In traditional lighting desks, grouping fixtures requires building rigid submasters or hardcoded group numbers. If a fixture is swapped out during a tour or re-rigged on a different truss, operators have to hunt down and update every cue and submaster individually.

Unilighter replaces rigid submasters with a dynamic, non-destructive **Fixture Tags** architecture. Any fixture can carry multiple semantic tags simultaneously, bridging setup addressing, live dashboard control, timeline choreography, and procedural node logic into one flexible system.

![Assigned Tags in Device Patch](https://unilighter.cc/info/docs/tags/tag_setup_chips_a56f1813.png)

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## 🏷️ Multi-Dimensional Tag Taxonomy

Because fixtures are not limited to a single group, lighting designers can tag rigs across multiple operational dimensions:

| Tag Dimension | Example Tags | Primary Use Case |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| **Physical Stage Zone** | `#FrontStage`, `#BackTruss`, `#FloorLeft`, `#AudienceBalcony` | Positioning, focus walking, spatial wave choreography. |
| **Optical Fixture Type** | `#Beams`, `#Washes`, `#Strobes`, `#BlindBars` | Master dimmer control, synchronized strobe flashes. |
| **Show Role / Cue Group** | `#BandSpecials`, `#KeyLight`, `#CrowdBlinders`, `#Worklights` | Quick busking triggers, emergency worklight isolation. |

To assign tags, navigate to **Device Patch** (`/#/setup`), click any fixture, and type tag names in the tag input field. Tags appear as colored chips next to fixture names throughout the entire console.

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## ⚡ Where Tags Power the Console

### 1. [Device Control Widgets](https://unilighter.cc/info/for-ai/docs/dashboard/widget-device-control.md) (Tag Mode)
Switching a Device Control widget to **Tag Mode** allows a single card to control dozens of fixtures simultaneously:
- Moving the Pan/Tilt XY pad steers the entire `#Beams` group in unison.
- Selecting a color on the color wheel broadcasts normalized HSV values to all tagged wash fixtures, automatically handling mixed RGB and RGBW diode engines via the **[Color Engine](https://unilighter.cc/info/for-ai/docs/colors.md)**. Indexed color-wheel presets and custom raw DMX wheel positions are also broadcast to every fixture in the tag.

### 2. Handling Inconsistent Values (`Inconsistency Badge`)
When multiple fixtures in a tag group have conflicting parameter values (for example, if some beams are pointed stage-left and others stage-right, or dimmers are at different levels):
- Unilighter highlights the parameter with a yellow **Inconsistency Badge** displaying the number of conflicting fixtures.
- Adjusting the fader or dial brings all fixtures smoothly into unison or trims them proportionally.

### 3. Procedural Automation in Node Graphs ([DeviceNode](https://unilighter.cc/info/for-ai/docs/node-graphs.md))
![DeviceNode in Tag Mode](https://unilighter.cc/info/docs/tags/tag_node_selector_b14738d7.png)
Setting **Control Mode: Tag** on a `DeviceNode` routes dynamic LFO wave generators, audio FFT kick pulses, or mathematical equations to an entire fixture array through a single node wire.

### 4. Sub-Emitter & Multi-Head Targeting
For pixel battons and ring-wash heads detailed in the **[Multi-Head Architecture Manual](https://unilighter.cc/info/for-ai/docs/multi-head.md)**, tags address both global units and individual cells:
- Target `#PixelBars` to set color across all heads.
- Target `#PixelBars.shared` to adjust physical tilt without touching colors.
- Target `#PixelBars.h0` to isolate the leading edge pixel across all bars.

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## 🎪 The Touring & Rig Swap Advantage

The true power of semantic tags becomes evident during live tour maintenance:

If a moving head fails during an afternoon soundcheck, a technician can replace it with a spare unit, patch it to an open DMX address on any universe, and simply assign the `#Beams` tag. 

Because Unilighter's scenes, animations, dashboard widgets, and node graphs target `#Beams` rather than a hardcoded DMX channel number, the replacement light is instantly integrated into the entire show file—**without reprogramming a single cue or animation track.**

Read more in the **[Device Patch Manual](https://unilighter.cc/info/for-ai/docs/device-patch.md)** and the **[Control Priorities & Layering Guide](https://unilighter.cc/info/for-ai/docs/priorities.md)**.