# Labels, sizes and priority

Tag issues with labels, set priority from Low to Urgent, and size work with T-shirt or Fibonacci ranks, plus who manages each.

Three small properties that make a long list sortable. Use them honestly and the list tells you something. Use them for theatre and every issue ends up Urgent, XL and labeled "important".

## Before you start

- Anyone in the workspace can set labels, priority and size on an issue.
- Creating, renaming or deleting labels is an Admin or Owner job, unless an Admin lets Members do it. [Who can do what](/help/workspace/members#who-can-do-what).
- Picking the sizing method is an Admin or Owner job too.

## Steps

### Set priority

Use **Priority** on the issue, on its row, in the new-issue form or in a row's **Properties…** menu. There are five levels:

| Priority | Use it for |
| --- | --- |
| No priority | Not decided yet. The default. |
| Low | Nice to have. |
| Medium | Should happen. |
| High | Matters soon. |
| Urgent | Drop what you're doing. Rarely true. |

Priority is the same five levels in every workspace. Nobody can rename them, which saves one meeting.

### Size the work

A size says how big a piece of work is compared to others. It's not hours, it's not days, and Hydrant never turns it into a deadline.

Every size is stored as a rank from 1 to 6. The workspace's sizing method only decides what those ranks are called:

| Rank | T-shirt | Fibonacci |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | XS | 1 |
| 2 | S | 2 |
| 3 | M | 3 |
| 4 | L | 5 |
| 5 | XL | 8 |
| 6 | XXL | 13 |

1. Set **Size** on the issue, its row or the new-issue form. Leave it empty if you don't know yet; "No size" is a valid answer.
2. To change the method, an Admin or the Owner opens **Settings › Workflow**, finds **Sizing** and picks **T-shirt**, **Fibonacci** or **Off**.

Switching methods relabels every issue and clears nothing: an L becomes a 5, and back again. **Off** ("No sizes. Vibes only.") hides sizes everywhere and refuses new ones, but keeps the stored values in case you change your mind.

Sizes don't roll up from sub-issues. Where Hydrant adds them up, on Insights, cycles and projects, it counts T-shirt ranks as 1 to 6 and Fibonacci as its own numbers, and shows unsized issues separately instead of guessing.

### Add labels to an issue

1. Open **Labels** on the issue, or choose **Labels…** from a row's menu.
2. Type in **Find labels…** and pick one or more.
3. If the label doesn't exist and you're allowed to manage labels, choose **Create ‘your name’**, pick a color and press **Create and add**.

An issue can carry up to 100 labels. Please don't test that.

### Manage the label catalog

Labels belong to the whole workspace. They live under **Settings › Labels & views**.

- **New label:** a name (up to 100 characters), a color and, if you like, an icon.
- **Colors:** Gray, Blue, Violet, Pink, Red, Orange, Amber, Green or Teal.
- **Icons:** pick one from the same icon picker used for projects, views and agents: about 200 icons, searchable, grouped from "Work and planning" to "Shapes and symbols". **No icon** keeps a plain color dot. An icon shows tinted in the label's color everywhere the label appears.
- **Edit:** rename a label, or change its appearance. Appearance saves immediately.
- **Delete label…:** only works on a label that has never been used: not on any issue, in any saved view, or anywhere in issue history. There's no undo. A label that has seen action stays; rename it if it's misleading.

A workspace can have up to 100 labels.

By default only Admins and the Owner manage labels and workspace views. To hand that to everyone, an Admin turns on **Let members manage shared labels and views** under **Member access** on the same page. The [Settings map](/help/workspace/settings) covers the rest of that page.

### Use them

Priority, size and labels all work in **Filter**, and priority and size also work in **Display** for grouping and ordering. See [Views, filters and saved views](/help/using/views-and-settings).

If you're looking for dates: delivery targets live on the [Roadmap](/help/planning/roadmap), not in size or priority.

## What you should see

Rows showing a priority icon, a size token and colored labels, and a list you can group by any of them. Size tokens disappear entirely when the workspace sizing method is **Off**.

## If it goes sideways

- **"Shared labels are read-only with your current access."** You can add existing labels but not create new ones. Ask an Admin, or ask them to switch on member access.
- **"100 labels. Even bureaucracy has limits."** The workspace is full. Delete unused labels under **Settings › Labels & views**.
- **"This label is retained by issues, saved views or issue history."** Labels that were ever used can't be deleted, because history would stop making sense. Rename it instead, or just stop using it.
- **Size is missing everywhere.** The sizing method is **Off**. An Admin can turn it back on under **Settings › Workflow**.
- **"This issue changed. Review its labels before adding yours."** Someone else edited the labels while you were choosing. Review, then add yours again.

Contact: bots@hydrant.dev