diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/auto-pr.yml b/.gitea/workflows/auto-pr.yml
index 38afd5d..87d8fe2 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/auto-pr.yml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/auto-pr.yml
@@ -55,12 +55,29 @@ jobs:
           done
 
           if [ -n "${PR_NUMBER:-}" ]; then
-            echo "Adding 'automerge' label to PR #$PR_NUMBER"
-            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
+            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 [ -n "${LID:-}" ]; then
+              echo "Adding 'automerge' (id=$LID) label to PR #$PR_NUMBER"
+              curl -sS -X POST \
+                -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
+                -H "Authorization: token ${CI_TOKEN}" \
+                "${GITEA_BASE_URL}/api/v1/repos/${OWNER}/${NAME}/issues/${PR_NUMBER}/labels" \
+                -d '{"labels":['"${LID}"']}' || true
+            else
+              echo "Failed to resolve label id; skipping label add"
+            fi
           else
-            echo "PR number could not be determined after retries; skipping label add"
+            echo "PR number could not be determined; skipping label add"
           fi