Naming Conventions

All objects in Automation should follow these naming conventions and best practices.

Basic object naming rules

These rules apply generally to all object names.

• Names are not case-sensitive.

  For example, you cannot create a recipe named "Sales_Analytics" in the same kitchen as the "sales_analytics" recipe.

• Names can include alphanumeric and underscore characters.

• Names must not include hyphens, dashes, and other special characters (unless otherwise indicated below).

Naming requirements

The following table lists requirements specific to each object type.

Object	Name requirements	Length
Kitchen	Unique within a customer implementation. Case-insensitive Allowed: alphanumerics, underscore Not allowed: dash, space, other special characters	2–64 chars
Recipe	Unique within a kitchen. Case-insensitive Must start and end with alphanumeric characters. Allowed: alphanumerics, underscore Not allowed: dash, space, other special characters	63 chars max.
Variation	Unique within a recipe. Case-insensitive Must start and end with alphanumeric characters. Allowed: alphanumerics, underscore Not allowed: dash, space, other special characters	63 chars max.
Ingredient	Unique within a recipe. Case-insensitive Allowed: alphanumerics, underscore Not allowed: dash, space, other special characters	—
Node	Unique within a recipe. Case-insensitive Allowed: alphanumerics, underscore Not allowed: dash, space, other special characters	—
Graph	Unique within a recipe. Case-insensitive Allowed: alphanumerics, underscore Not allowed: dash, space, other special characters	—
Variable Set	Unique within a recipe. Case-insensitive Allowed: alphanumerics, underscore Not allowed: dash, space, other special characters	—
Variable	Unique within a recipe. Case-insensitive Cannot start with a number. Allowed: alphanumerics, underscore, and Jinja referencing with {{ }} Not allowed: hyphen, dash, space, other special characters	—
Runtime variable	Unique within a recipe (variables with the same names override each other). Case-insensitive Cannot start with a number. Allowed: alphanumerics, underscore, and Jinja referencing with {{ }} Not allowed: hyphen, dash, space, other special characters	—
Schedule	Unique within a recipe. Case-insensitive Allowed: alphanumerics, underscore Not allowed: dash, space, other special characters	—
Source/Sink	Unique within a node. Case-insensitive Allowed: alphanumerics, underscore Not allowed: dash, space, other special characters	—
Test	Unique within a node. Case-insensitive Allowed: alphanumerics, underscore, period, forward slash, variable references with {{ }} Not allowed: dash, space, other special characters	256 chars max.
Step (in action node)	Unique within a node. Case-insensitive Allowed: alphanumerics, underscore, period, forward slash, variable references with {{ }} Not allowed: dash, space, other special characters	256 chars max.
Mapping (in DataMapper node)	Unique within a node. Case-insensitive Allowed: alphanumerics, underscore, period, forward slash, variable references with {{ }} Not allowed: dash, space, other special characters	256 chars max.
Recipe folders and files	Unique within a recipe if the same case. Case-sensitive Allowed: alphanumerics, underscore, period, forward slash Not allowed: dash, space, other special characters	—
Secret	Unique within a vault (global, kitchen). Case-insensitive Allowed: alphanumerics, underscore, period, forward slash Not allowed: dash, space, other special characters	256 chars max.
Report	Unique within a customer implementation. Case-insensitive Allowed: ANY characters	—

JSON key names

A JSON object is defined by a single pair of curly brackets surrounding one or more key-value pairs. A JSON dictionary is likely to contain several key-value pairs.

The system does not allow duplicate key names within a single JSON object or dictionary. For example, in any recipe file, you cannot use the same key name within a single JSON object. You can, however, place duplicate key names at different levels of nested objects.

Tip

Term review: A JSON object consists of a "key": and "value" pair. In Automation, a key can also refer to the substeps executed in a data source or data sink. Within a source or sink file, there is a JSON "key" named "keys". To avoid term repetition, this specific key is referred to as a field and the key-value pair is referred to as a property.

Invalid format example

The system generates an error in the UI or command line interface if it tries to process this JSON format:

{
  "samekeyname": "first value",
  "samekeyname": "second value"
}

Valid format example

{ "samekeyname":
 { "samekeyname": "value"
 }
}