---
title: "Profile Buckets"
sidebarTitle: "Buckets"
description: "Custom topical categories for user profiles"
icon: "tags"
---

Buckets are **custom topical categories** for a profile — an axis that sits alongside `static` and `dynamic`. Where static/dynamic split facts by how long-lived they are, buckets group them by subject (e.g. `preferences`, `goals`, `work`). As content is ingested, a classifier assigns each memory to the buckets it matches, so you can pull just the slice of context a given surface needs.

<Tip>
New to buckets? Read the [conceptual overview](/concepts/user-profiles#buckets) first — this page is the API reference for reading, creating, and managing them.
</Tip>

Every org starts with a built-in `preferences` bucket. You can define your own at the organization level, add more at the space (container tag) level, or get AI-generated suggestions — all covered below.

---

## Reading buckets

### Requesting bucketed profiles

Pass `include: ["buckets"]` to `/v4/profile` to return bucket-organized memories, and optionally `buckets` to limit the response to specific keys. `include` also lets you skip sections you don't need — `["buckets"]` alone omits `static` and `dynamic`.

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="fetch">
    ```typescript
    const res = await fetch("https://api.supermemory.ai/v4/profile", {
      method: "POST",
      headers: {
        "Authorization": `Bearer ${API_KEY}`,
        "Content-Type": "application/json"
      },
      body: JSON.stringify({
        containerTag: "user_123",
        include: ["buckets"],
        buckets: ["preferences", "goals"]   // optional — omit for all buckets
      })
    });

    const { profile } = await res.json();
    console.log(profile.buckets.preferences);
    console.log(profile.buckets.goals);
    ```
  </Tab>
  <Tab title="cURL">
    ```bash
    curl -X POST "https://api.supermemory.ai/v4/profile" \
      -H "Authorization: Bearer $SUPERMEMORY_API_KEY" \
      -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
      -d '{
        "containerTag": "user_123",
        "include": ["buckets"],
        "buckets": ["preferences", "goals"]
      }'
    ```
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

**Response:**
```json
{
  "profile": {
    "buckets": {
      "preferences": [
        "[Summary] Prefers concise, technical answers and dark-mode tooling",
        "[Recent] Switched their editor to Zed"
      ],
      "goals": [
        "[Recent] Wants to ship the billing revamp this quarter"
      ]
    }
  }
}
```

<Note>
**`[Recent]` and `[Summary]` labels.** To keep profiles dense, an entity's older memories are periodically aggregated into a short synthesis. Entries prefixed `[Summary]` are that aggregated context; entries prefixed `[Recent]` were ingested since the last aggregation and aren't summarized yet. The `dynamic` section uses the same `[Recent]` prefix (plus a `[YYYY-MM-DD]` date). Strip the prefixes if you only want raw text, or keep them to signal recency to your model.
</Note>

### List bucket definitions

To see which buckets are configured for a container tag (org buckets merged with any space-level additions), call `/v4/profile/buckets`:

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="fetch">
    ```typescript
    const res = await fetch("https://api.supermemory.ai/v4/profile/buckets", {
      method: "POST",
      headers: {
        "Authorization": `Bearer ${API_KEY}`,
        "Content-Type": "application/json"
      },
      body: JSON.stringify({ containerTag: "user_123" })
    });

    const { buckets } = await res.json();
    // [{ key: "preferences", description: "..." }, ...]
    ```
  </Tab>
  <Tab title="cURL">
    ```bash
    curl -X POST "https://api.supermemory.ai/v4/profile/buckets" \
      -H "Authorization: Bearer $SUPERMEMORY_API_KEY" \
      -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
      -d '{"containerTag": "user_123"}'
    ```
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

**Response:**
```json
{
  "buckets": [
    {
      "key": "preferences",
      "description": "Explicit first-person preferences the person directly stated."
    }
  ]
}
```

| Field | Type | Description |
|-------|------|-------------|
| `buckets[].key` | string | Stable slug, also stored on each memory. Lowercase alphanumeric with `-`/`_`, 1–64 chars |
| `buckets[].description` | string | What belongs in the bucket — guides the ingestion classifier |

This endpoint requires only that the caller belongs to the org — any role, and any API key (scoped keys included) can read bucket definitions.

---

## Creating and configuring buckets

Bucket definitions live at two levels: **organization** (the default set every container tag gets) and **space** (per-container-tag additions). Both are configured through the settings API — there's no console-only path; these are regular authenticated endpoints.

