Counters

A counter is a single named tally that lives inside a namespace. It is identified by a key, holds a numeric value, and is addressed throughout the app as namespace/key. Values are measured in taps by default (some counters that TapTally recognizes as web traffic use units like requests or responses — see Labels & Trackers).

Open List Counters from the sidebar to see every counter across all namespaces.

📷 Screenshot: The All Counters grid with the search box, sort and namespace filters, and counter cards.

Creating a counter

Counters are always created inside a namespace. From a namespace's detail page select Add Counter, then fill in the form:

Field	Rules
Namespace	Shown as a read-only chip — it's fixed to the namespace you came from.
Counter Key	Required. 1–256 characters, letters, numbers, hyphens, and underscores only. Examples: page-views, button-clicks, user-signups.
Description	Optional. Free text up to 200 characters.
Labels	Optional tags, added the same way as on namespaces. Examples: production, backend, critical, us-west.

New counters always start at a value of 0. Select Create Counter to save.

📷 Screenshot: The Create Counter form with the namespace chip, key, description, and labels.

Browsing, sorting & filtering

The All Counters view is a responsive grid of cards. Each card shows a color-coded namespace chip, the counter key, up to two label chips (then +N), and the current value with its unit. The whole card is clickable and opens the counter detail.

Above the grid:

• Search — the "Search counters…" box matches on key and namespace.
• Sort by — Value (High to Low), Value (Low to High), Name (A→Z), Name (Z→A), Namespace (A→Z), Namespace (Z→A). The default is Value (High to Low).
• Filter by Namespace — restrict the grid to a single namespace.
• Filter by Labels — multi-select label filter (shown when labels exist).

When TapTally has classified some counters into trackers, a tracker chip row and a Group by tracker toggle also appear here — see Labels & Trackers.

Counter detail

Open a counter to inspect it:

• Description — the text you entered, or "No description provided".
• Current Value — the counter's value shown large.
• Labels — assigned labels with inline pencil editing.
• Counter Activity & Trend — a time-series chart of the counter over time.
• Counter API Keys — a collapsible section for issuing scoped keys, covered in Counter API Keys.

📷 Screenshot: A counter detail page showing the current value and the activity chart with its controls.

Reading the activity chart

The Counter Activity & Trend chart on the counter detail page has these controls (the namespace page shows a fixed last-7-days view without these controls):

Control	Options
Trend line	A toggle that overlays a dotted cumulative-total line on top of the per-period bars.
Frequency	Yearly, Monthly, Daily, or Hourly (24h).
Chart type	Bar Chart or Line Chart.

If there's nothing to plot yet the chart shows "No data available to display chart."

Deleting a counter

Select Delete Counter on the detail page (or the trash icon next to a counter on its namespace page). Confirm in the dialog:

Are you sure you want to delete the counter? This action cannot be undone.