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Einsora

0020. Name the product TensoraFi, and license it under MIT

Update (ADR-0021): the product is renamed Einsora, because a US mark TENSORA is registered in the same class. The MIT licence still applies. Read the identifiers below through ADR-0021’s table.

  • Status: Accepted
  • Date: 2026-11-01
  • Deciders: Krishnanand
  • Amends: ADR-0011 (which left the licence open)

Context

Section titled “Context”

“Tensora” was a working name. Other projects already use it (a Python tensor library and a crypto token among them), so the roadmap asked for a final name, a rename in one change before the first release, and an open-source licence.

Decision

Section titled “Decision”

The product is TensoraFi. Every identifier changed in one change:

What Before Now
Product Tensora TensoraFi
Binary and CLI tensora tensorafi
Go module github.com/tensora/tensora github.com/krishnanand20/tensorafi
Environment variables TENSORA_* TENSORAFI_*
HTTP headers X-Tensora-* X-TensoraFi-*
Kubernetes labels and annotations tensora.io/* tensorafi.dev/*
Cookies tensora_session, tensora_access tensorafi_session, tensorafi_access
Python package and CLI tensora-ml, tensora_ml tensorafi-ml, tensorafi_ml
Helm chart, namespaces, Docker networks, container paths tensora… tensorafi…
Export format tensora.workload-export/v1 tensorafi.workload-export/v1
Native workloads’ run directories ~/.tensora/run ~/.tensorafi/run
Development database (compose) user and database tensora tensorafi

Two things keep their old names. The Postgres function tensora_forbid_mutation was created by an applied migration, which is never edited, and nothing outside the database sees it. Token prefixes (tsk_, tat_) never had the name in them. ADRs 0001 to 0019 keep the working name and the old identifiers, as history: read them through this table.

The licence is MIT (LICENSE): anyone may use, change, and redistribute TensoraFi, including commercially. Every dependency’s licence (Apache-2.0, BSD, MIT, and others like them) allows that, and their notices ship with the binaries (packaging, roadmap step 11).

Consequences

Section titled “Consequences”
  • Nothing is released yet, so there are no compatibility shims:
    • An existing .env needs TENSORA_ renamed to TENSORAFI_.
    • Browser sessions end, so users sign in again.
    • Native workloads started before the rename have their sockets in ~/.tensora/run: stop them before upgrading.
    • The development database’s volume must be recreated (docker compose down -v), since its user and database are named tensorafi now.
  • The repository is github.com/krishnanand20/TensoraFi. GitHub matches names case-insensitively, so the lowercase module path (Go’s convention) resolves to it, and the old URL redirects.
  • Labels use tensorafi.dev, which the project must register (unregistered on 2026-11-01).
  • Trademark: not yet cleared. A US mark TENSORA is registered (August 2025, Tensora, Inc., registrations 7903143 and 7903144), one of them in Class 42, which covers software and cloud services; its goods are geophysical data services. TensoraFi contains that mark, so a trademark attorney should judge the risk of confusion before the first release. If the name has to change again, it’s still cheap: nothing is released.
  • MIT has no explicit patent grant. Apache-2.0 has one, and some companies prefer it for infrastructure. MIT is shorter, widely understood, and asks the least of anyone who reuses the code. A contributor’s grant would come only from the licence’s implied terms.

Alternatives considered

Section titled “Alternatives considered”
  • Keep “Tensora”: others already use the name, so it couldn’t be cleared.
  • Apache-2.0: an explicit patent grant and a NOTICE convention, at the cost of a longer licence. It was the earlier recommendation; MIT was chosen for simplicity.
  • Rename after the first release: every release under the old name would need compatibility for old environment variables, headers, labels, and cookies.