# Adding tags to External container instances for Amazon ECS
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You can associate tags with your external container instances for Amazon ECS by using one of the following methods.
+ Method 1 – Before running the installation script to register your external instance with your cluster, create or edit the Amazon ECS container agent configuration file at `/etc/ecs/ecs.config` and add the `ECS_CONTAINER_INSTANCE_TAGS` container agent configuration parameter. This creates tags that are associated with the external instance.

  The following is example syntax.

  ```
  ECS_CONTAINER_INSTANCE_TAGS={"tag_key": "tag_value"}
  ```
+ Method 2 – After your external instance is registered to your cluster, you can use the AWS Management Console to add tags. For more information, see [Adding tags to existing resources (Amazon ECS console)](tag-resources-console.md#adding-or-deleting-tags).