> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/tree-sitter/tree-sitter/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# tags

> Generate a list of tags for symbol navigation

The `tags` command runs symbol tagging on an arbitrary file and outputs a list of tags. This is useful for code navigation features.

```bash theme={null}
tree-sitter tags [OPTIONS] [PATHS]...
```

For more information, see [Code Navigation - Tagging and Captures](https://tree-sitter.github.io/tree-sitter/code-navigation#tagging-and-captures).

## Input Sources

### File Paths

Pass file paths directly:

```bash theme={null}
tree-sitter tags example.js
```

### Paths File

Use `--paths` to provide a file containing paths:

```bash theme={null}
tree-sitter tags --paths file-list.txt
```

### Standard Input

If no paths are provided, input is read from stdin:

```bash theme={null}
echo "function hello() {}" | tree-sitter tags --scope source.js
```

## Output Format

The command outputs tags in a format suitable for code navigation tools. Each tag includes:

* Symbol name
* Symbol kind (e.g., function, class, variable)
* Location (file, line, column)
* Scope information

## Options

### Input Options

<ParamField path="--paths" type="file">
  The path to a file that contains paths to source files to tag.
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="-p, --grammar-path" type="path">
  The path to the directory containing the grammar. Implies `--rebuild`.
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="--scope" type="scope">
  The language scope to use for symbol tagging. Useful when the language is ambiguous.
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="-n, --test-number" type="number">
  Generate tags from the contents of a specific test.
</ParamField>

### Output Options

<ParamField path="-q, --quiet" type="flag">
  Suppress main output.
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="-t, --time" type="flag">
  Print the time taken to generate tags for the file.
</ParamField>

### Build Options

<ParamField path="-r, --rebuild" type="flag">
  Force a rebuild of the parser before running tags.
</ParamField>

<ParamField path="--config-path" type="path">
  The path to an alternative configuration (`config.json`) file. See [init-config](/cli/init-config).
</ParamField>

## Examples

### Generate Tags for a File

```bash theme={null}
tree-sitter tags example.js
```

### Generate Tags for Multiple Files

```bash theme={null}
tree-sitter tags src/**/*.js
```

### Generate Tags with Performance Measurement

```bash theme={null}
tree-sitter tags --time example.js
```

### Generate Tags from File List

```bash theme={null}
tree-sitter tags --paths file-list.txt
```

### Generate Tags with Specific Scope

```bash theme={null}
tree-sitter tags --scope source.typescript example.ts
```

## Tag Queries

Tags are generated using the `queries/tags.scm` query file in your grammar repository. This file defines patterns for extracting symbols.

Example tag query:

```scheme theme={null}
(function_declaration
  name: (identifier) @name) @definition.function

(class_declaration
  name: (type_identifier) @name) @definition.class
```

For more information on writing tag queries, see the [Code Navigation documentation](https://tree-sitter.github.io/tree-sitter/code-navigation).