--- name: tidb-brand-voice description: >- Quick-reference brand voice and visual standards for all TiDB external communications. Establishes the baseline tone, naming rules, visual identity constraints, and banned language patterns every role must follow before any content ships. Load this skill alongside any content-creation skill to align voice and brand consistency. --- # TiDB brand voice **Role:** Brand Guardian. You hold the line between credible technical communication and hollow marketing. Every external word, slide, and post is a vote for or against TiDB's trust. This skill is a reference — load it before creating any external content. --- ## 1. Voice fundamentals TiDB speaks like a **senior infrastructure engineer who respects the reader's intelligence**. Not a startup trying to sound cool. Not an enterprise software company trying to sound safe. An engineer who has solved real problems at scale and is honest about where the product still has sharp edges. | Dimension | TiDB voice | Anti-pattern | |-----------|-----------|--------------| | **Authority** | Grounded in numbers, architecture, and production evidence | Grounded in adjectives ("industry-leading", "game-changing") | | **Honesty** | Names limitations alongside strengths | Only highlights wins; suppresses trade-offs | | **Specificity** | "10k TPS on a 3-node cluster with 50M rows" | "High-performance at scale" | | **Confidence** | States a clear position | Both-sides hedging that says nothing | | **Peer-to-peer** | Talks to engineers as colleagues | Talks down (tutorial condescension) or up (enterprise jargon) | --- ## 2. Current brand positioning (2025) TiDB's primary positioning has shifted to **AI-Native Distributed SQL**. The hero message is: **"Scale Your AI Agents Without Compromise"** This is the narrative frame for all new external communications. HTAP (hybrid transactional-analytical processing) is still technically accurate and relevant for existing customers and technical audiences, but it is no longer the lead narrative. **Core value pillars (use these, in this order):** 1. **Unified engine** — Vectors, transactions, and analytics in one call. Replaces vector store, warehouse, and transaction layer. 2. **Elastic scale** — Autoscaling adapts to agent workloads; compute and storage scale independently. 3. **ACID consistency** — Agent state stays consistent across concurrent workflows and multi-step operations. 4. **Developer ready** — Standard SQL; MCP server, pytidb, LangChain, LlamaIndex integrations. **AI-specific capability language (use accurately):** - "Native vector indexing and RAG" — not "vector database support" - "ACID guarantees for multi-step agent workflows" — not just "transactions" - "Workload isolation for multi-tenant AI applications" — not "tenant isolation" - "Instant database branching (milliseconds)" — cite this as a specific capability, not a vague benefit --- ## 3. Official product naming Naming errors destroy technical credibility. Use exactly: | Correct | Never use | |---------|-----------| | **TiDB** | Tidb, TIDB, Ti DB | | **TiDB Cloud** | TiDB cloud, TiDB SaaS | | **TiDB Cloud Starter** | TiDB Serverless (deprecated), TiDB Free Tier | | **TiDB Cloud Essential** | TiDB Essential | | **TiDB Cloud Premium** | TiDB Premium | | **TiDB Cloud Dedicated** | TiDB Dedicated (standalone), TiDB paid | | **TiDB Self-Managed** | TiDB On-Prem (outdated), TiDB open source | | **TiDB X** | TiDB-X, TiDBX (new elastic-scale architecture — always two words) | | **TiKV** | TiDB storage, TiKV storage engine (redundant) | | **TiFlash** | TiDB analytics, TiFlash engine (redundant) | | **PingCAP** | Pingcap, PingCap, ping cap | | **TiCDC** | TiDB CDC, change data capture only (use TiCDC) | | **BR (Backup & Restore)** | TiDB Backup, backup tool | **AI integration names (use exact SDK/protocol names):** - **MCP** (Model Context Protocol) — TiDB's MCP server integration - **pytidb** — the Python SDK for AI workloads - **LangChain** / **LlamaIndex** — ecosystem integrations (named partners, not "AI framework support") **Version references:** Always specify the TiDB version when describing behavior that is version-dependent (e.g. "as of TiDB v8.x"). Features vary significantly across versions; unqualified capability claims mislead. --- ## 3. Banned phrases These phrases trigger immediate revision. No exceptions. **Hype language (unverifiable superlatives):** - game-changing, revolutionary, groundbreaking - seamless, frictionless, effortless - best-in-class, industry-leading, world-class - powerful, robust (without specific proof) - next-generation (without technical specificity) - unlock the power of, supercharge your - future-proof **Vague technical claims:** - "scales horizontally" (without stating from/to and workload) - "high availability" (without stating RTO/RPO targets) - "real-time" (without defining latency) - "HTAP" without explaining what the specific use case is - "MySQL compatible" (should be "MySQL protocol compatible" — there are known incompatibilities) - "zero downtime" (use "rolling upgrade with < N seconds disruption per node") **Marketing filler:** - "holistic approach", "end-to-end solution" - "your needs", "business requirements" (too vague) - "leverage" when "use" works - "utilize" when "use" works --- ## 3b. Editing mechanics Voice is the substance; mechanics are the finish. These copyedit rules apply to all long-form external content (blog posts, case studies, technical articles) and should be applied on the final pass. **Grammar and punctuation:** - **Active voice.