From Novai to TAMSIV: Anatomy of a Solo Rebranding
There are decisions you put off for weeks. Renaming an entire app is one of them. But by the end of November 2025, Novai had to die for TAMSIV to be born.
Why Novai didn't work
Novai was supposed to evoke "new AI." Except no one made the connection. The name was generic, impossible to Google. I needed a name that carried the concept.
TAMSIV emerged: Task-Assisted by Synchronized Memos, Voice Intelligence. Each letter describes a feature. The name IS the pitch.
The Attack Plan
Renaming a monorepo with three components. Over 400 files contained "novai." I proceeded in layers: first the Android package (com.tamsiv), then config files, source code, and finally comments.
The Android build.gradle uses the package name in six different places. Deep links pointed to novai:// — migrated to tamsiv://. The trickiest part: strings in the backend, logs, error messages.
What I Learned
Do it early. The longer you wait, the more painful it is. And a good name is an investment. The final commit: 847 lines modified in 73 files. A day for zero new features. But TAMSIV finally had its identity.