<Warning>
Writing buckets requires an **admin or owner** role in the org, and a **full-access API key** — project/container-tag-**scoped** keys cannot call these endpoints and will get a `403`. Reading buckets (the endpoints above) has no such restriction.
</Warning>

### Organization-level buckets

`PATCH /v3/settings` sets the org's bucket list. The `profileBuckets` array **replaces the entire stored list** — it's not a merge, so always send the full set you want.

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="fetch">
    ```typescript
    const res = await fetch("https://api.supermemory.ai/v3/settings", {
      method: "PATCH",
      headers: {
        "Authorization": `Bearer ${API_KEY}`,
        "Content-Type": "application/json"
      },
      body: JSON.stringify({
        profileBuckets: [
          { key: "work", description: "Professional role, employer, projects, and work-related decisions." },
          { key: "health", description: "Physical and mental wellbeing, habits, and health-related goals." }
        ]
      })
    });

    const { updated } = await res.json();
    ```
  </Tab>
  <Tab title="cURL">
    ```bash
    curl -X PATCH "https://api.supermemory.ai/v3/settings" \
      -H "Authorization: Bearer $SUPERMEMORY_API_KEY" \
      -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
      -d '{
        "profileBuckets": [
          { "key": "work", "description": "Professional role, employer, projects, and work-related decisions." },
          { "key": "health", "description": "Physical and mental wellbeing, habits, and health-related goals." }
        ]
      }'
    ```
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

**Response:**
```json
{
  "orgId": "org_abc123xyz",
  "orgSlug": "acme-inc",
  "updated": {
    "profileBuckets": [
      { "key": "work", "description": "Professional role, employer, projects, and work-related decisions." },
      { "key": "health", "description": "Physical and mental wellbeing, habits, and health-related goals." }
    ]
    // ...other org settings fields
  }
}
```

`GET /v3/settings` returns the current org settings, including `profileBuckets`, without changing anything.

### Space (container tag) buckets

`PATCH /v3/container-tags/{containerTag}` sets a container tag's own bucket list. These are **add-only** on top of org buckets — a tag always keeps every org bucket, and if a space bucket's key collides with an org bucket, the org's definition wins in the merged, effective set used at ingestion and read time.

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="fetch">
    ```typescript
    const res = await fetch("https://api.supermemory.ai/v3/container-tags/user_alex", {
      method: "PATCH",
      headers: {
        "Authorization": `Bearer ${API_KEY}`,
        "Content-Type": "application/json"
      },
      body: JSON.stringify({
        profileBuckets: [
          { key: "trip_planning", description: "Upcoming trip details specific to this user." }
        ]
      })
    });
    ```
  </Tab>
  <Tab title="cURL">
    ```bash
    curl -X PATCH "https://api.supermemory.ai/v3/container-tags/user_alex" \
      -H "Authorization: Bearer $SUPERMEMORY_API_KEY" \
      -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
      -d '{
        "profileBuckets": [
          { "key": "trip_planning", "description": "Upcoming trip details specific to this user." }
        ]
      }'
    ```
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

**Response:**
```json
{
  "containerTag": "user_alex",
  "name": "user_alex",
  "entityContext": null,
  "memoryFilesystemPaths": null,
  "profileBuckets": [
    { "key": "trip_planning", "description": "Upcoming trip details specific to this user." }
  ],
  "updatedAt": "2026-07-18T00:00:00.000Z"
}
```

<Note>
Like the org endpoint, this **replaces the tag's own bucket list**, not the merged/effective set — `profileBuckets` in the response is only what this space added, not the org buckets it inherits. Call `/v4/profile/buckets` to see the merged, effective list for a tag.
</Note>

### AI-generated suggestions

`POST /v3/settings/suggest-buckets` returns 3–6 bucket suggestions tailored to your org, generated from the `filterPrompt` already configured in your org settings. It doesn't save anything — pass the results into the `PATCH /v3/settings` call above to apply them.

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="fetch">
    ```typescript
    const res = await fetch("https://api.supermemory.ai/v3/settings/suggest-buckets", {
      method: "POST",
      headers: { "Authorization": `Bearer ${API_KEY}` }
    });

    const { suggestions } = await res.json();
    // [{ key: "customer_support", description: "..." }, ...]
    ```
  </Tab>
  <Tab title="cURL">
    ```bash
    curl -X POST "https://api.supermemory.ai/v3/settings/suggest-buckets" \
      -H "Authorization: Bearer $SUPERMEMORY_API_KEY"
    ```
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

<Warning>
Requires a `filterPrompt` already set on your org (via `PATCH /v3/settings`) — without one, this returns `400 { "error": "No organization context configured..." }`, since suggestions are tailored from it.
</Warning>

