taxonomy-architecture

# Taxonomy Architecture

Guidance for designing taxonomy systems for content classification, including categories, tags, and faceted navigation.

## When to Use This Skill

- Designing category hierarchies for content
- Implementing tagging systems
- Planning faceted search and filtering
- Creating controlled vocabularies
- Migrating taxonomy structures between CMS platforms

## Taxonomy Types

### Flat Taxonomy (Tags)

Best for user-generated, flexible classification.

```csharp
public class Tag
{
    public Guid Id { get; set; }
    public string Name { get; set; } = string.Empty;
    public string Slug { get; set; } = string.Empty;
    public int UsageCount { get; set; }
}

public class ContentTag
{
    public Guid ContentItemId { get; set; }
    public Guid TagId { get; set; }
    public int Order { get; set; }
}
```

**Use Cases:**

- Blog post tags
- Product keywords
- User-generated labels
- Folksonomy systems

### Hierarchical Taxonomy (Categories)

Best for structured, controlled classification.

```csharp
public class Category
{
    public Guid Id { get; set; }
    public string Name { get; set; } = string.Empty;
    public string Slug { get; set; } = string.Empty;
    public string? Description { get; set; }

    // Hierarchy
    public Guid? ParentId { get; set; }
    public Category? Parent { get; set; }
    public List<Category> Children { get; set; } = new();

    // Materialized path for efficient queries
    public string Path { get; set; } = string.Empty; // e.g., "/tech/programming/csharp"
    public int Depth { get; set; }
    public int Order { get; set; }
}
```

**Use Cases:**

- Product categories (Electronics > Phones > Smartphones)
- Document classification
- Geographic hierarchies
- Organizational structures

### Multi-Taxonomy System

Support multiple independent taxonomies.

```csharp
public class Taxonomy
{
    public Guid Id { get; set; }
    public string Name { get; set; } = string.Empty;
    public string Slug { get; set; } = string.