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Where fields live

Every contact in your People database is built from fields. Tented ships with a rich set of standard fields, and you can extend them with up to 200 custom fields of your own. Manage them all in one place: Workspace Settings > People > Manage Fields (or Settings > People). From here you can also Export your full field schema. A screenshot of the Contact Fields page showing the custom fields usage bar, an empty custom fields section, and the standard fields list.

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Standard fields

Standard fields are built in — they can’t be renamed or removed, and every contact has them: A screenshot of the standard fields list including identity, address, source, lifecycle, and subscription fields with their API names and types. Each field has an API name (like firstName or lifecycleStage) you’ll use with the API, see in CSV exports, and reference in email personalization tokens — {{contact.firstName}}.
The subscription fields (like Unsubscribed) are managed by Tented’s email pipeline — they update automatically when contacts unsubscribe, and marketing sends respect them without any work on your part.

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Custom fields

Anything your business cares about that isn’t standard — plan tier, account owner, renewal date — becomes a custom field. Custom fields show up on contact profiles, as mapping targets during CSV import, and in audience rules for filters and dynamic lists. To add one, click Add field:
  1. Give it a display name — Tented auto-generates the API name (e.g., “Plan Tier” → plan_tier).
  2. Pick a type: String, Email, Phone, Number, Boolean, Date, Date & time, or Select Dropdown. Email and Phone validate the value’s format, and Date & time stores a full timestamp where Date is just a calendar day.
  3. Decide if it’s editable in the Tented UI — turn this off for fields that should only be written by imports or the API, and they’ll show as read-only on contact profiles. The Editable toggle only locks manual edits: the API, CSV imports, and automations can always write the field, so integration-managed values stay safe from hand-edits without ever blocking the integration itself.
Picking Select Dropdown adds an Accepted values editor. Each option pairs a display name (what Tented shows everywhere) with a lowercase internal name (what the field actually stores) — and API updates and CSV imports must use the internal name: active_customer, not “Active Customer”. You can reorder options, give each a color, choose a default for newly created people, and edit the set later from the field’s pencil icon. A screenshot of the Add custom field dialog with a display name of Plan Tier, an auto-generated API name, and the type dropdown showing String, Number, Boolean, and Date. Your custom fields appear at the top of the fields page, where you can rename them, toggle editability, or archive ones you no longer use. A screenshot of the custom fields list showing a Plan Tier field with its Editable toggle and edit and archive controls.
You can also create custom fields on the fly during a CSV import — map an unmatched column to a new field without leaving the import flow.

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What’s next?

Next: Importing Contacts via CSV

Put your fields to work with a bulk import.