** Flag passive constructions ("is provided by", "was designed to", "can be configured") and rewrite with a clear actor. Passive is acceptable only when the actor genuinely doesn't matter. - **Oxford comma.** Always — "vectors, transactions, and analytics". - **Smart quotes and apostrophes.** Curly, not straight. - **US English.** "Optimize" not "optimise"; "behavior" not "behaviour". **Headings:** - **Title case for headings in published blog content** (H1–H3). Capitalize principal words; lowercase articles, coordinating conjunctions, and prepositions of three letters or fewer (a, an, the, and, or, but, for, on, in, to, of, at, by) unless they are the first or last word. Product names keep canonical capitalization (TiDB, TiKV, PingCAP, MySQL). Body copy, bullets, and table cells stay sentence case. **Numbers and units:** - **Spell out one through nine in prose;** use numerals from 10 onward, and for any technical measurement regardless of value (1 GB, 5 ms, 50K QPS). - **Use "K" for thousands, "M" for millions in technical contexts** (50K QPS, 2M rows). In prose without a unit, write it out ("fifty thousand customers"). - **Non-breaking space between number and unit** — `5 ms`, `12 GB`, `480K QPS`. Never "5ms" or "12gb". --- ## 4. Visual brand quick reference **Primary color palette:** - Brand Red: `#DC150B` — logo, primary CTAs, key highlights - Dark Red: `#87120C` — Cornerstone left face - Light Red: `#F35048` — Cornerstone top face - Black `#000000` / White `#FFFFFF` — all body text **Secondary palettes (use for data visualization and variety):** - Violet: Medium `#6B2FCC`, Dark `#491FAF`, Light `#A477EB`, Background `#EDE5FB` - Blue: Medium `#2172CC`, Dark `#164FAF`, Light `#74A8EB`, Background `#E5EEFB` - Teal: Medium `#0DA280`, Dark `#0A7262`, Light `#54C8AF`, Background `#E2F5F1` **Typography:** - Primary: **Moderat** (licensed) / fallback: **DM Sans** (Google Fonts, free) - Monospace: **Moderat Mono** / fallback: **DM Mono** - Text: black or white only — never Brand Red on colored background for body text **Standard output sizes:** | Surface | Dimensions | |---------|-----------| | LinkedIn post image | 1200 × 627 px | | Twitter/X post image | 1200 × 675 px | | WeChat header | 900 × 500 px | | WeChat moment | 1080 × 1080 px | | Presentation (16:9) | 1920 × 1080 px | | Instagram | 1080 × 1080 px | **The Cornerstone graphic:** TiDB's isometric cube element. Always monochromatic (Top = Light Red, Right = Medium Red, Left = Dark Red). Never rotate, recolor, or apply effects. Minimum digital size: 18px (symbol only), 48px (with logotype). --- ## 5. Logo and asset usage **Preferred logo variants:** - Light background: full-color positive logo - Dark background: full-color reverse logo - Brand Red background: one-color reverse logo - Tagline version: only when the TiDB-PingCAP relationship must be explicit **Logo rules:** - Keep clear space around the logo; do not crowd it with text or graphics - Do not stretch, rotate, recolor, outline, or add effects - Do not place the full logo on busy photography - Do not use the logotype without the symbol **Asset handling:** - If official logo assets are available in the workspace, use them directly rather than recreating the logo - For print, prefer CMYK/PDF or vector assets where available - For digital, prefer RGB PNG/SVG assets --- ## 6. Implementation notes by surface **Presentations / documents:** - Default to black or white backgrounds with TiDB red as the accent - Use black or white for body text; avoid colored body copy - Use DM Sans / DM Mono when Moderat / Moderat Mono are unavailable **Web / HTML artifacts:** - Preserve the official hex values exactly - Keep body text high-contrast; do not use Brand Red as running text - Use secondary palettes mainly for charts, diagrams, or supporting emphasis **Spreadsheets / tabular assets:** - Header row may use Brand Red with white text - Borders and dividers should use neutral grays, not saturated colors - Keep heatmaps and chart colors within the approved palette family **Accessibility baseline:** - White text on dark backgrounds; black text on light backgrounds - Avoid low-contrast red-on-color or gray-on-gray text combinations - When in doubt, simplify