Summary

Allow users to define and use custom, arbitrary labels when triggering CircleCI pipelines, beyond the current fixed set of standard labels (e.g., ci).

Problem Statement

Currently, pipeline trigger labels are limited to a predefined set of options. This restricts teams from implementing more granular or context-specific trigger logic, making it difficult to configure pipelines that behave differently based on custom conditions or workflows.

Proposed Solution

Enable users to define and pass arbitrary string labels when triggering a pipeline — either via the UI, API, or configuration file. These custom labels could then be used as conditions within pipeline configurations to control which jobs or workflows are executed.

Example Use Cases

Triggering a specific subset of jobs based on the type of change (e.g., hotfix, release-candidate, infra-only)

Differentiating between automated triggers and manual triggers using custom identifiers

Supporting complex branching strategies where different pipeline behaviors are needed for the same branch

Expected Benefit

Greater flexibility in pipeline configuration, enabling teams to implement more sophisticated CI/CD workflows without workarounds, and reducing the need for separate pipeline definitions to handle different trigger scenarios.