diff --git a/src/customizer/Customizer.ts b/src/customizer/Customizer.ts
index 98b3669..a51293d 100644
--- a/src/customizer/Customizer.ts
+++ b/src/customizer/Customizer.ts
@@ -14,6 +14,14 @@ export class Customizer {
     /** Custom instructions appended to transformPage's instruction block. */
     protected customTransformInstructions: string[] = [];
 
+    // --- Local data folder ---
+    // Override in a derived class to change the local project folder name.
+
+    /** Name of the local data folder created in the user's project directory. */
+    get localFolder(): string {
+        return '.synthos';
+    }
+
     // --- Content folder paths ---
     // Override these in a derived class to point to your fork's folders.
 
diff --git a/src/init.ts b/src/init.ts
index fdf058c..aa4aa7b 100644
--- a/src/init.ts
+++ b/src/init.ts
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import { getOutdatedThemes, parseThemeFilename } from "./themes";
 import { Customizer } from './customizer';
 
 export interface SynthOSConfig {
+    localFolder: string;
     pagesFolder: string;
     requiredPagesFolder: string;
     defaultPagesFolder: string;
@@ -24,6 +25,7 @@ export function createConfig(
     customizer?: Customizer
 ): SynthOSConfig {
     return {
+        localFolder: pagesFolder,
         pagesFolder: path.join(process.cwd(), pagesFolder),
         requiredPagesFolder: customizer?.requiredPagesFolder ?? path.join(__dirname, '../required-pages'),
         defaultPagesFolder: customizer?.defaultPagesFolder ?? path.join(__dirname, '../default-pages'),
@@ -43,7 +45,7 @@ export async function init(config: SynthOSConfig, includeDefaultPages: boolean =
         return false;
     }
 
-    console.log(`Initializing .synthos folder...`);
+    console.log(`Initializing ${config.localFolder} folder...`);
 
     // Create pages folder
     await ensureFolderExists(config.pagesFolder);
@@ -54,7 +56,7 @@ export async function init(config: SynthOSConfig, includeDefaultPages: boolean =
     await saveFile(path.join(config.pagesFolder, 'settings.json.example'), JSON.stringify(DefaultSettings, null, 4));
 
     // Setup default scripts
-    console.log(`Copying default scripts to .synthos folder...`);
+    console.log(`Copying default scripts to ${config.localFolder} folder...`);
     const scriptsFolder = path.join(config.pagesFolder, 'scripts');
     await ensureFolderExists(scriptsFolder);
     switch (process.platform) {
@@ -73,17 +75,17 @@ export async function init(config: SynthOSConfig, includeDefaultPages: boolean =
             break;
     }  
 
-    await saveFile(path.join(scriptsFolder, 'example.sh'), '#!/bin/bash\n\n# This is an example script\n\n# You can run this script using the following command:\n# sh .synthos/scripts/example.sh\n\n# This script will print "Hello, World!" to the console\n\necho "Hello, World!"\n');
+    await saveFile(path.join(scriptsFolder, 'example.sh'), `#!/bin/bash\n\n# This is an example script\n\n# You can run this script using the following command:\n# sh ${config.localFolder}/scripts/example.sh\n\n# This script will print "Hello, World!" to the console\n\necho "Hello, World!"\n`);
 
     // Setup default themes
-    console.log(`Copying default themes to .synthos folder...`);
+    console.log(`Copying default themes to ${config.localFolder} folder...`);
     const themesFolder = path.join(config.pagesFolder, 'themes');
     await ensureFolderExists(themesFolder);
     await copyFiles(config.defaultThemesFolder, themesFolder);
 
     // Copy pages
     if (includeDefaultPages) {
-        console.log(`Copying default pages to .synthos folder...`);
+        console.log(`Copying default pages to ${config.localFolder} folder...`);
         await copyDefaultPages(config.defaultPagesFolder, config.pagesFolder);
     }
 
@@ -94,7 +96,7 @@ async function repairMissingFolders(config: SynthOSConfig): Promise<void> {
     // Rebuild scripts folder from defaults if missing
     const scriptsFolder = path.join(config.pagesFolder, 'scripts');
     if (!await checkIfExists(scriptsFolder)) {
-        console.log(`Restoring default scripts to .synthos folder...`);
+        console.log(`Restoring default scripts to ${config.localFolder} folder...`);
         await ensureFolderExists(scriptsFolder);
         switch (process.platform) {
             case 'win32':
@@ -111,13 +113,13 @@ async function repairMissingFolders(config: SynthOSConfig): Promise<void> {
                 await copyFile(path.join(config.defaultScriptsFolder, 'linux-terminal.json'), scriptsFolder);
                 break;
         }
-        await saveFile(path.join(scriptsFolder, 'example.sh'), '#!/bin/bash\n\n# This is an example script\n\n# You can run this script using the following command:\n# sh .synthos/scripts/example.sh\n\n# This script will print "Hello, World!" to the console\n\necho "Hello, World!"\n');
+        await saveFile(path.join(scriptsFolder, 'example.sh'), `#!/bin/bash\n\n# This is an example script\n\n# You can run this script using the following command:\n# sh ${config.localFolder}/scripts/example.sh\n\n# This script will print "Hello, World!" to the console\n\necho "Hello, World!"\n`);
     }
 
