{"title":"METRC’s StrainName is an ingredient, not the product name: Rhode Island requires a strain on infused items, so the two fields diverge by design","url":"https://www.seedlink.net/guides/metrc/strainname-is-an-ingredient","json":"https://www.seedlink.net/guides/metrc/strainname-is-an-ingredient/data.json","question":"Why does METRC show a different strain name than my product name?","answer":"Item.StrainName records the strain an item was made from and Item.Name records the product; Rhode Island marks four categories RequiresStrain, so an infused product sold under a flavour name carries a strain that is not its name, and METRC is right when the two differ.","environment":"Rhode Island production and sandbox","observed":"2026-09-07","revised":"2026-09-20","published":"2026-09-20","facts":[{"id":"infused_item_name_vs_strain","value":"An infused pre-roll item with a Name of the form \"<flavour> Infused Preroll 1.2g\" and a StrainName naming a different strain, the material it was infused from","observed":"2026-07-24","source":"GET /items/v2/{id} at one Rhode Island production cultivator facility (Micro class), read-only"},{"id":"items_sharing_strain_id","value":"All 5 of that cultivator’s items for the product carried the same StrainId","observed":"2026-07-24","source":"GET /items/v2/{id} for each item, same facility, read-only"},{"id":"active_strains_at_facility","value":63,"observed":"2026-07-24","source":"GET /strains/v2/active at the same facility; none of the strains matched the product’s name"},{"id":"product_category_of_item","value":"ProductCategoryName: Infused Pre-Rolls","observed":"2026-07-24","source":"GET /items/v2/{id}, same facility"},{"id":"cultivator_report","value":"The cultivator reported that the integration was showing the wrong product name; METRC was right and the display was wrong","observed":"2026-07-24","source":"Rhode Island production, the same cultivator, reported the day the item was read"},{"id":"requires_strain_categories","value":"RequiresStrain: true on 4 categories: Infused Pre-Rolls, Infused Bud/Flower, Pre-Packaged Bud, Raw Pre-rolls","observed":"2026-07-24","source":"GET /items/v2/categories, Rhode Island production"},{"id":"ri_item_category_count","value":21,"observed":"2026-07-28","source":"GET /items/v2/categories at one Rhode Island production cultivator facility, the full table read live"},{"id":"ri_categories_surfaced","value":"Categories Rhode Island surfaces include Bud/Flower, Shake/Trim, Shake/Trim (by strain), Pre-Packaged Bud, Concentrate, Raw Pre-rolls and Seeds","observed":"2026-07-28","source":"SeedLink METRC field guide, section Categories. The list is undated there; it carries the date of the live category read recorded in the same section"},{"id":"display_rule","value":"The strain wins when the item name is the strain plus packaging noise; otherwise the item name wins with size and pack tokens trimmed; a branded name of the form <brand>-Preroll-1.2g-<product>-Rec is unwrapped to its product segment","observed":"2026-07-28","source":"The rule SeedLink adopted, in the one function that chooses the display name; SeedLink METRC field guide, StrainName section"},{"id":"live_regression_sync","value":"A real sync of 216 packages on the Rhode Island sandbox asserts both directions, with no METRC writes","observed":"2026-07-28","source":"A live regression test in the SeedLink repository, run against the Rhode Island sandbox"},{"id":"active_package_shape","value":"GET /packages/v2/active returns Item inline on each package, with .Name, .StrainName and .ProductCategoryName, and no top-level ItemId","observed":"2026-07-28","source":"SeedLink METRC field guide, section Sync. The shape is undated there; it carries the date of the 216-package sandbox sync that exercised it"},{"id":"item_name_arrives_by_package_sync","value":"The item name is overwritten on every sync and arrives only through the package sync, which reads /packages/v2/active; a package METRC no longer reports active never receives it, and a manifest attached to a new order supplies it from the delivery payload’s ProductName","observed":"2026-07-28","source":"SeedLink METRC field guide, StrainName section, describing the sync as shipped with the rule of that date"},{"id":"transferred_package_shape","value":"GET /packages/v2/transferred is a flat schema with ProductName and ItemStrainName at the top level and no nested Item; it returns the item name for shipped packages","observed":"2026-09-07","source":"SeedLink METRC field guide, section Transferred-package pricing. The shape is undated there; the section’s most specific date is the September 7 private audit of the endpoint’s dates (2026), used here