diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/auto-label.yml b/.gitea/workflows/auto-label.yml
index f2a4acd..ca3017c 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/auto-label.yml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/auto-label.yml
@@ -20,9 +20,24 @@ jobs:
             echo "CI_TOKEN not set; skipping labeling"; exit 0; fi
           OWNER=$(echo "$REPO" | cut -d'/' -f1)
           NAME=$(echo "$REPO" | cut -d'/' -f2)
-          echo "Labeling PR #$PR_NUMBER on $OWNER/$NAME with 'automerge'"
+          echo "Resolving label id for 'automerge' in $OWNER/$NAME"
+          curl -sS -o /tmp/labels.json -H "Authorization: token ${CI_TOKEN}" \
+            "${GITEA_BASE_URL}/api/v1/repos/${OWNER}/${NAME}/labels"
+          LID=$(awk 'BEGIN{RS="},"} /"name":"automerge"/ {if (match($0,/"id":([0-9]+)/,m)) {print m[1]; exit}}' /tmp/labels.json || true)
+          if [ -z "${LID:-}" ]; then
+            echo "Label 'automerge' not found. Creating..."
+            curl -sS -o /tmp/create_label.json -X POST \
+              -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
+              -H "Authorization: token ${CI_TOKEN}" \
+              "${GITEA_BASE_URL}/api/v1/repos/${OWNER}/${NAME}/labels" \
+              -d '{"name":"automerge","color":"#0ea5e9"}'
+            LID=$(sed -n 's/.*"id":\([0-9]*\).*/\1/p' /tmp/create_label.json | head -n1 || true)
+          fi
+          if [ -z "${LID:-}" ]; then
+            echo "Failed to resolve or create label id; skipping"; exit 0; fi
+          echo "Labeling PR #$PR_NUMBER with id $LID"
           curl -sS -X POST \
             -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
             -H "Authorization: token ${CI_TOKEN}" \
             "${GITEA_BASE_URL}/api/v1/repos/${OWNER}/${NAME}/issues/${PR_NUMBER}/labels" \
-            -d '["automerge"]' || true
+            -d '{"labels":['"${LID}"']}' || true