# Adding propagating attributes for message enrichment
In AWS IoT Core, you can enrich MQTT messages from devices by adding propagating attributes, which are contextual metadata from thing attributes or connection details. This process, known as message enrichment, can be helpful in various scenarios. For example, you can enrich messages for every inbound publish operation without making any device side changes or needing to use rules. By leveraging propagating attributes, you can benefit from a more efficient and cost-effective way to enrich your IoT data without the complexities of configuring rules or managing republishing configurations.
The message enrichment feature is available to AWS IoT Core customers who use [basic ingest](https://docs.aws.amazon.com//iot/latest/developerguide/iot-basic-ingest.html) and [message broker](https://docs.aws.amazon.com//iot/latest/developerguide/mqtt.html). It's important to note while publishing devices can use any MQTT version, subscribers (applications or services consuming messages) must support [MQTT 5](https://docs.oasis-open.org/mqtt/mqtt/v5.0/mqtt-v5.0.html) to receive the enriched messages with propagating attributes. The enriched messages will be added as MQTT 5 user properties to every message published from devices. If you use[ rules](https://docs.aws.amazon.com//iot/latest/developerguide/iot-rules.html), you can leverage the [get\$1user\$1properties](https://docs.aws.amazon.com//iot/latest/developerguide/iot-sql-functions.html#iot-sql-function-get-user-properties) function to retrieve the enriched data for message routing or processing based on the data.
In AWS IoT Core, you can add propagating attributes when you create or update a thing type, by using the AWS Management Console or the AWS CLI.
**Important**
When adding propagating attributes, you must make sure that the client publishing the message has been authenticated with a certificate. For more information, see [Client authentication](client-authentication.md).
**Note**
If you attempt to test this feature using the MQTT test client within console, it may not work since this feature requires MQTT clients authenticated with an associated certificate.
## AWS Management Console
**To add propagating attributes for message enrichment using the AWS Management Console**
1. Open the [AWS IoT home page](https://console.aws.amazon.com//iot/home#/home) in the AWS IoT console. On the left navigation, from **Manage**, choose **All devices**. Then choose **Thing types**.
1. On the **Thing types** page, choose **Create thing type**.
To configure message enrichment by updating a thing type, choose a thing type. Then on the thing type details page, choose **Update**.
1. On the **Create thing type** page, choose or enter the thing type information in **Thing type properties**.
If you choose to update a thing type, you will see **Thing type properties** after you choose **Update** in the previous step.
1. In **Additional configuration**, expand **Propagating attributes**. Then choose **Thing attribute** and enter the thing attribute you want to populate to the published MQTT5 messages. Using the console, you can add up to three thing attributes.
On the **Propagating attributes** section, choose **Connection attribute** and enter the attribute type and optionally the attribute name.
1. Optionally, add tags. Then choose **Create thing type**.
If you choose to update a thing type, choose **Update thing type**.
## AWS CLI
1. To add propagating attributes for message enrichment by creating a new thing type using the AWS CLI, run the [https://awscli.amazonaws.com/v2/documentation/api/latest/reference/iot/create-thing-type.html](https://awscli.amazonaws.com/v2/documentation/api/latest/reference/iot/create-thing-type.html) command. An example command can be the following.
```
aws iot create-thing-type \
--thing-type-name "LightBulb" \
--thing-type-properties "{\"mqtt5Configuration\":{\"propagatingAttributes\":[{\"userPropertyKey\":\"iot:ClientId\", \"connectionAttribute\":\"iot:ClientId\"}, {\"userPropertyKey\":\"test\", \"thingAttribute\":\"A\"}]}}" \
```
The output of the command can look like the following.
```
{
"thingTypeName": "LightBulb",
"thingTypeArn": "arn:aws:iot:us-west-2:123456789012:thingtype/LightBulb",
"thingTypeId": "ce3573b0-0a3c-45a7-ac93-4e0ce14cd190"
}
```
1. To configure message enrichment by updating a thing type using AWS CLI, run the [https://awscli.amazonaws.com/v2/documentation/api/latest/reference/iot/update-thing-type.html](https://awscli.amazonaws.com/v2/documentation/api/latest/reference/iot/update-thing-type.html) command. Note that you can only update `mqtt5Configuration` when you run this command. An example command can be the following.
```
aws iot update-thing-type \
--thing-type-name "MyThingType" \
--thing-type-properties "{\"mqtt5Configuration\":{\"propagatingAttributes\":[{\"userPropertyKey\":\"iot:ClientId\", \"connectionAttribute\":\"iot:ClientId\"}, {\"userPropertyKey\":\"test\", \"thingAttribute\":\"A\"}]}}" \
```
This command doesn't produce any output.
1. To describe a thing type, run the `describe-thing-type` command. This command will produce an output with message enrichment configuration information in the `thing-type-properties` field. An example command can be the following.
```
aws iot describe-thing-type \
--thing-type-name "LightBulb"
```
The output can look like the following.
```
{
"thingTypeName": "LightBulb",
"thingTypeId": "bdf72512-0116-4392-8d79-bf39b17ef73d",
"thingTypeArn": "arn:aws:iot:us-east-1:123456789012:thingtype/LightBulb",
"thingTypeProperties": {
"mqtt5Configuration": {
"propagatingAttributes": [
{
"userPropertyKey": "iot:ClientId",
"connectionAttribute": "iot:ClientId"
},
{
"userPropertyKey": "test",
"thingAttribute": "attribute"
}
]
}
},
"thingTypeMetadata": {
"deprecated": false,
"creationDate": "2024-10-18T17:37:46.656000+00:00"
}
}
```
For more information, see [Thing types](thing-types.md).