as the observation date"},{"id":"multipack_is_distinct_item","value":"A multi-pack is a distinct METRC item from its single: same category and strain, still Each, UnitWeight equal to the pack count times the per-unit grams, and a name of the form \"<single> - N pack\"; a 3-pack of a 1.2 g single is a 3.6 g item","observed":"2026-07-28","source":"One Rhode Island production cultivator facility, per the SeedLink METRC field guide’s Tier A section. That section does not date the check; it carries the date of the naming rule it informs, the nearest dated observation among this page’s sources"}],"constants":[{"value":3.5,"why":"the flower size in the worked examples (\"Strain A 3.5g\"): an illustration of the rule, not an observation"},{"value":64,"why":"base64, the name of the encoding in the Authorization header example"}],"faq":[{"question":"Is METRC wrong when StrainName is not my product’s name?","answer":"No. StrainName records the strain the item was made from and Name records the product. On the item read on 2026-07-24 the strain was the material the pre-roll had been infused from, which is exactly what the field is for. The integration that printed it as the product name was what was wrong."},{"question":"Which categories force a strain onto an item in Rhode Island?","answer":"On 2026-07-24 GET /items/v2/categories reported RequiresStrain: true on 4 categories: Infused Pre-Rolls, Infused Bud/Flower, Pre-Packaged Bud and Raw Pre-rolls. Rhode Island served 21 categories in total when the table was read on 2026-07-28."},{"question":"Why did the facility not point the item at a strain with the product’s name?","answer":"It had none. GET /strains/v2/active at the facility returned 63 strains and none matched the product, because the product is a flavour, not a strain. All 5 of the cultivator’s items for it carried the same StrainId: the material they were infused from."},{"question":"Should an integration just show Item.Name everywhere?","answer":"No. That renames every flower product, where the strain genuinely is the product, and trades one class of wrong name for another. Read the name: the strain wins when the name is the strain plus packaging noise, and the name wins otherwise, with size and pack tokens trimmed."},{"question":"Where is the item name on the transferred-packages endpoint?","answer":"GET /packages/v2/transferred is flat, with ProductName and ItemStrainName at the top level and no nested Item. GET /packages/v2/active is the other shape: Item nested inline on the package, with .Name and .StrainName, and no top-level ItemId."},{"question":"Why do my older, shipped packages still show the strain?","answer":"The item name arrives through the package sync, which reads only /packages/v2/active, and a package METRC no longer reports as active is never revisited. Rows synced before the field existed keep a blank there. /packages/v2/transferred returns the item name for shipped packages if a backfill is ever wanted; SeedLink has not done one."},{"question":"Is a 3-pack the same METRC item as the single?","answer":"No. On one Rhode Island production facility the multi-pack was a distinct item with the same category and strain, still Each, a UnitWeight of the pack count times the per-unit grams, and a name of the form <single> - N pack. A 3-pack of a 1.2 g single is a 3.6 g item. Its StrainName cannot tell it from the single; its Name can."},{"question":"Was the display rule tested against real data?","answer":"Yes, without writing to METRC. On 2026-07-28 a live regression test drove a sync of 216 packages on the Rhode Island sandbox and asserted both directions: a divergent item renders the product, and aligned flower still renders the strain."}],"sources":["GET /items/v2/{id} and GET /strains/v2/active at one Rhode Island Micro-class production cultivator facility, read-only, 2026-07-24.","GET /items/v2/categories on Rhode Island production: the RequiresStrain flags read 2026-07-24, the full table of 21 categories read live at one facility 2026-07-28.","A live regression test in the SeedLink repository driving a real 216-package sync on the Rhode Island sandbox, no METRC writes, 2026-07-28.","SeedLink METRC field guide (docs/METRC.md), sections Item.StrainName is an ingredient, Categories, Sync, Transferred-package pricing, and Tier A (multi-pack items)."],"citation":"SeedLink, \"METRC’s StrainName is an ingredient, not the product name: Rhode Island requires a strain on infused items, so the two fields diverge by design\", observed 2026-09-07, revised 2026-09-20, https://www.seedlink.net/guides/metrc/strainname-is-an-ingredient","methodology":"https://www.seedlink.net/methodology","publisher":"SeedLink"}