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Taxonomy

I need to... Guide Summary
Understand when to use taxonomy vs other content organization Taxonomy System Overview Use taxonomy when you need to categorize, tag, or organize content with reusable terms. Use list fields when you have a fixed list of options specific to one content type.
Create a vocabulary via YAML config Vocabulary Configuration Schema Use this schema when creating or modifying vocabulary YAML config files. These are the complete properties for taxonomy.vocabulary.*.yml.
Deploy vocabularies via config management Creating Vocabularies via Config Use config-first approach for vocabularies to ensure consistent structure across environments. Create YAML files for module installation or config sync.
Add a taxonomy term reference field to content Term Reference Field Configuration Use this workflow to add taxonomy term reference fields to content types, users, or other entities using the config-first approach.
Decide between flat or hierarchical taxonomy Hierarchical Taxonomy Use flat taxonomy for simple tagging (blog tags, keywords). Use hierarchical taxonomy for categorization with subcategories (Geography: Country > State > City).
Create and manage terms via UI or code Term Management Use UI for manual term creation. Use Drush or code for bulk operations or programmatic term management.
Build Views with taxonomy filters Taxonomy Views Integration Use taxonomy Views plugins when building Views that filter, sort, or display content by taxonomy terms.
Set up per-vocabulary permissions Taxonomy Permissions & Access Use per-vocabulary permissions for granular term CRUD control. Grant administer taxonomy only to trusted site administrators.
Query terms programmatically Term Storage & Querying Use TermStorage specialized methods for hierarchy operations. Use entity queries for standard term lookups.
Create terms programmatically Programmatic Term Operations Use programmatic approach for migrations, imports, install hooks, drush commands. Complements config-first vocabulary management.
Configure entity reference widgets/formatters Taxonomy with Entity Reference Use this guide to configure entity reference field widgets and formatters for taxonomy term fields. Widget choice affects UX and term creation workflow.
Export taxonomy config or create recipes Config Export & Recipes Use this guide when packaging taxonomy vocabulary config for reuse, distribution via modules, or deployment via recipes.
Follow taxonomy best practices Best Practices & Patterns Use these guidelines when planning taxonomy architecture, naming conventions, and maintenance strategies.
Avoid common mistakes Anti-Patterns & Common Mistakes Use this guide when reviewing taxonomy implementations to identify and fix problematic patterns.
Optimize security and performance Security & Performance Use this guide when hardening taxonomy implementations against security vulnerabilities and optimizing for large-scale performance.
Find key classes and files Code Reference Map