Retiring a duplicate token

space-xs and space-s had the same value. Two ways to give space-xs a new one.

space-xs = 8pxused in some parts of the product
same value
space-s = 8pxused in other parts
Retire space-xs. Add an adapter: space-xs now takes the value of space-s
Everything on space-xs still gets 8px
Later: we want space-xs to mean 4px
The shortcut
Remove the adapter, set space-xs = 4px
Everything on space-xs now has 4px spacing
Nobody asked for that. Nobody notices for months.
What we agreed
Script finds every old space-xs reference
Review, replace with space-s, deploy everywhere
Everything on space-xs keeps 8px spacing
only then
Remove the adapter, space-xs = 4px for new uses

A token name doesn’t get a new value while old usages are still alive.