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Universal filament identity

One identity, readable everywhere

A TigerTag chip gives a spool a universal identity: a single, open record of what the filament is, independent of who made it, who sells it, and which printer will melt it.

The identity covers (non-exhaustive):

Field family Examples
Brand any filament manufacturer, from a shared reference list
Material / type PLA, PETG, ABS, TPU… + subtype
Aspect / color color value, finish
Geometry diameter (1.75 / 2.85 mm)
Print settings recommended temperatures
Lifecycle weight, manufacturing date

The shared reference database

Identities are not free text: brands, materials, aspects, types, diameters and units come from a shared reference database served at cdn.tigertag.io (hosted in the same Firebase project as the accounts). Every app resolves the same IDs to the same meaning, so a chip encoded by one tool reads identically in every other.

TODO: link the public database browsing endpoint / dump format once the RFID guide documents it. The reference data ships bundled with Tiger Studio (assets/db/tigertag/) and refreshes from the CDN.

One identity, four states

The identity is the record, not the chip — and it moves through four states:

flowchart LR
  TD["TigerData<br/>the protocol's data in digital form<br/>(no chip, no UID — lives anywhere)"]
  TDP["TigerData+<br/>digital, and tied to a real catalogue product<br/>(still no chip, but nothing typed by hand)"]
  TT["TigerTag<br/>the data written into an NFC chip<br/>(a physical UID is now associated)"]
  TTP["TigerTag+<br/>the chip carries a real catalogue product<br/>(still 100% offline; signed = TigerTag+ Certified)"]
  TD -- "pick it from the catalogue" --> TDP
  TD -- "write to a chip" --> TT -- "pick a catalogue product" --> TTP
  TDP -- "write to a chip" --> TT
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  • TigerData is the protocol before the chip: the same identity, stored digitally — in an inventory, a database, a file, anywhere. The TigerTag protocol can live entirely outside an RFID chip. This notion of a virtual chip is a TigerSystem innovation — it exists nowhere else: manage a full inventory with zero NFC chips, send an identity into a chip later or never, and the protocol's interoperability is preserved either way.
  • TigerData+ is a TigerData that knows exactly which product it is. Still no chip, still nothing to buy — but instead of whatever its owner typed, it carries a real product from the official catalogue: the exact brand, colour, material, temperatures, diameter, SKU and EAN, straight from the source. It is what you get by picking a product rather than describing one.

It is not a TigerTag+, and never claims to be: no chip, no UID. The + means identified, not certified. For developers: a spool is a TigerData+ when it is chipless and carries a real product id — that pair is the definition, and it is mirrored onto the record as protocol: "TigerData+" so you can read it directly. See the Firestore data structure.

  • The moment that data is written into an NFC chip, it becomes a TigerTag: a physical UID is finally associated with the identity.
  • Write a catalogue product into that chip rather than hand-typed values and it is a TigerTag+ — same + as TigerData+, same meaning: identified. Signed by a certified manufacturer, it becomes a TigerTag+ Certified. Either way the chip stays 100 % offline-readable.

A TigerData can stay digital forever, or be promoted to a real chip atomically whenever you're ready (Tiger Studio does this in one step). And all four states travel as files: the .ttag interchange format carries one or more inventory materials — TigerData, TigerData+, TigerTag or TigerTag+ — on a USB stick, in a mail, between tools.

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Related: TigerTag product page, Inventory & cloud sync