diff --git a/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/organisms/createKeyPayload.test.ts b/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/organisms/createKeyPayload.test.ts
index 7c6d5def8da..43f0d1ea711 100644
--- a/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/organisms/createKeyPayload.test.ts
+++ b/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/organisms/createKeyPayload.test.ts
@@ -167,6 +167,25 @@ describe("key ownership", () => {
   });
 });
 
+describe("tags", () => {
+  it("stores the Tags field inside metadata and leaves it off the top level", () => {
+    const values = {
+      key_alias: "my-key",
+      metadata: '{"team":"core","tags":["from-json"]}',
+      tags: ["production", "pilot"],
+    };
+    const before = structuredClone(values);
+    const payload = payloadOf(build(values));
+
+    expect(values).toStrictEqual(before);
+    expect(payload).not.toHaveProperty("tags");
+    expect(JSON.parse(String(payload.metadata))).toEqual({
+      team: "core",
+      tags: ["production", "pilot"],
+    });
+  });
+});
+
 describe("metadata", () => {
   it("re-serialises the parsed form value", () => {
     expect(payloadOf(build({ key_alias: "my-key", metadata: '{"team":"core"}' }))).toStrictEqual(
diff --git a/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/organisms/createKeyPayload.ts b/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/organisms/createKeyPayload.ts
index 311e9357825..45f478643d5 100644
--- a/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/organisms/createKeyPayload.ts
+++ b/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/organisms/createKeyPayload.ts
@@ -90,6 +90,17 @@ const parseMetadata = (raw: unknown): unknown => {
   }
 };
 
+const selectedTags = (raw: unknown): unknown[] | undefined => (Array.isArray(raw) && raw.length > 0 ? raw : undefined);
+
+const metadataWithSelectedTags = (parsed: unknown, rawTags: unknown): unknown => {
+  const tags = selectedTags(rawTags);
+  if (!tags) return parsed;
+  if (parsed !== null && typeof parsed === "object" && !Array.isArray(parsed)) {
+    return { ...parsed, tags };
+  }
+  return { tags };
+};
+
 const buildMetadataJson = (values: Record<string, unknown>, input: KeyCreateInput): string => {
   const parsed = parseMetadata(values.metadata);
   if (input.keyOwner === "service_account") {
@@ -103,7 +114,7 @@ const buildMetadataJson = (values: Record<string, unknown>, input: KeyCreateInpu
     input.disabledCallbacks.length > 0
       ? { ...(logged as object), litellm_disabled_callbacks: mapDisplayToInternalNames(input.disabledCallbacks) }
       : logged;
-  return JSON.stringify(disabled);
+  return JSON.stringify(metadataWithSelectedTags(disabled, values.tags));
 };
 
 interface PermissionSources {
@@ -183,7 +194,10 @@ export const buildKeyCreatePayload = (input: KeyCreateInput): KeyPayloadResult =
 
   const sources = readPermissionSources(values);
   const objectPermission = buildObjectPermission(sources);
-  const dropped = consumedSourceKeys(values, sources);
+  const dropped = new Set<string>([
+    ...consumedSourceKeys(values, sources),
+    ...(selectedTags(values.tags) ? ["tags"] : []),
+  ]);
 
   const duration = values.duration;
   const validWindows = input.budgetLimits.filter(
diff --git a/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/organisms/create_key_button.integration.test.tsx b/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/organisms/create_key_button.integration.test.tsx
index 0fbe043c0d1..dacfc4e33e4 100644
--- a/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/organisms/create_key_button.integration.test.tsx
+++ b/ui/litellm-dashboard/src/components/organisms/create_key_button.integration.test.tsx
@@ -473,7 +473,7 @@ describe("CreateKey", () => {
       expect(payload.budget_duration).toBeNull();
     });
 
-    it("routes typed tags into the tags key", async () => {
+    it("routes typed tags into metadata, the same place key edit sends them", async () => {
       state.tags = { production: { name: "production" } };
       await openModal();
       await nameTheKey();
@@ -481,7 +481,9 @@ describe("CreateKey", () => {
       await userEvent.type(await screen.findByLabelText("Tags"), "production{Enter}");
       await submit();
 
-      expect((await createdPayload()).tags).toStrictEqual(["production"]);
+      const payload = await createdPayload();
+      expect(payload).not.toHaveProperty("tags");
+      expect(JSON.parse(String(payload.metadata))).toMatchObject({ tags: ["production"] });
     });
 
     it("routes a chosen access group into access_group_ids", async () => {