toward black/white text and fewer accent colors --- ## 7. Tone by channel | Channel | Tone adjustment | |---------|----------------| | Technical blog / case study | Peer-to-peer, evidence-heavy, show the struggle | | LinkedIn | Professional but not stiff; bullets welcome; avoid walls of text | | Twitter/X | Precise and punchy; data-forward; no hype adjectives | | HN (Hacker News) | Factual, methodology-first; community will push back on any overreach | | 微信公众号 (WeChat Official) | Warm but credible; Chinese engineering community reads carefully | | 知乎 | In-depth and substantiated; audience expects evidence, not slogans | | Conference/Keynote | Narrative arc with a clear thesis; evidence before conclusion | | Press/Media | Factual, quotable, legally reviewed before use | --- ## 8. Localization principles (Chinese market) - **PingCAP** is the company name in both English and Chinese contexts; do not transliterate to 平卡普 - **TiDB** remains **TiDB** in Chinese text; do not translate the product name - Chinese-language content may use a warmer, more narrative tone than English — but technical claims must maintain the same evidentiary standard - WeChat and 知乎 audiences respond well to concrete engineering stories with before/after metrics --- ## 8. Advanced voice principles These principles are derived from studying best-in-class developer-first PMM content (see `tidb-gtm-benchmark` for the analysis). They apply on top of the fundamentals above. ### Lead with elimination, not addition Engineers respond more viscerally to what a product lets them *stop doing* than what it lets them start doing. For every capability, consider the friction-elimination framing alongside the capability framing. | Capability framing (weak) | Friction-elimination framing (stronger) | |--------------------------|----------------------------------------| | "TiDB supports horizontal scaling" | "TiDB eliminates the manual sharding project when you hit MySQL's write ceiling" | | "TiDB provides HTAP" | "TiDB eliminates the ETL pipeline between your transactional and analytical databases" | | "TiDB offers multi-tenant isolation" | "TiDB eliminates the operational explosion of managing one cluster per enterprise customer" | Both framings are accurate. The elimination framing lands faster with engineers who are living with the friction. ### Enabler vocabulary (for partner and ecosystem content) When positioning TiDB in co-marketing, integration stories, or partner spotlights: **Prefer:** "built on TiDB," "TiDB as the data layer," "TiDB powers [Partner]'s [capability]," "[Partner] uses TiDB for [specific workflow]" **Avoid:** "TiDB provides [partner] with," "TiDB enables [partner] to," "powered by TiDB's industry-leading..." The distinction: the first set positions TiDB as infrastructure. The second set positions TiDB as a vendor pitching value. In developer contexts, infrastructure earns more trust than vendor. ### Philosophical critique over competitive criticism When the status quo needs to be challenged, critique the *architectural assumption* or the *era* — not a named competitor. **Pattern:** "[Old approach] was designed for [old constraint] — that constraint no longer exists." **TiDB examples:** - "Vertical scaling was the right answer when hardware limits were the binding constraint. Distributed systems inverted that assumption." - "The ETL pipeline between OLTP and analytics was necessary when the two workloads had fundamentally different consistency requirements. HTAP dissolves that necessity." - "Per-tenant database clusters made sense when tenant counts were in the dozens. At thousands of tenants, the operational model breaks." This framing is: (a) legally safer than competitor naming, (b) more persuasive with engineers who respond to structural arguments, (c) more durable — it remains true even as competitors evolve. ### One accurate technical mechanism > three marketing paragraphs A single technically precise claim — using the right vocabulary, stated correctly — builds more credibility than three paragraphs of benefit language. **Example:** "TiDB's copy-on-write branching creates an isolated database environment in milliseconds, regardless of the source database size, by forking the storage layer without copying data." That one sentence (if accurate) does more trust work than: "TiDB's powerful branching feature delivers seamless database isolation with lightning-fast speed and effortless setup." Rule: if you can say it in technical terms correctly, prefer that over the benefit translation. Then add the benefit translation after, not instead. --- ## 9. Pairs with - `tidb-messaging-platform` — voice standards apply on top of approved messaging - `tidb-content-review` — final check before any content ships uses this as the brand-voice dimension - `@tidb-gtm-brain/knowledge/product.md` — official product context and terminology source