diff --git a/veans/internal/commands/labels.go b/veans/internal/commands/labels.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0dc1830ec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/veans/internal/commands/labels.go
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+package commands
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"strings"
+
+	"code.vikunja.io/veans/internal/client"
+)
+
+// labelNamespace is auto-prepended to label names that don't already have it,
+// so the agent's labels live in their own corner of the user's global label
+// list and don't pollute manually-curated labels.
+const labelNamespace = "veans:"
+
+func normalizeLabelTitle(raw string) string {
+	t := strings.TrimSpace(raw)
+	if t == "" {
+		return ""
+	}
+	if strings.HasPrefix(t, labelNamespace) {
+		return t
+	}
+	return labelNamespace + t
+}
+
+// getOrCreateLabelByTitle returns the ID of the label with the given title,
+// creating it under the current user if it doesn't exist. Labels are global
+// per user in Vikunja, so this only finds labels visible to whoever the
+// `c` client is authenticated as (i.e. the bot when called from veans).
+func getOrCreateLabelByTitle(ctx context.Context, c *client.Client, title string) (*client.Label, error) {
+	existing, err := c.ListLabels(ctx, title)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	for _, l := range existing {
+		if l.Title == title {
+			return l, nil
+		}
+	}
+	created, err := c.CreateLabel(ctx, &client.Label{Title: title})
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	return created, nil
+}
+
+// findLabelOnTask returns the label with the given (already-normalized)
+// title attached to the task, or nil. Used by --label-remove to know which
+// label ID to detach.
+func findLabelOnTask(t *client.Task, title string) *client.Label {
+	for _, l := range t.Labels {
+		if l != nil && l.Title == title {
+			return l
+		}
+	}
+	return nil
+}