> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://flapjax.gitbook.io/docs/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://flapjax.gitbook.io/docs/your-data/labels/how-labels-are-applied-in-real-time.md).

# How labels are applied in real time

*Article · Collection: Labels & segments*

Labels are tags you put on people. You can apply them by hand. The real power sits in **smart labels**, which add and remove themselves as your customers' data changes. This article explains how they work and how to set one up.

## Manual labels and smart labels

A **manual label** stays on a person until you or an automation removes it. You control it directly.

A **smart label** carries a **rule**. Flapjax watches your data and applies or removes the label whenever a person starts or stops matching that rule.

One label is either manual or smart, never both at once. Turning rules on makes it smart.

## What real time means here

Smart labels do not wait for a nightly recalculation. They react to change.

A person or record changes, and Flapjax immediately checks the smart labels that this kind of change could affect. It updates them there and then.

You can also put a smart label on a **recurring schedule**, say once a day. That suits labels built on the passage of time rather than a specific event, such as "has not been active in 30 days".

In most cases the label appears the instant a person's data crosses your threshold. It disappears the same way.

## Setting up a smart label

Open a label's detail page and switch it to **rule-based**. Each rule group asks you for three things:

1. **When to check it.** Either a specific kind of event happens, such as a person update, a record added to a stack, or an attribute change. Or the check runs on a recurring schedule.
2. **What to require.** A filter of field, condition and value, narrowed to a segment if you want.
3. **What to do.** Add the label to people who match, or remove it from people who match.

You can combine several rule groups on one label. Your edits save as you make them.

A smart label can add itself under one condition and remove itself under another. That keeps it accurate on both sides. People flow in as they qualify and out as they stop qualifying.

## How add and remove get decided

Flapjax applies a simple priority to every evaluation. Any rule saying *remove* wins, and the label comes off. Otherwise a rule saying *add* puts the label on, if the person does not have it already.

Remove-wins keeps labels conservative. Nobody keeps a label they no longer qualify for.

## When a smart label pauses itself

A smart label depends on what its rule points at: attributes, segments and so on. Delete one of those, or write a rule that would loop endlessly, and Flapjax **pauses** the label to protect your data. A banner explains why.

Fix the underlying problem and click **Resume**. A paused label stops changing on its own and keeps the assignments it already made.

## Turning a smart label on and off

Every smart label has an **active** switch. An active label runs its rules, and its configuration stays locked so it cannot change mid-evaluation. Switch it off to edit the rules, then back on.

## Seeing the effect

The label's detail page charts its membership over time. It also jumps you straight to the people who hold it today, with the People list pre-filtered.

Labels feed **segments** and **reports** too. One well-designed smart label keeps your whole workspace grouped correctly with no manual upkeep.

## Quick recap

Smart labels carry rules and maintain themselves. They add and remove as people's data changes, in real time or on a schedule you pick. Set the when, the condition and the add or remove, and Flapjax keeps every person's labels accurate.