Lint: enforce lowercase namespaces in registry/

[blinkagent]

Summary

Add a lint rule to ensure all namespace directories under registry/ use strictly lowercase names for consistency and ergonomics.

Current State

Some existing namespaces use mixed case:

• AJ0070
• BenraouaneSoufiane
• Excellencedev
• IamTaoChen

While others are lowercase:

• anis
• anomaly
• coder
• coder-labs
• etc.

Proposed

1. Add a CI lint check that validates all directories under registry/ are lowercase
2. Consider migrating existing mixed-case namespaces to lowercase (may require coordination with owners)

---

Created on behalf of @matifali

[blinkagent]

Research: Implications of Renaming Existing Namespaces

How Namespaces Affect Module Paths

Namespaces in the Coder Registry directly become part of the module source URL. For example:

module "pgadmin" {
  source   = "registry.coder.com/AJ0070/pgadmin/coder"
  version  = "1.0.1"
}

module "rustdesk" {
  source   = "registry.coder.com/BenraouaneSoufiane/rustdesk/coder"
  version  = "1.0.1"
}

The namespace is case-sensitive in the module source path.

Affected Namespaces with Published Modules

Namespace	Modules	Source Path
AJ0070	pgadmin	registry.coder.com/AJ0070/pgadmin/coder
BenraouaneSoufiane	rustdesk	registry.coder.com/BenraouaneSoufiane/rustdesk/coder
IamTaoChen	(templates only)	N/A
Excellencedev	(templates only)	N/A

Breaking Change Implications

Renaming a namespace would be a breaking change for any users who have:

1. Existing Terraform configurations referencing the old namespace path
2. Lock files (.terraform.lock.hcl) with the old module addresses
3. State files tracking resources managed by these modules

What Happens When a Namespace is Renamed

Based on how Terraform registries work:

• Terraform will fail to resolve modules with the old path
• Users must manually update their source attributes to the new namespace
• The change is not transparent - there's no automatic redirect mechanism
• Existing workspaces will fail on terraform init until updated

Recommended Approach

For New Namespaces (Lint Rule)

Enforce lowercase-only namespaces going forward via CI lint check. This prevents the problem from growing.

For Existing Mixed-Case Namespaces

Option A: Alias/Redirect (Best UX, if supported)

• If the registry backend supports it, create lowercase aliases that redirect to existing modules
• This preserves backward compatibility while enabling new lowercase paths

Option B: Dual-Publish During Transition

1. Publish modules under both old and new (lowercase) namespace
2. Deprecate the old namespace in README with migration notice
3. After sufficient time, remove old namespace

Option C: Keep Existing, Enforce for New Only

• Grandfather existing mixed-case namespaces
• Only enforce lowercase for new namespaces/modules
• Simplest approach, but leaves inconsistency

Recommendation

I'd suggest:

1. Immediately: Add lint rule for new namespaces (must be lowercase)
2. Investigate: Check if registry.coder.com backend can support case-insensitive routing or aliases
3. Long-term: If aliases aren't possible, work with affected namespace owners (AJ0070, BenraouaneSoufiane) to coordinate a migration when their modules have low adoption

---

Note: IamTaoChen and Excellencedev only have templates (not modules), so renaming those would have less impact since templates are typically cloned rather than referenced by source path.