Cloud Tagging Standard (WIP)

⚠️ Work in Progress – Not Official
This repository contains a draft tagging standard and supporting tooling.
It is not yet an approved or official standard.
Tag names, definitions, scopes, and requirements are subject to change through discussion and governance review.

Overview

This repository contains:

• A draft cloud tagging standard, defined in a single YAML file (tags.yaml)
• Simple static HTML pages that render the YAML into a human‑readable catalogue
• Lightweight tooling intended to support discussion, iteration, and validation of a tagging approach before formal adoption

The goal is to make tag definitions:

• Easy to review
• Easy to iterate on
• Easy to consume by both humans and automation

Why a Tagging Standard?

Consistent tags and labels are foundational to effective cloud governance and operations. A clearly defined tagging standard enables:

• Cost allocation & chargeback
  Attribute cloud spend to departments, applications, and environments.

• Security & compliance
  Identify data sensitivity, audience, and regulatory requirements.

• Operational management
  Drive backups, power policies, monitoring, and lifecycle automation.

• Inventory & traceability
  Connect cloud resources back to business context such as applications and owners.

Without a shared standard, organizations tend to accumulate:

• Duplicate or overlapping tags
• Inconsistent naming and formats
• Gaps that limit horizontal or aligned automation and reporting

Tag Categories

Each tag in tags.yaml is assigned a status that reflects its maturity and adoption expectations.

Mandatory

• Required for all adopters of the standard
• Must be applied where the tag’s scope is applicable
• Deviations or exceptions require an official waiver
• Designed to support core governance, compliance, and billing needs

Examples:

• Environment
• Data classification
• Enterprise identifiers used for cost allocation

Recommended

• Optional, but strongly advised
• Intended to cover common operational and business needs
• Should be used instead of creating bespoke tags for the same purpose
• Consumers should avoid duplicating these tags under different names or formats

Recommended tags may become mandatory in future revisions.

Under Consideration

• Proposed but not finalized
• Included to promote discussion and early feedback
• Definitions, formats, or even inclusion may change
• Should not yet be treated as stable or enforceable

These tags highlight areas where additional governance or alignment is needed.

YAML Structure

All tag definitions live in a single file:
tags.yaml

High‑Level Structure

tags:
  - key: envr
    status: mandatory
    description: Which SDLC environment the workload runs in
    rationale: Enables policy scoping and cost allocation
    source_hierarchy_target: Environment
    format: string(lowercase)
    sample:
      key: envr
      value: prod

Field Definitions

Each tag entry includes:

• key
  The exact tag/label name to be applied to resources.

• status
  One of:

  • mandatory
  • recommended
  • consider (rendered as “Under consideration”)

• description
  What the tag represents.

• rationale
  Why the tag exists and what capability it supports.

• source_hierarchy_target
  Indicates where the tag originates or is best applied
  (e.g., environment, application/workload, resource).

• format
  Expected value type, casing, or enumeration.

• sample
  Example key/value pair for clarity and consistency.

HTML Catalogue Pages

Two static HTML files are included to render the YAML into tables in a browser.

tagsDev.html — Development / Exploration View

• Loads tags.yaml automatically (when served over HTTP)
• Includes:
  • Inline YAML editor (fallback)
  • File upload option for alternate YAML files
• Intended for:
  • Iterating on tag definitions
  • Testing changes locally
  • Reviewing draft proposals

tags.html — Read‑Only Catalogue View (can be printed to PDF)

• Always loads tags.yaml
• No editor or file upload
• Intended for:
  • Simple viewing
  • Sharing a clean, consistent catalogue
  • Demonstrations or reviews

Running Locally

Because browsers block fetching local files via file://, these pages must be served over HTTP.

Option 1: Python (recommended)

From the repository root:

python3 -m http.server 8080

Then open:

• http://localhost:8080/tags.html
• http://localhost:8080/tagsDev.html

Option 2: Node / npm

If you have Node.js installed:

npx serve .

or, using http-server:

npm install -g http-server
http-server -p 8080

Then open the same URLs as above.

Intended Use Cases

This repository is intended to support:

• Early development of a cloud tagging strategy
• Cross‑team review and discussion
• Validation of tag definitions before enforcement
• Visual inspection of YAML‑based standards
• Lightweight documentation without build tooling

It is not:

• A final policy document
• An enforcement engine
• A production‑ready governance solution

Contributing & Next Steps

Contributions are expected while this is in draft form, including:

• Refining definitions and rationales
• Identifying gaps or overlaps
• Promoting “Under Consideration” tags to Recommended or Mandatory
• Aligning formats and naming conventions

Formal governance, versioning, and enforcement decisions are out of scope for this repository until the standard is finalized.

Disclaimer

All content in this repository is provided as‑is for discussion purposes only.
Adoption prior to formal approval is at the adopter’s own risk.