Naming Conventions

Source: Angular 2025: New Style Guide Standards and How to Apply Them

Overview

Consistent naming conventions are fundamental to code readability and team collaboration. Angular 2025 emphasizes two key principles:

Avoid Generic Names — Don’t use helpers.ts, utils.ts, common.ts
Consistent Naming Across Related Files — Component files should share the same base name

Key Update: Avoid Generic Names

From Angular 2025 style guide:

“Steer clear of generic file names like helpers.ts or utils.ts. Instead, use descriptive names that reflect the file’s purpose.”

❌ Generic Names (Don’t Use)

helpers.ts              — What helpers?
utils.ts                — What utilities?
common.ts               — Common what?
data.ts                 — What data?
misc.ts                 — Miscellaneous what?

✅ Descriptive Names (Use These)

date-formatter.ts                    — Clear purpose
string-validators.ts                 — Specific functionality
user.model.ts                        — Domain-specific
api-endpoints.ts                     — Clear category

Angular 2025 emphasizes that related files should share a common base name.

Example

✅ Good - All related files share "user-profile" base name
user-profile.component.ts
user-profile.component.html
user-profile.component.scss

❌ Bad - Inconsistent naming
user.ts
user-view.html
user-styles.scss

File Naming Patterns

Components: {name}.component.{ts|html|scss}

user-profile.component.ts
user-profile.component.html
user-profile.component.scss

Services: {name}.service.ts

user.service.ts
auth.service.ts
api.service.ts

Directives: {name}.directive.ts

highlight.directive.ts
auto-focus.directive.ts

Pipes: {name}.pipe.ts

phone-format.pipe.ts
truncate.pipe.ts

Modules (NgModule): {name}.module.ts

user.module.ts
auth.module.ts

Class and Interface Naming

Classes

Pattern: PascalCase, descriptive, with optional suffix for type

Good
Bad

export class UserService {}
export class UserComponent {}
export class UserGuard {}
export class ApiInterceptor {}

export class user {} // lowercase
export class userServ {} // abbreviated
export class userSERVICE {} // inconsistent casing
export class Service {} // too generic

Interfaces

Pattern: PascalCase, optional I prefix (but avoid if possible)

Recommended (No Prefix)
Alternative (With Prefix)

export interface User {
  id: string;
  name: string;
  email: string;
}

export interface UserService {
  getUser(id: string): Observable<User>;
  updateUser(user: User): Observable<User>;
}

export interface IUser {
  id: string;
  name: string;
  email: string;
}

Variable and Function Naming

Variables and Properties

Pattern: camelCase, descriptive

// ✅ Good
private userList: User[] = [];
private isLoading = false;
private selectedUserId: string | null = null;
private maxRetries = 3;

// ❌ Bad
private users: User[] = [];        // too short
private u: User[] = [];             // single letter
private USER_LIST: User[] = [];     // SCREAMING_SNAKE_CASE
private the_users: User[] = [];     // snake_case
private x = 0;                      // unclear meaning

Functions and Methods

Pattern: camelCase, verb-based for actions, clear purpose

// ✅ Good - Action verbs
private loadUsers(): void {}
private fetchUserData(id: string): Observable<User> {}
private validateEmail(email: string): boolean {}
private formatPhoneNumber(phone: string): string {}
private saveChanges(): void {}

// ✅ Good - Getters
private getSelectedUser(): User | null {}
private getUserById(id: string): User {}

// ✅ Good - Checkers (is/has prefix)
private isUserAuthenticated(): boolean {}
private hasPermission(permission: string): boolean {}

// ❌ Bad
private user_data(): void {}        // snake_case
private UserData(): void {}         // PascalCase
private processUserDataAndSaveIt(): void {} // too long
private p(): void {}                // too short
private data(): void {}             // unclear what it does

Constants

Pattern: UPPER_SNAKE_CASE for true constants, camelCase for config objects

// ✅ Good - True constants
export const MAX_RETRIES = 3;
export const DEFAULT_TIMEOUT_MS = 5000;
export const API_BASE_URL = 'https://api.example.com';

// ✅ Good - Configuration objects (if immutable)
export const defaultConfig = {
  timeout: 5000,
  retries: 3,
  debug: false
};

// ❌ Bad
export const maxRetries = 3;        // should be UPPER_SNAKE_CASE
export const MAX_RETRIES_ALLOWED = 3; // redundant suffix
export const API = 'https://api.example.com'; // too short/generic

// ✅ Good - no suffix, called as functions
readonly count = signal(0);
readonly username = signal('');
readonly isLoading = signal(false);
readonly selectedUser = signal<User | null>(null);

// ✅ Good - optional $ suffix for observables
readonly users$ = this.userService.getUsers();
readonly user$ = this.userService.getUserById(id);

// or without $ (also acceptable in modern Angular)
readonly users = this.userService.getUsers();
readonly user = this.userService.getUserById(id);

Selector Names

Pattern: kebab-case with prefix

// ✅ Good
@Component({
  selector: 'app-user-card',      // ✅ with app- prefix
  selector: 'vs-button',          // ✅ with lib prefix
  selector: 'lib-modal'           // ✅ with lib prefix
})

// ❌ Bad
@Component({
  selector: 'UserCard',           // ❌ PascalCase
  selector: 'user_card',          // ❌ snake_case
  selector: 'usercard'            // ❌ no hyphen (looks like one word)
  selector: 'user-card-component' // ❌ redundant suffix
})

Feature Module Naming

Pattern: Feature name + .module.ts (NgModules) or feature folder for standalone

src/app/features/
├── user/                         ✅ Feature folder
│   ├── user.component.ts
│   ├── user.service.ts
│   └── models/
├── admin/                        ✅ Feature folder
│   ├── dashboard/
│   ├── settings/
│   └── admin.module.ts (if NgModule-based)
└── dashboard/                    ✅ Feature folder
    ├── dashboard.component.ts
    ├── analytics.component.ts
    └── dashboard.service.ts

Consistency Checklist

Use this checklist to verify your naming is consistent:

Why This Matters

✅ Readability — Developer can quickly understand what each file does ✅ Searchability — Easy to find files with consistent naming ✅ Team Collaboration — Everyone follows the same conventions ✅ Maintainability — Reduces cognitive load when reading code ✅ IDE Support — Better autocomplete and refactoring tools