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Properties and data types

What's new​

You can now define a property once on a source, including its data type, and reuse that definition every time you create a card that uses the same property.

Properties live on the source. Cards pick them up.

The old way​

Every time you created a card, you had to re-describe each property from scratch:

  • Pick the property name
  • Choose its data type (text, number, date, localized text, managed tag list, …)
  • Configure delimiter, settings, managed tag list source, and so on

If the same property showed up in five cards, you configured the same thing five times. If two of those configurations drifted apart by accident, you ended up with subtle inconsistencies that were hard to find later.

The new way​

  1. Define properties on the source. When you set up or edit a source, you describe each property and its data type once. This becomes the canonical definition for that property.
  2. Reference the source property when building a card. Instead of re-entering the data type and settings, you point the card property at the matching source property. The card inherits the type and configuration from the source.
  3. Override only what's specific to the card. Things that genuinely belong to the card — display order, whether the property is hidden, whether it's editable in this context — stay on the card. The shared type information stays on the source.

An image from the static

Why this is better​

  • Define once, reuse everywhere. A property's data type is configured in one place, no matter how many cards consume it.
  • Consistency by default. Every card that references the same source property gets the same type and the same settings. No more accidental drift between cards.
  • Faster card creation. Building a new card becomes a matter of picking which source properties to include, not redoing data type configuration each time.
  • Easier to evolve. When the shape of your source data changes, you adjust the property on the source. Card referencing it stay aligned.
  • Clearer mental model. The source is the single source of truth for what the data looks like. Cards decide how that data is presented and used.

What stays on the card​

Card still control the parts that are specific to how a card uses a property:

  • Display order
  • Whether the property is hidden
  • Whether the property is editable
  • Localized name and description for that card's context

When to use this​

For any new card, prefer referencing source properties rather than redefining types inline. Existing card continue to work as before; you can migrate them to source-defined properties at your own pace.

Things to know​

  • A card property is linked to its source property by a stable reference, so the link survives renaming and editing.
  • If a source property doesn't exist yet, you can add it on the source before (or while) creating the card.