     // Rebuild themes folder from defaults if missing
     const themesFolder = path.join(config.pagesFolder, 'themes');
     if (!await checkIfExists(themesFolder)) {
-        console.log(`Restoring default themes to .synthos folder...`);
+        console.log(`Restoring default themes to ${config.localFolder} folder...`);
         await ensureFolderExists(themesFolder);
         await copyFiles(config.defaultThemesFolder, themesFolder);
     } else {
@@ -152,7 +154,7 @@ async function repairMissingFolders(config: SynthOSConfig): Promise<void> {
         // No pages folder and no flat files — rebuild from defaults
         const htmlFiles = (await listFiles(config.pagesFolder)).filter(f => f.endsWith('.html'));
         if (htmlFiles.length === 0) {
-            console.log(`Restoring default pages to .synthos/pages/ folder...`);
+            console.log(`Restoring default pages to ${config.localFolder}/pages/ folder...`);
             await copyDefaultPages(config.defaultPagesFolder, config.pagesFolder);
         } else {
             await ensureFolderExists(pagesSubdir);
@@ -160,7 +162,7 @@ async function repairMissingFolders(config: SynthOSConfig): Promise<void> {
     }
 
     // Migrate any stray flat .html files from root into pages/<name>/
-    await migrateFlatPages(config.pagesFolder);
+    await migrateFlatPages(config.pagesFolder, config.localFolder);
 }
 
 function toTitleCase(name: string): string {
@@ -171,12 +173,12 @@ function toTitleCase(name: string): string {
         .replace(/\b\w/g, c => c.toUpperCase());
 }
 
-async function migrateFlatPages(pagesFolder: string): Promise<void> {
+async function migrateFlatPages(pagesFolder: string, localFolder: string): Promise<void> {
     const pagesSubdir = path.join(pagesFolder, 'pages');
     const htmlFiles = (await listFiles(pagesFolder)).filter(f => f.endsWith('.html'));
     if (htmlFiles.length === 0) return;
 
-    console.log(`Migrating ${htmlFiles.length} page(s) to .synthos/pages/ folder...`);
+    console.log(`Migrating ${htmlFiles.length} page(s) to ${localFolder}/pages/ folder...`);
     await ensureFolderExists(pagesSubdir);
     const now = new Date().toISOString();
 
diff --git a/src/pages.ts b/src/pages.ts
index b243fbf..81634e6 100644
--- a/src/pages.ts
+++ b/src/pages.ts
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ export interface PageInfo {
 export type PageMetadata = Omit<PageInfo, 'name'>;
 
 export async function loadPageMetadata(pagesFolder: string, name: string, fallbackFolder?: string): Promise<PageMetadata | undefined> {
-    // 1. Try user override: .synthos/pages/<name>/page.json
+    // 1. Try user override: <localFolder>/pages/<name>/page.json
     const metadataPath = path.join(pagesFolder, 'pages', name, 'page.json');
     if (await checkIfExists(metadataPath)) {
         try {
diff --git a/src/service/useApiRoutes.ts b/src/service/useApiRoutes.ts
index 0407c24..8e00c96 100644
--- a/src/service/useApiRoutes.ts
+++ b/src/service/useApiRoutes.ts
@@ -794,14 +794,14 @@ Return ONLY the JSON object.`};
             // Backup original page to .migrated/ before overwriting
             const migratedFolder = path.join(config.pagesFolder, '.migrated');
 
-            // Handle legacy flat file (.synthos/pagename.html)
+            // Handle legacy flat file (<localFolder>/pagename.html)
             const flatPath = path.join(config.pagesFolder, `${name}.html`);
             if (await checkIfExists(flatPath)) {
                 await copyFile(flatPath, migratedFolder);
                 await deleteFile(flatPath);
             }
 
-            // Handle folder-based page (.synthos/pages/name/)
+            // Handle folder-based page (<localFolder>/pages/name/)
             const folderPath = path.join(config.pagesFolder, 'pages', name);
             if (await checkIfExists(folderPath)) {
                 await copyFolderRecursive(folderPath, path.join(migratedFolder, name));
diff --git a/src/synthos-cli.ts b/src/synthos-cli.ts
index 9e28ae9..a1c31c0 100644
--- a/src/synthos-cli.ts
+++ b/src/synthos-cli.ts
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ export async function run() {
                     default: 4242
                 })
                 .option('pages', {
-                    describe: `Include default pages when initializing a new .synthos folder.`,
+                    describe: `Include default pages when initializing a new local folder.`,
                     type: 'boolean',
                     default: true
                 })
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ export async function run() {
                 })
                 .demandOption([]);
         }, async (args) => {
-            const config = createConfig('.synthos', { debug: args.debug, debugPageUpdates: args.debugPageUpdates }, customizer);
+            const config = createConfig(customizer.localFolder, { debug: args.debug, debugPageUpdates: args.debugPageUpdates }, customizer);
             await init(config, args.pages);
             await server(config, customizer).listen(args.port, async () => {
                 console.log(`SynthOS server is running on http://localhost:${args.port}`);