diff --git a/src/default_config.h b/src/default_config.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..42b9018
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/default_config.h
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+static const char *const tags[] = {
+  "1", "2", "3", "4", "5", "6", "7", "8", "9", nullptr,
+};
diff --git a/src/monitor.c b/src/monitor.c
index 3ac0a1c..366b641 100644
--- a/src/monitor.c
+++ b/src/monitor.c
@@ -1,3 +1,27 @@
 #include "monitor.h"
 
+#include <string.h>
 
+#include "types.h"
+#include "utils.h"
+
+void monitor_initialize_tag(monitor_t *monitor, const char **tags) {
+  int i = 0;
+  const char *tag_name = nullptr;
+  tag_t *prev_tag = nullptr;
+  for (tag_name = tags[i]; tag_name; tag_name = tags[++i]) {
+    tag_t *tag = p_new(tag_t, 1);
+    tag->name = strdup(tag_name);
+    tag->mask = 1u << i;
+
+    if (prev_tag) {
+      prev_tag->next = tag;
+    } else {
+      monitor->tag_list = tag;
+    }
+
+    prev_tag = tag;
+  }
+
+  monitor->selected_tag = monitor->tag_list;
+}
diff --git a/src/monitor.h b/src/monitor.h
index e43f315..cf1aa98 100644
--- a/src/monitor.h
+++ b/src/monitor.h
@@ -4,4 +4,5 @@
 
 #include "types.h"
 
+void monitor_initialize_tag(monitor_t *monitor, const char **tags);
 void monitor_select_tag(monitor_t *monitor, uint32_t tag_mask);
diff --git a/src/wm.c b/src/wm.c
index bde8776..d531adf 100644
--- a/src/wm.c
+++ b/src/wm.c
@@ -18,6 +18,8 @@
 
 #include "backtrace.h"
 #include "buffer.h"
+#include "default_config.h"
+#include "monitor.h"
 #include "types.h"
 #include "utils.h"
 
@@ -255,6 +257,9 @@ static void debug_show_monitor_list(void) {
     printf("x: %4d, y: %4d, width: %4u, height: %4u -> monitor[%s]\n",
            m->geometry.x, m->geometry.y, m->geometry.width, m->geometry.height,
            m->name);
+    for (const tag_t *tag = m->tag_list; tag; tag = tag->next) {
+      printf("tag[\"%s\"]: 0b%09b\n", tag->name, tag->mask);
+    }
   }
 }
 
@@ -267,6 +272,9 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
   wm_check_xcb_extensions();
 
   wm_detect_monitor();
+  for (monitor_t *m = wm.monitor_list; m; m = m->next) {
+    monitor_initialize_tag(m, (const char **)tags);
+  }
 
   debug_show_monitor_list();