh

A : OK exit means the live tree is clean.

Rationale

Section titled “Rationale”
  • Avoids implying endorsement, partnership, or derivation.
  • Keeps our marketing surface honest: otter is a Chimera composition, not a re-skin.
  • Forces us to describe behaviour in our own words, which surfaces divergences early and improves docs.
  • Makes the live tree linkable from external write-ups without legal risk.

Adding new paths

Section titled “Adding new paths”

If a new live-source directory under otter lands (for example examples/otter/ or chimera/otter/<subpkg>/), add it to the PATHS array in scripts/otter_trademark_scrub.sh. Research notes under research/otter/ should not be added.

Adding new banned terms

Section titled “Adding new banned terms”

If we discover an additional brand string that shouldn’t leak in (for example a product slug), add it to the PATTERN regex in the same script. Keep the pattern an alternation so future additions stay readable.