diff --git a/src/mudlib/thing.py b/src/mudlib/thing.py
index 54cca75..6336f5f 100644
--- a/src/mudlib/thing.py
+++ b/src/mudlib/thing.py
@@ -20,3 +20,4 @@ class Thing(Object):
     portable: bool = True
     aliases: list[str] = field(default_factory=list)
     readable_text: str = ""
+    tags: list[str] = field(default_factory=list)
diff --git a/src/mudlib/things.py b/src/mudlib/things.py
index 6c81771..5ea25b8 100644
--- a/src/mudlib/things.py
+++ b/src/mudlib/things.py
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ class ThingTemplate:
     # Verb handlers (verb_name -> module:function reference)
     verbs: dict[str, str] = field(default_factory=dict)
     readable_text: str = ""
+    tags: list[str] = field(default_factory=list)
 
 
 # Module-level registry
@@ -61,6 +62,7 @@ def load_thing_template(path: Path) -> ThingTemplate:
         locked=data.get("locked", False),
         verbs=data.get("verbs", {}),
         readable_text=data.get("readable_text", ""),
+        tags=data.get("tags", []),
     )
 
 
@@ -89,6 +91,7 @@ def spawn_thing(
             portable=template.portable,
             aliases=list(template.aliases),
             readable_text=template.readable_text,
+            tags=list(template.tags),
             capacity=template.capacity,
             closed=template.closed,
             locked=template.locked,
@@ -103,6 +106,7 @@ def spawn_thing(
             portable=template.portable,
             aliases=list(template.aliases),
             readable_text=template.readable_text,
+            tags=list(template.tags),
             location=location,
             x=x,
             y=y,