diff --git a/server/AyaNova/Controllers/UnitController.cs b/server/AyaNova/Controllers/UnitController.cs
index de0abb71..8537c6d9 100644
--- a/server/AyaNova/Controllers/UnitController.cs
+++ b/server/AyaNova/Controllers/UnitController.cs
@@ -193,8 +193,9 @@ namespace AyaNova.Api.Controllers
             if (!ModelState.IsValid)
                 return BadRequest(new ApiErrorResponse(ModelState));
 
-            List<NameIdItem> ret = new List<NameIdItem>();
-
+            if (searchParam.tags.Count == 0) //note: this error only applies to api users so not translated            
+                return BadRequest(new ApiErrorResponse(ApiErrorCode.INVALID_OPERATION, "tags", "tags are required"));
+            
             //build query
             //select id,serial,customerid from aunit where aunit.tags @> array['red','blue'::varchar(255)] AND customerid=19
             /*
@@ -214,22 +215,6 @@ namespace AyaNova.Api.Controllers
             if (searchParam.restrictToCustomerId != null && searchParam.restrictToCustomerId != 0)
                 sbQuery.Append($" and customerid={searchParam.restrictToCustomerId}");
 
-
-
-            // else
-            // {
-            //     //include customer    
-            //     //select id,serial,customerid from aunit where aunit.tags @> array['red','blue'::varchar(255)] AND customerid=19           
-            //     var unitz = await ct.Unit.AsNoTracking().Where(z => z.Active == true).Where(z => searchParam.tags.All(y => (z.Tags.Contains(y)))).Select(z => new { z.CustomerId, z.Serial }).ToListAsync();
-            //     foreach (var u in unitz)
-            //     {
-            //         var cviz = await ct.Customer.AsNoTracking().Where(z => z.Id == u.CustomerId).Select(z => z.Name).FirstOrDefaultAsync();
-            //         ret.Add(new NameIdItem { Name = $"{cviz} - {u.Serial}" });
-
-            //     }
-            //     return Ok(ApiOkResponse.Response(ret.OrderBy(z => z.Name)));
-            // }
-
             List<InternalUnitListForSorting> slist = new List<InternalUnitListForSorting>();
             using (var cmd = ct.Database.GetDbConnection().CreateCommand())
             {
@@ -238,20 +223,17 @@ namespace AyaNova.Api.Controllers
                 using (var dr = await cmd.ExecuteReaderAsync())
                 {
                     while (dr.Read())
-                    {                        
-                        slist.Add(new InternalUnitListForSorting(  dr.GetString(2), dr.GetString(1) , dr.GetInt64(0)));
-                    }                  
+                    {
+                        slist.Add(new InternalUnitListForSorting(dr.GetString(2), dr.GetString(1), dr.GetInt64(0)));
+                    }
                 }
             }
-            var sorted=slist.OrderBy(z=>z.customername).ThenBy(z=>z.serial);
+            var sorted = slist.OrderBy(z => z.customername).ThenBy(z => z.serial);
 
-ret.AddRange(sorted.Select(z=>new NameIdItem{Id=z.unitid, Name=$"{z.serial} - {z.customername}"}).ToList());
-
-            return Ok(ApiOkResponse.Response(ret.OrderBy(z => z.Name)));
+            return Ok(ApiOkResponse.Response(sorted.Select(z => new NameIdItem { Id = z.unitid, Name = $"{z.serial}  {z.customername}" }).ToList()));
         }
         public record UnitListByTagParams(List<string> tags, long? restrictToCustomerId);
         private record InternalUnitListForSorting(string customername, string serial, long unitid);
-        // public record UnitListByTagParams(char[,] tags, long? restrictToCustomerId);
         //------------