---
title: "Understanding multi-value properties"
slug: "understanding-multi-value-properties"
updated: 2026-02-09T10:52:01Z
published: 2026-02-09T10:52:01Z
canonical: "support.lusid.com/understanding-multi-value-properties"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://support.lusid.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Understanding multi-value properties

A property in LUSID can be either single or multi-value. The cardinality is determined by the [property type](/v1/docs/how-do-i-create-a-property-type).

Note the following about multi-value properties:

- While most types of entity support single-value properties, [not all support multi-value properties](/v1/docs/what-is-an-entity).
- A multi-value property can be either [perpetual or time-variant](/v1/docs/understanding-perpetual-and-time-variant-properties).
- Values must be strings (scope of `system` and code of `string`).
- Values are stored in either a set (the default) or an array: a set is unordered and values must be unique, whereas an array is ordered and values can be duplicated. Note that holdings and transactions do not support array properties.
- The maximum number of values per property is 250.
- The maximum number of characters per value is 1024.
- Only values with 128 characters or less are returned if you retrieve a multi-value property using a filter, to keep the system performant.

To create a multi-value property type, specify a `constraintStyle` of `Collection` and a `collectionType` of either `Set` or, if applicable, `Array`. [More information on creating property types](/v1/docs/how-do-i-create-a-property-type#using-the-lusid-rest-api).

```json
curl -X POST "https://<your-domain>.lusid.com/api/api/propertydefinitions"
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <your-API-access-token>"
  -H "Content-Type: application/json-patch+json"
  -d '{
    "domain": "Portfolio",
    "scope": "Manager",
    "code": "Name",
    "displayName": "Portfolio manager",
    "dataTypeId": {"scope": "system", "code": "string"},
    "lifeTime": "TimeVariant",
    "constraintStyle": "Collection",
    "collectionType": "Set",
    "propertyDescription": "An unordered list of unique portfolio manager names"
  }'
```

For an example of adding a multi-value property of this type to a portfolio, see [this article](/v1/docs/how-do-i-add-a-multi-value-property-to-an-entity).