# Tags

Tags are a form of metadata that can be applied to specific entities in StrongDM. Each Tag is a key and optional value pair.

StrongDM entities that support Tags:

* [Datasources](https://app.gitbook.com/s/F7eka9SH5TT8nJm2ZfWj/resources/datasources "mention")
* [Servers](https://app.gitbook.com/s/F7eka9SH5TT8nJm2ZfWj/resources/servers "mention")
* [Websites](https://app.gitbook.com/s/F7eka9SH5TT8nJm2ZfWj/resources/websites "mention")
* [Gateways and Relays](https://app.gitbook.com/s/F7eka9SH5TT8nJm2ZfWj/networking/gateways-and-relays "mention")
* [Principals](https://app.gitbook.com/s/F7eka9SH5TT8nJm2ZfWj/principals "mention")
* [Service Accounts](https://app.gitbook.com/s/F7eka9SH5TT8nJm2ZfWj/principals/service-accounts "mention")
* [Datasources](https://app.gitbook.com/s/F7eka9SH5TT8nJm2ZfWj/resources/datasources "mention")

### Tag Details

* Maximum key length: 128 UTF-8 characters
* Maximum value length: 256 UTF-8 characters
* Maximum 50 tags per entity
* Allowed characters: letters, numbers, and spaces representable in UTF-8, and the following characters: `+ - = . _ : / @`
* Case-sensitive: `team=StrongDM` is different from `team=strongdm`
* An entity can only have one value of a key at a time (If you have two tags `env=prod` and `env=dev` you can only assign one of them to a resource).

### Tag Management

This article primarily focuses on Tag management through the [CLI](https://docs.strongdm.com/references/cli), but you can refer to the [API](https://docs.strongdm.com/references/api/api-keys) docs for more info about managing tags via the API, and you can manually add and remove tags to and from resources in the Admin UI as well.

#### Reading Tags

When using `list` with the CLI, the right-most column will show current tags, if any, in a comma-separated list.

```bash
sdm admin servers list -e
Server ID               <columns removed for clarity>      Tags
rs-7bb96dd41d9ac70b     <columns removed for clarity>      auth=ssh-cert
rs-299c6d443f322956     <columns removed for clarity>      creator=john,docs=true,env=support
```

{% hint style="info" %}
As in this example, you may need to add `-e` to show *extended* information, like Tags.
{% endhint %}

#### Creating Tags

You can add or update Tags with the flag `--tags`.

```bash
sdm admin users update --email user1@test.com --tags 'loc=US'
```

When adding multiple Tags, use a comma-separated list.

```bash
sdm admin datasources update postgres --id rs-0835300a78ea36a0 --tags 'region=west,env=production,os=linux'
```

To add a Tag without a value, leave the value out of the command.

```bash
sdm admin servers update rdp --id rs-299c6d443f322956 --tags 'region=,env=,os='
```

#### Updating Tags

In this example, we will use `list` to search for a specific User with a [Filter](https://docs.strongdm.com/references/cli/filters), then run an `update` command to modify the loc Tag.

```bash
sdm admin users list --filter 'email:alice.glick@strongdm.com'
User ID                First Name     Last Name    Email                        Tags
a-707fe3f43c34e1dc     Alice          Glick        alice.glick@strongdm.com     loc=US
```

We will use the same `--tags` flag we used to add the Tag, but this time we will supply a new value to the `loc` key.

```bash
sdm admin users update --email 'alice.glick@strongdm.com' --tags 'loc=EU'
```

Now we see the Tag with the new value.

```bash
sdm admin users list --filter 'email:alice.glick@strongdm.com'
User ID                First Name     Last Name    Email                        Tags
a-707fe3f43c34e1dc     Alice          Glick        alice.glick@strongdm.com     loc=EU
```

#### Deleting Tags

Let's start with a User that has 3 tags.

```bash
sdm admin users list --filter 'email:alice.glick@strongdm.com'
User ID              First Name     Last Name    Email                      Tags
a-707fe3f43c34e1dc   Alice          Glick        alice.glick@strongdm.com   env=prod,loc=EU,team=docs
```

To remove a single Tag we will supply the `--delete-tags` flag, passing in the key of the Tag we wish to remove.

```bash
sdm admin users update --email alice.glick@strongdm.com --delete-tags 'loc'
```

To remove multiple Tags we will add the keys additional keys in a comma-separated format. Any keys that do not exist will simply be ignored.

```bash
sdm admin users update --email alice.glick@strongdm.com --delete-tags 'loc,env,team'
```

Lastly, to delete all Tags at once use the flag `--delete-all-tags`.

```bash
sdm admin users update --email alice.glick@strongdm.com --delete-all-tags
```

#### Chaining Commands

You can also combine these operations. For example, to delete all Tags and replace them with new tags:

```bash
sdm admin users update --email alice.glick@strongdm.com --delete-all-tags --tags 'a=1,b=2'
```


---

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