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Overview

Tags are flexible, lightweight labels you assign to CXF objects to organize and find them. Unlike Taxonomies, tags are global — they’re shared across every object and aren’t restricted by Template or object type. Tags can be hierarchical (parent-child, with a full path like Technology/AI/Machine Learning) and can be created on the fly as you type. For the mental model, see Core concepts.

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Where to find it

Tags are managed entirely through the tag picker — there’s no separate admin screen, and you create, organize, and assign tags right there as you type. The picker appears in two places:
  • on a record, in the Authoring tab, and
  • on a Template or Profile, under Default tags.

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Properties

A tag has the following properties:
PropertyTypeRequiredDescription
titlestringYesDisplay name. Can’t contain a /.
slugstringYesUnique identifier — letters, numbers, and hyphens only.
descriptionstringNoOptional description.
parent_idreferenceNoParent tag, for hierarchies.
visiblebooleanNoWhether the tag is shown to users (default true).
is_systembooleanNoMarks a built-in tag, protected from edit and deletion (default false).
created_atdatetimeAutoWhen the tag was created.
updated_atdatetimeAutoWhen the tag was last updated.
Like any object, a tag can also be extended with custom Attributes on top of these properties.

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Hierarchies

A tag can have a parent_id, forming a parent-child tree. Each tag exposes a computed full path — the titles of its ancestors joined with /, for example Technology/AI/Machine Learning.
Tag chains. In the tag picker, typing a path that doesn’t exist yet — like Technology/AI/Machine Learning — creates the whole chain at once, each tag as the parent of the next.

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Assigning tags

Set an object’s tags to a list of tag ids or slugs. An object can hold many tags at once.
Unknown tags are ignored, not rejected. If you assign a tag id or slug that doesn’t exist, it’s silently skipped — there’s no validation error. (This is the opposite of Taxonomies, which reject anything not allowed.)

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Tags vs Taxonomies

TagsTaxonomies
ScopeGlobal — available everywhereRestricted per Template or object type
LocalizationNoYes (versions)
Create on the flyYes (type a new tag or path)No (created explicitly)
Unknown on assignmentSilently ignoredRejected
Best forFlexible, user-generated labelsControlled classification

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Behaviour & rules

  • Multiple per object. An object can hold many tags at once.
  • title is required, up to 255 characters, and can’t contain a /.
  • slug is required and unique, using only letters, numbers, and hyphens (no spaces, slashes, or underscores).
  • parent_id must reference an existing tag, and a tag can’t be its own parent.
  • Immutable while in use. Once a tag is assigned to any object, its slug and parent_id can’t be changed — title, description, and visible still can.
  • System tags (is_system) can’t be updated or deleted.

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Seeds

Tags travel between environments with Seeds as structural seeds (they aren’t template instances, so instance seeds don’t apply). Each tag is a tags item; hierarchies use parent_id, resolved with a reference helper: 
[
  {
    "object_type": "tags",
    "data": { "title": "Technology", "slug": "technology", "visible": true }
  },
  {
    "object_type": "tags",
    "data": {
      "title": "Artificial Intelligence",
      "slug": "artificial-intelligence",
      "visible": true,
      "parent_id": "{{getRecordAttribute('tags', 'slug', 'technology')}}"
    }
  }
]

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Governance & permissions

  • Only a super admin or Master can create, edit, and delete tags.
  • System tags (is_system) are protected from edit and deletion.
  • A tag that’s in use can’t be deleted.

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API access

Assign tags by setting an object’s tags to a list of ids or slugs through the API reference. Tags themselves are created, updated, and deleted through the API, which also exposes creating a hierarchical chain from a path string.

Taxonomies

Structured, restricted classification — compared to flexible Tags.

Object types

Which object types support Tags.