Fields and field types

A field is one value a record carries. Fields come from two places: the ones a module ships with a kind, and the ones you add yourself. They behave the same on a record; they differ in where their definition lives.

Native fields

A module declares a kind's built-in fields in its manifest. A native field has a name, a type, and sometimes a role that tells the platform what the field means. Native field types are text, number, boolean, date, image-path, url, and object (a free-form JSON blob the kernel treats as opaque and renderers show as keys).

Custom fields

You add a custom field to any kind whenever you want to track something the module did not ship. A custom field's definition is stored per workspace, its value is stored on the record, and its type is one of:

Type	For
text	names, notes, and free text
number	counts, measurements, prices
boolean	a yes / no flag
date	a calendar date
url	a link
richtext	formatted long-form text
computed	a read-only value from a template (see below)

A text field can carry a list of choices, which turns it into a dropdown, so a status or category picks from a fixed set. A number field can carry a unit (mm, g, in); the unit is free text that the units vocabulary resolves at render time, and it is what size-aware features read rather than the field's name.

A computed field holds a template instead of a stored value; it has its own page, Computed fields. Linking a record to another record is a relation field, covered under Relationships.

Renderers

A custom field can name a renderer that controls how its value is drawn on detail pages and list rows. The built-in renderers are text, color-hex, image-url, url-link, year, boolean, code, markdown, and qr. A field with no renderer draws as plain text.

Field roles

A role gives a field a job the platform can key off, independent of what the field is called. The roles are:

Role	Meaning
title	the record's display name
subtitle	a secondary line under the title
image	the record's picture
summary	a short description
quantity	the count this record is measured in
unit	the unit that quantity is counted in

Roles are why an action written for "anything with a quantity" works across modules: the action matches on the quantity role, so it applies to a part, a consumable, or any kind that declared a quantity field, no matter the field's name. Actions declare which kinds they apply to using kinds, roles, or traits; see wires for where that matters.

Relabelling without migrating

You can rename, hide, or reorder a kind's native fields for your workspace without changing what is stored. The value stays under its original name; only the label and its place in the form change. So "call the sku field Part number" is a presentation change resolved at load time, not a data migration.