Attribute options

Each attribute in Layers can be configured with a set of options that control where and how it is used across the platform. These options are available on the attribute’s edit page in the dashboard.

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Searchable attributes

When you mark an attribute as Searchable, customers can find your products in search results if the search query matches the attribute’s value. This is ideal for text-based attributes such as product names, descriptions, or categories. Attributes that are marked as Searchable and contain an Image URL are automatically used for Image Search.

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Automatic search review for metafield attributes

Metafield attributes (metafields.* and variant_metafields.*) start with search disabled. Layers then reviews each product and variant metafield definition and decides whether its values belong in your search index, so descriptive metafield content reaches search without manual setup. How the review decides:

• Layers never enables non-text definition types. This covers booleans, dates, numbers, money, colors, URLs, JSON, file and reference types, and their list variants.
• Layers judges text-capable definitions from the definition name, its type, and a sample of values from your catalog. It enables only definitions whose values read as shopper-facing descriptive text.
• Definitions with no values in your catalog yet stay unreviewed until values appear.

When it runs:

• After new metafield attributes are created.
• After a catalog sync detects changed metafield definitions in Shopify.
• After you change the excluded metafield definitions lists. Excluded definitions are never reviewed.

When a review changes any decision, Layers rebuilds product embeddings so the index reflects the new settings. Search stays available while embeddings rebuild. Where decisions are shown:

• The Attributes table shows an AI badge when Layers made the decision, or a You badge when you set it.
• The attribute edit sheet shows a note under the search toggle, such as Enabled by Layers on <date> from sample values or Set by you.
• The Settings → Metafields & Metaobjects page has a Search column with the same status and an inline toggle.

Your overrides win. If you change the search setting on a metafield attribute yourself, Layers records the decision as yours and never overrides it in later reviews.

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Partial matching

The Allow Partial Matching option determines whether a product can match search queries that only partially match the attribute’s value. For instance, if you want customers to find a product by typing just a part of the SKU or style code, enable this option. If you prefer exact matches, such as for specific codes, you can disable it.

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Keyword search weight

The Keyword Search Weight option allows you to control how much influence a searchable attribute has on keyword-based search ranking. When set, the attribute is included as a keyword field in the search ranking model, and its weight determines how much it contributes relative to other keyword fields.

• What it does: Assigns a weight to the attribute for keyword matching. The weight is proportionally distributed across all keyword-enabled attributes.
• When to use: When you want to prioritize certain attributes over others in keyword search. For example, giving a product title a higher weight than the description ensures that title matches rank higher.
• How it works: The total keyword weight budget from the ranking model is distributed proportionally across all attributes with a keyword search weight. Each field’s share is further split across three matching techniques using a fixed profile ratio.

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Limits

You can have up to 10 attributes with a keyword search weight, and the combined weight across all of them cannot exceed 10. Each individual weight must be between 1 and 10. When you save an attribute, Layers checks the remaining budget. If you try to add an 11th keyword attribute, or if a new weight would push the total over 10, you’ll see an error message that includes the remaining budget so you can adjust the value before saving.

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Prefix and autocomplete recall

Keyword-weighted attributes also drive recall on the prefix search path that powers autocomplete. When a shopper types into the search box, Layers matches against your keyword-weighted attributes rather than scanning every searchable attribute. This keeps autocomplete consistent with full-search recall and avoids matching on noisy fields that happen to be marked searchable. If a store hasn’t configured any keyword search weights, prefix recall falls back to all searchable attributes so autocomplete keeps working out of the box.

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Filterable attributes

Setting an attribute as Filterable enables it to be used as a facet on category or search result pages. This allows customers to refine their searches based on specific product characteristics like size, color, or brand. Learn more in Filters / Facets.

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Sortable attributes

Sortable attributes can be used to create custom Sort Orders for your product catalog. This is useful for allowing customers to sort products according to different criteria, such as price, popularity, or relevance.

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Visible in API responses

The Visible in API Responses option controls whether an attribute can be used in storefront API requests. When set to off, the attribute is excluded from customer-facing API operations. What it does:

• Prevents the attribute from being used in request-level filters
• Blocks the attribute from being requested in the attributes parameter
• Excludes the attribute from API responses
• Filters nested properties from JSON response data

When to use it:

• For attributes you only need in dashboard configuration
• For sensitive data that should not be exposed to the storefront

Default behavior:

• All attributes default to visible in API responses
• Computed attributes automatically default to not visible in API responses

Nested property filtering: When an attribute with nested properties is marked as non-visible, the system recursively filters those properties from JSON objects in API responses. For example, if you have two computed attributes and only one is marked as visible, requesting the parent object will return only the visible property.

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Enable as storefront facet

The Enable as Storefront Facet option controls whether a filterable attribute is synced to Shopify as a metaobject for use in storefront filtering. This setting is independent of the Visible in API Responses option and only applies to attributes marked as Filterable. What it does:

• When enabled, creates and syncs a metaobject in Shopify for the filterable attribute
• When disabled, deletes the metaobject from Shopify (if it exists)
• Controls whether the attribute can be used for native Shopify storefront filtering

When to use it:

• Enable for filterable attributes that should be available for Shopify storefront filtering
• Disable for filterable attributes that should not be available in Shopify storefront filtering

Default behavior:

• Eligible filterable attributes default to enabled as storefront facets
• Non-filterable attributes cannot be enabled as storefront facets
• Some attributes cannot be enabled as storefront facets even when filterable:
  • Product title, SKU, and variant SKU — values are effectively unique per product and don’t group into useful facet buckets.
  • Variant compare-at price (variants.compare_at_price) — this is a reference price used for showing discounts, not a value shoppers filter on. Use variants.price for price facets instead.
  • Product tags (tags) — the tags facet cannot be newly enabled. This applies in the attribute edit sheet, in bulk edit, and through the MCP attributes-manage tool, which all reject the change with the message Tags cannot be enabled as a storefront facet. If your store already has the tags facet enabled, it keeps serving as before. You can still save the attribute and turn the facet off, but once off it cannot be turned back on. For structured tag filtering, use a named_tags.{key} attribute instead.
  • Display-only sub-fields of metaobject reference metafields. This covers sub-fields resolved to the color, file_reference, rich_text_field, or json field types, and any sub-field whose path ends in .url. These fields carry presentational or free-form values such as swatch images, file assets, rich text bodies, raw JSON, and asset URLs, so they don’t group into discrete buckets shoppers can filter on. In the Settings → Metafields & Metaobjects mapping UI, these fields are marked as (not facetable) in the reference-fields tooltip.
  You can still use these attributes as filters, sorts, and merchandising conditions. Because they have no facet settings to configure, the Attributes table hides these sub-field rows unless they are already enabled as a storefront facet, searchable, or have a keyword search weight.

How it works with other settings: The two visibility options work independently:

• Visible in API Responses: Controls whether the attribute appears in Layers API responses
• Enable as Storefront Facet: Controls whether the attribute is synced to Shopify metaobjects

For example, you might have an attribute that is:

• Visible in API responses but not enabled as a storefront facet (available through Layers API only)
• Enabled as a storefront facet but not visible in API responses (available for Shopify filtering only)
• Both enabled (available through both Layers API and Shopify filtering)

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Next steps

• Catalog attributes — Codes, metafield creation, and nested key support
• Attribute classes — Categorical, feature, and price classifications
• Computed attributes - Creating dynamic attribute values with Functions
• Filtering language — How attributes power the filtering language