Guide: Tag Code

Note: This guide assumes some familiarity with the Archive of Our Own's tag system, so you may wish to review the Tags FAQ and the Tag Wrangling Intro and General Concepts.

Key concepts

• Canonical tags are the tags that appear in filters or in the autocomplete.
• Synonyms, or syns, are tags that mean the same thing as a canonical tag. For example, "AU" is a syn of the canonical tag "Alternate * Universe." In the database, the "AU" tag's merger_id will refer to the id of the "Alternate Universe" tag.
• Metatags are umbrella tags. For example, "Alternate Universe" is a metatag of "Alternate Universe - High School" and "Alternate Universe - Vampire."
• Subtags are the tags that fall under a metatag's umbrella. In our example, "Alternate Universe - High School" and "Alternate Universe - Vampire" are subtags of "Alternate Universe."

Taggings

Taggings connect works, bookmarks, and external works to the exact tags the user entered when creating the item, regardless of whether the tag is a canonical, synonym, or neither.

Posting a work with the tags "AU" and "Alternate Universe - Vampire" will produce taggings for both of those tags.

FilterTaggings

Filter taggings connect works, bookmarks, and external works to the canonical versions of their taggings. Posting a work with the tag "AU" will produce a filter tagging for "Alternate Universe," which is the canonical form of "AU."

Filter taggings also connect items to any metatags related to their taggings. Posting a work with the tag "Alternate Universe - Vampire" will produce filter taggings for both "Alternate Universe - Vampire" and its metatag "Alternate Universe." Because the creator of the work did not directly tag it with "Alternate Universe" or one of its synonyms, the "Alternate Universe" filter tagging is marked as inherited.

Filter taggings that are not inherited are referred to as direct filter taggings.