Tagging is still one of the most effective ways to understand and express ownership of cloud infrastructure shared across teams. A good set of tags turns an anonymous bill into a map of who runs what.
What makes tagging so effective is also what makes it so hard. Multiple teams share the same hardware, and in a large organization the number of teams that touch a single cluster can run into the hundreds. Ownership is rarely clean: some resources belong squarely to one team, many are shared, and a few belong to everyone and no one.
The mechanics make it harder still. If you do not enforce tags from the ground up, you are left with two unappealing options: redeploy everything with the right tags baked in, or go resource by resource and tag them by hand. Internally we have always described this as a Venn diagram of sorts.
We do not think it should be this way. So today we are launching virtual tags.
Virtual tags
Starting today you can apply virtual tags to any supported resource without changing your underlying infrastructure. As long as CostGraph has indexed a resource, you can tag it. No redeploy, no change window, no ticket to the team that owns the Terraform.
The trick is that a virtual tag is not a label written back to your cloud account. It is a rule, evaluated live against your cost data. You describe which resources a tag should cover, using simple conditions on fields like service, region, account, or even the native cloud tags already on the resource, and CostGraph applies it every time you look at your spend.
Because the rule is evaluated live, two things fall out for free:
- It is retroactive. A rule you write today covers the spend you already have, not just spend going forward.
- It keeps up. The same rule covers the instance a teammate launches tomorrow, without anyone touching it again.
You can also inherit a value straight from an existing cloud tag, so a virtual tag can fill the gaps where tagging was only half done rather than replacing it.
When two rules could claim the same resource, order decides: rules are ranked, and the first one that matches wins. Before you save anything, CostGraph shows you exactly what a rule would claim, down to how many line items and how much spend, so you are never guessing whether a rule is too broad or too narrow.
Describe tags in natural language
At the end of the day, someone or something still has to sit down and author the tags. We wanted to take that one step further, so you can describe the tags you want in plain English and let Graph AI generate them for you.
Graph AI reads the resources CostGraph has already indexed and proposes tag rules grouped by rationale, each one showing how much spend it would claim if you applied it. Nothing moves on its own: you review each suggestion and either apply it or ignore it, and anything you apply lands paused until you switch it on. Graph AI drafts, you decide.
It also stays out of your way once you have made a call. If you edit a rule Graph AI wrote, that edit is yours. Regenerating a tag's rules from its description will not clobber the change you made by hand.
Know who tagged what
Tags are only as trustworthy as their provenance. Every virtual tag records who created it and when.
Virtual tags are first-class cost dimensions, so once a tag exists you can group and filter your entire bill by it, the same way you would with a native cloud tag, only without the wait.
If this sounds useful, get started for free or book a demo today.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are virtual tags?
Virtual tags let you tag any resource CostGraph has indexed without changing the underlying infrastructure. Instead of writing a label back to your cloud account, you define a rule, a set of conditions on your resources, and CostGraph applies the tag live whenever you view your spend.
Do I have to redeploy or change my infrastructure?
No. That is the point. A virtual tag is evaluated against your cost data, not written back to the resource, so nothing needs to be redeployed and no team needs to change their Terraform, Helm charts, or cloud configuration.
What can I tag?
Any resource CostGraph has already indexed. If it shows up in your spend, you can write a rule that covers it, matching on fields like service, region, and account, as well as the native cloud tags already attached to the resource.
Are virtual tags retroactive?
Yes. Because the rule is evaluated live against your cost data, a tag you create today applies to the spend you already have, not only to spend going forward. The same rule also covers new resources as they appear, with no further work.
Two rules could match the same resource. Which one wins?
Rules are ranked, and the first rule that matches a resource wins. You control the order, so shared hardware that several teams could claim resolves predictably rather than ambiguously. Before you save a rule, CostGraph shows exactly what it would claim, so overlaps are visible up front.
Can a virtual tag reuse a tag I already have?
Yes. A rule can inherit its value from an existing cloud tag on the resource, so virtual tags can fill the gaps where tagging was only partly done rather than forcing you to start over.
How does describing tags in natural language work?
Describe the tags you want in plain English and Graph AI generates the underlying rules for you. It reads the resources CostGraph has indexed and proposes tag rules grouped by rationale, each showing how much spend it would claim.
Does the AI tag things automatically?
No. Graph AI only proposes. You review each suggestion and either apply it or ignore it, and anything you apply is left paused until you turn it on. Nothing an agent proposes moves spend until a person says so.
If I edit an AI-generated rule, will regenerating overwrite my change?
No. Once you edit a rule Graph AI wrote, that rule is yours. Regenerating a tag's rules from its description leaves your hand-edited rules alone.
Can I see who created a tag?
Yes. Every virtual tag records who created it and when. Rules authored by Graph AI are attributed to Graph AI, so both human and automated changes are accountable.
Can I group and filter my spend by a virtual tag?
Yes. Virtual tags are first-class cost dimensions. Once a tag exists you can group and filter your entire bill by it, exactly as you would with a native cloud tag.