A tag is a short user-defined label (e.g. `FOMC`, `discipline`, `tilt-day`) that you can attach to any journal entry. Tags live in a single shared pool — the same `FOMC` tag attaches to a trade, the day's journal entry, and any other surface that wants tagging. Tags are created in Settings → Tags; you control the full list.
The data model: tags are user-scoped (your tags don't appear for anyone else) and many-to-many with both trades and journal entries. Picking the same tag on a journal day and on a trade made that day creates two independent links — searching the tag returns both. There's no built-in category for journal-tags; the same `setup` / `mistake` / `psychology` / `custom` categories from trade-tagging apply.
Tags do one thing well: find the day later. Three patterns that show up in practice: - Event tags (`FOMC`, `NFP`, `CPI`) tag the days where macro context drove behavior. Three months later you can answer "how did I trade the last six FOMC days?" in one click. - Behavioral tags (`tilt`, `over-traded`, `disciplined`) tag the days where the *trader* — not the market — drove the outcome. Filtering shows whether the behavior cluster is improving. - Theme tags (`thesis-build`, `vacation`, `coaching-call`) tag days that have nothing to do with trading P&L but matter for context. The journal isn't only a P&L log; it's a notebook.
What tags don't do: replace categories. If you want every `mistake`-category entry, that's a category filter. Tags are sharper, free-form, and your own.
Workflow: 1. Settings → Tags — create your label set (start with five; you can always add more). 2. Journal editor (`/dashboard/journal`) — at the bottom of the day's entry there's a Tags section showing every tag you've defined. Tap any tag to attach; tap again to remove. Auto-save persists the link. 3. Journal archive (`/dashboard/journal` → All entries) — a chip strip above the entry list filters by any tag. Multi-select uses OR semantics ("FOMC OR NFP"); each row shows its tags as small gold pills so you can scan a month at a glance. 4. Days without trades still get tagged — that's the whole point. The tag-filter doesn't care whether the day had P&L; if you wrote anything (even just "vacation, no trading"), the tag attaches and the day stays findable.