Tags are short labels you attach to test cases, test runs, exploratory sessions, and automation runs to group and filter related items across a project. Unlike folders, which impose a fixed hierarchy, tags are flexible: a single item can have multiple tags, and the same tag can appear across many items simultaneously. This makes tags a natural fit for cross-cutting concerns, for example, tagging certain test cases as smoke regardless of which feature folder they live in, or tagging a series of nightly automation runs with nightly so you can filter them quickly.
Tags are scoped per entity type within each project. This means a tag named smoke on test cases and a tag named smoke on test runs are independent of each other. They share a name but do not share a definition or affect each other.
Where can you use tags
Tags are available across four areas of Testmo:
- Test cases: tag cases in the repository to group them by scope, risk level, test type, or any other cross-cutting attribute. Use these tags when creating runs to filter which cases to include, or when browsing the repository.
- Test runs: tag runs to organize them by cycle, purpose, or environment. For example, you might tag runs with regression or release-candidate to filter the Runs & Results main page and quickly see only the runs relevant to a given effort.
- Exploratory sessions: tag sessions to group them by charter type, area under test, or tester focus. Tags on sessions appear on the Sessions main page and can be used to filter the session list.
- Automation runs: tag automation runs to group and filter them on the Automation main page. Automation run tags also play a special role in milestone linking (see below).
Tag names
Tag names can contain letters, numbers, and hyphens (-) only. Spaces and special characters are not allowed. All tags are stored in lowercase regardless of how they are entered, so Smoke, smoke, and SMOKE all resolve to the same tag.
If you enter an invalid name, Testmo shows the message: Only letters, numbers and minus (-) are allowed.
Adding tags to items
You can add tags to any item directly from its creation or edit dialog. Each entity's dialog includes a Tags field that accepts multiple values. To add a tag that does not yet exist, type the name into the field and create it inline. You are not required to pre-create tags before using them.
Tags added inline are created automatically and become available to other items of the same type in the project.
Filtering by tags
Every main page that supports tags provides a tag filter. Select one or more tags in the filter panel to narrow the list to only items that have all of the selected tags. This works on:
- The repository (test cases)
- The Runs & Results main page (test runs)
- The Sessions main page (exploratory sessions)
- The Automation main page (automation runs)
Because tags span folders and other organizational boundaries, filtering by tag is often the fastest way to surface a specific subset of items, for example, all flaky cases regardless of which folder they live in, or all automation runs tagged deploy-gate.
Linking automation runs to milestones via tags
Automation run tags integrate with milestones to automate milestone association. When you configure a milestone, you can assign tags to it. When a new automation run is submitted with a tag that matches one of those milestone tags, Testmo automatically links the run to that milestone.
This is particularly useful for CI/CD pipelines where you want automation results to flow into the correct milestone without manual assignment. Tag your automation runs at submission time (for example, with a branch name or release tag) and configure your milestones to match those tags.
Managing tags
Tags can be created, renamed, and deleted from Admin > Tags. This is the central place to review all tags across a project, see how many items reference each tag, and make bulk changes.
The Tags admin page has four tabs, one for each entity type: Repository, Runs, Sessions, and Automation. Select the tab for the entity type you want to manage, then select a project from the panel on the left.
Adding tags in bulk
To create multiple tags at once, click the Tags button mentioned above and click + Tags. In the Add tags dialog, enter the tags you want to create, one per line. You can add up to 250 tags in a single operation. If you need more, you can repeat the process.
Editing a tag name
Click the name of any tag in the table to edit it inline. Tag names follow the same character rules described above. If you rename a tag, the change applies everywhere that tag is currently used, including closed test runs and sessions.
Deleting a tag
Click the delete icon on a tag row to open the confirmation dialog. Deleting a tag is permanent. The tag is removed from every item it is currently attached to, including closed runs and sessions.
Best practices
Use a consistent naming convention: Because tags do not have descriptions or categories, a predictable naming scheme makes them easier to use across a team. Common patterns include prefixing by type (type-smoke, type-regression), by priority (priority-critical), or by area (area-checkout, area-auth). Hyphens keep multi-word tags readable since spaces are not allowed.
Keep the tag vocabulary small: Tags are most useful when there are enough of them to cover your meaningful groupings, but few enough that team members know which ones to reach for. A large unmanaged tag list can become noise. Review tags periodically in Admin > Tags to remove unused ones and standardize spelling variations.
Use tags for attributes that cut across folder structure: Folders are the right tool for organizing cases by product area or component. Tags are the right tool for attributes that do not map cleanly to folders, such as test types (smoke, regression, exploratory), risk levels (critical, low-risk), or execution characteristics (slow, flaky, parallelizable).
Leverage automation run tags for milestone routing: If your team uses milestones to track releases or sprints, configure milestone tags to match the tags your CI pipeline applies to automation runs. This eliminates manual milestone assignment and keeps your automation data organized without extra overhead.
Tag runs and sessions at creation time: It is easy to forget to tag items after the fact. Building tag selection into the creation step, using the Tags field in the Add Run or Add Session dialog, ensures items are correctly categorized from the start and are immediately filterable.