/flexible-assets

name: "IT Glue Flexible Assets"
description: >
  IT Glue flexible assets: custom, instance-specific asset types with defined
  field schemas (text, tag, password, upload, etc.), traits-based instances,
  and tag fields that cross-link to configurations, contacts, and other IT
  Glue resources for structured, filterable documentation.
when_to_use: >-
  When working with custom asset types for structured documentation in IT Glue flexible assets.
  Use when: it glue flexible asset, custom asset, flexible asset type, it glue custom
  documentation, flexible asset field, custom documentation, structured asset, or it glue
  template.

IT Glue Flexible Assets Management

Overview

Flexible Assets in IT Glue provide customizable, structured documentation templates. Unlike free-form documents, flexible assets have defined fields and types, enabling consistent documentation across organizations and powerful filtering/searching capabilities.

Anti-triggers

• **Servers, workstations, and network gear** — those are

configurations, which IT Glue also calls "assets"; use `itglue-configurations`.

• **Free-form runbooks and procedures** — use `itglue-documents`.
• **A credential held in a password-type field** — it is not a

Passwords record and `search_passwords` will not find it; see `itglue-passwords` for how the two stores differ.

Key Concepts

Flexible Asset Types

Flexible Asset Types define the schema for a category of documentation:

Flexible Asset Type: Network Overview
├── Fields:
│   ├── Primary ISP (Text)
│   ├── Backup ISP (Text)
│   ├── Public IP Addresses (Textarea)
│   ├── Firewall (Tag - Configuration)
│   ├── Network Diagram (Upload)
│   └── DNS Provider (Select)

Field Types

| Type | Description | Use Case | |------|-------------|----------| | Text | Single line text | Names, identifiers | | Textarea | Multi-line text | Descriptions, notes | | Number | Numeric value | Quantities, counts | | Date | Date picker | Expiration dates | | Checkbox | Boolean true/false | Flags, toggles | | Select | Dropdown selection | Predefined options | | Tag | Link to IT Glue resource | Configurations, contacts | | Password | Password field | Embedded credentials | | Upload | File attachment | Diagrams, documents | | Percent | Percentage value | Utilization, progress | | Header | Section header | Visual organization |

Tag Fields

Tag fields create relationships to other IT Glue resources:

| Tag Type | Links To | |----------|----------| | Configuration | Configuration items | | Contact | Contacts | | Password | Passwords | | Document | Documents | | Flexible Asset | Other flexible assets | | Location | Locations |

Field values live in a `traits` object on the asset instance, keyed by each field's `name-key`. Tag fields hold arrays of related-resource IDs.

See [references/fields.md](references/fields.md) for the full field/traits reference and the common built-in flexible asset type layouts (Network Overview, Application Documentation, Backup Overview, Microsoft 365 Tenant).

Critical: Discover Type IDs First

**Flexible asset type IDs are instance-specific** — every IT Glue account has different IDs. Never guess or hardcode type IDs. Always call `list_flexible_asset_types` first to discover what types exist, then use the returned IDs with `search_flexible_assets`.

Step 1: list_flexible_asset_types → get type IDs
Step 2: search_flexible_assets(flexible_asset_type_id=<id from step 1>)

API Patterns

• Fetch the type definition with `?include=flexible-asset-fields` to get field names, `name-key`s, and which are required before creating or validating an instance.
• Tag fields are set as plain arrays of resource IDs in `traits` (e.g. `"firewall": [12345]`), not nested objects, when creating/updating.
• Assets can be filtered by organization and type simultaneously: `GET /flexible-assets?filter[organization-id]=456&filter[flexible-asset-type-id]=123`.

See [references/api.md](references/api.md) for the complete endpoint catalog (types, instances, tag-field examples) with full request/response bodies.

Common Workflows

Create Flexible Asset from Template

Fetch the type definition with its field list, validate that all required fields are present in the supplied values, then create the asset with those `traits`. See [references/examples.md](references/examples.md) for the full `createFlexibleAssetFromType` implementation plus lookup-by-type-name, tag-update, export, health-check, and cross-org cloning workflows.

Clone to Another Org

Tag fields reference resources in the source org — when cloning a flexible asset to a different organization, tag values must be remapped or stripped since the IDs won't resolve to valid resources in the target org.

Gotchas

• **Hardcoded type IDs break across accounts** — always resolve type IDs via `list_flexible_asset_types` rather than reusing IDs from another tenant or a previous session.
• **Required-field validation isn't enforced client-side** — fetch `?include=flexible-asset-fields` and check `required` yourself before submitting, or handle the resulting 422.
• **Tag fields don't survive an org clone** — IDs are org-scoped, so a cloned asset's tag traits will reference the wrong (or nonexistent) resources unless remapped.

See [references/errors.md](references/errors.md) for the complete error-code and validation-error tables plus a retry pattern for missing-field and invalid-tag errors.

Best Practices

1. **Plan type structure** - Design flexible asset types before creating 2. **Use consistent naming** - Follow conventions for field names 3. **Leverage tags** - Link to configurations, contacts for relationships 4. **Required fields** - Mark essential fields as required 5. **Use appropriate types** - Match field type to data (date for dates, etc.) 6. **Document types** - Add descriptions to types and fields 7. **Standardize across orgs** - Use same types for all clients 8. **Regular revie