### Starter presets

If you'd rather start from a template than write descriptions from scratch, these are the same presets available in the console UI:

| Key | Description |
|-----|-------------|
| `preferences` | Stated likes, dislikes, and personal settings choices — food, media, tools, aesthetics, and other expressed tastes. |
| `interests` | Topics, hobbies, and domains the person is curious about or actively follows, even if not yet a firm preference. |
| `goals` | Short- and long-term objectives, aspirations, and things the person wants to achieve or work toward. |
| `work` | Professional context: current role, employer, projects, colleagues, career trajectory, and work-related decisions. |
| `relationships` | People in the person's life — family, friends, colleagues, partners — and the nature of those connections. |
| `health` | Physical and mental wellbeing: conditions, habits, medications, fitness routines, and health-related goals. |
| `skills` | Competencies, expertise areas, tools mastered, and things the person is actively learning. |
| `finances` | Financial habits, spending patterns, savings goals, income context, and money-related decisions. |
| `education` | Academic background, current courses, learning goals, and educational achievements. |
| `travel` | Places visited, travel preferences, upcoming trips, and destinations the person wants to visit. |
| `values` | Core beliefs, ethical stances, principles, and things that matter most to the person. |
| `projects` | Personal and professional side projects, creative endeavors, and things being built outside of primary work. |

### Default bucket

If neither the org nor the space has configured any buckets, ingestion falls back to a single built-in `preferences` bucket, scoped tightly to explicit first-person statements ("prefers X over Y", "always uses W") — not inferred traits or general observations. Configuring your own buckets replaces this default.

---

## Validation & limits

| Rule | Detail |
|------|--------|
| Key format | Lowercase alphanumeric, starting with a letter/digit, may contain `-`/`_`. 1–64 chars |
| Reserved keys | `static` and `dynamic` can't be used as bucket keys |
| Max buckets | 50 per array — applies separately to an org's list and to each space's list |
| Duplicate keys | Rejected within a single request's array |
| Description | Optional, up to 2,000 chars. Defaults to empty if omitted |

<Tip>
Bucket descriptions steer classification. A precise description ("Explicit first-person preferences only — exclude inferred traits") yields cleaner buckets than a vague one.
</Tip>

---

## Configure

### Instructions

Bucket `description`s only steer classification *within* a bucket — they don't tell the model anything about the space itself. For that, set [`entityContext`](/concepts/customization#entity-context) on the container tag: a free-text field that's appended alongside `filterPrompt` into the same prompt the extraction/classification step uses, so it shapes bucket assignment too, not just fact extraction.

`PATCH /v3/container-tags/{containerTag}`:

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="fetch">
    ```typescript
    await fetch("https://api.supermemory.ai/v3/container-tags/user_alex", {
      method: "PATCH",
      headers: {
        "Authorization": `Bearer ${API_KEY}`,
        "Content-Type": "application/json"
      },
      body: JSON.stringify({
        entityContext: "This tag belongs to a solo founder juggling sales, hiring, and product."
      })
    });
    ```
  </Tab>
  <Tab title="cURL">
    ```bash
    curl -X PATCH "https://api.supermemory.ai/v3/container-tags/user_alex" \
      -H "Authorization: Bearer $SUPERMEMORY_API_KEY" \
      -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
      -d '{
        "entityContext": "This tag belongs to a solo founder juggling sales, hiring, and product."
      }'
    ```
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

| Field | Type | Limit |
|-------|------|-------|
| `entityContext` | string \| null | Up to 1,500 characters. Pass `null` to clear |

<Tip>
`entityContext` is per-container-tag, so use it for context specific to that user/space (who they are, what the space is for) — use org-level [`filterPrompt`](/concepts/customization) for guidance that should apply everywhere. Both are combined into the same prompt, so keep them complementary rather than redundant.
</Tip>

You can also set `entityContext` inline when adding content, via `entityContext` on [`POST /v4/memories`](/ingestion/add-memories) — useful if you don't want a separate settings call.

### Model selection

The model behind extraction and bucket classification isn't configurable through the API on supermemory Cloud — it's managed for you. If you're self-hosting, you choose the provider and model yourself via environment variables (`OPENAI_MODEL` and related) — see [Self-hosting Configuration](/self-hosting/configuration).

---

## Next Steps

- [User Profiles](/recall/user-profiles) — Fetch and use profiles via the API
- [User Profiles Concept](/concepts/user-profiles) — Static vs dynamic vs buckets
- [Container Tags](/concepts/container-tags) — How spaces and container tags work
