Data Tags

Created by Brian Glick, Modified on Tue, 4 Nov at 11:46 AM by Brian Glick

Chain.io’s Data Tags feature makes it easy to find exactly what you’re looking for in your flow executions—whether it's a shipment tied to a specific container or a purchase order flagged with a certain reference number.

Here’s how they work and how to get the most out of them.

What Are Data Tags?

Data Tags are searchable labels automatically or manually added to flow executions. They help you locate relevant transactions by key business fields like:

Reference numbers
Bills of lading
Container numbers
Purchase order numbers

If it’s something your team regularly searches for, it probably belongs as a Data Tag.

Where Data Tags Come From

Automatically applied by adapters: Most of our prebuilt adapters extract and apply tags for the most common fields. For example:
- Shipment adapters look for forwarder or reference numbers and bills of lading.
- Purchase order adapters pulls out PO numbers.
Manually added in custom processors: You can also define your own tags in custom processors to reflect the attributes most important to your business—like customer numbers or invoice IDs.

Best Practices

To make your Data Tags useful and not overwhelming:

Stick to high-level info: Only tag the most important header-level fields. Avoid tagging line-by-line details.
Tag what you search for: Use tags for attributes your team often uses to track or audit flows.
Stay within limits: Both the tag label and value are limited to 255 characters.

Good tag examples:

Customer Number: 12345
Invoice ID: INV-2025-0098
Container: ABCD1234567

Where You’ll See Data Tags

Flow Execution Screen: Tags show up in the execution view so you can identify key fields at a glance.
Search Screen: Use tags to quickly filter and locate flows related to specific shipments, customers, or references.

Why Use Data Tags?

Data tags give your team better control over your data by making it searchable, filterable, and easier to understand—especially when systems are connected and flowing a lot of information. Whether you're chasing down a delayed shipment or reconciling purchase orders, Data Tags help you move faster.