diff --git a/.github/labels.yml b/.github/labels.yml
index 27c2155..e69de29 100644
--- a/.github/labels.yml
+++ b/.github/labels.yml
@@ -1,61 +0,0 @@
-# https://raw.githubusercontent.com/EndBug/labels/main/labels.yml
-
-- name: "bug"
-  color: "d73a4a"
-  description: "Something isn't working"
-
-- name: "documentation"
-  color: "0075ca"
-  description: "Improvements or additions to documentation"
-
-- name: "duplicate"
-  color: "cfd3d7"
-  description: "This issue or pull request already exists"
-
-- name: "enhancement"
-  color: "a2eeef"
-  description: "New feature or request"
-
-- name: "good first issue"
-  color: "7057ff"
-  description: "Good for newcomers"
-
-- name: "help wanted"
-  color: "008672"
-  description: "Extra attention is needed"
-
-- name: "invalid"
-  color: "e4e669"
-  description: "This doesn't seem right"
-
-- name: "keep alive"
-  color: "666666"
-  description: "exempt issue from staleness checks"
-  aliases: ["keep alive"]
-
-- name: "project proposal"
-  color: "d876e3"
-  description: "project proposal for interns and GSoC students"
-
-- name: "question"
-  color: "d876e3"
-  description: "Further information is requested"
-
-- name: "rfc"
-  color: "d876e3"
-  description: "Request for comments"
-
-- name: "stale"
-  color: "777777"
-  description: "Issue is stale and subject to automatic closing"
-  aliases: ["Stale"]
-
-- name: "stale closed"
-  color: "444444"
-  description: "Issue was closed automatically due to inactivity"
-  aliases: ["stale-closed"]
-
-- name: "won't fix"
-  color: "ffffff"
-  description: "This will not be worked on"
-  aliases: ["wontfix"]
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.github/workflows/labels.yml b/.github/workflows/labels.yml
index ede07bb..2b8e7f6 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/labels.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/labels.yml
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ jobs:
       - uses: EndBug/label-sync@v2
         with:
           config-file: |
-            https://raw.githubusercontent.com/biocommons/.github/main/.github/labels.yml
+            https://raw.githubusercontent.com/biocommons/.github/main/etc/labels.yml
             .github/labels.yml
 
           delete-other-labels: false
diff --git a/archive/notes b/archive/notes
index fb97a42..913354c 100644
--- a/archive/notes
+++ b/archive/notes
@@ -1,3 +1,11 @@
+## Inspiration
+
+https://axolo.co/blog/p/part-3-github-pull-request-template
+https://raw.githubusercontent.com/EndBug/labels/main/labels.yml
+
+
+# Command lines
+
 D=$(ls -1d */.git | cut -d/ -f1 | egrep -v 'biocommons.example|seqrepo-rs')
 git-all () { for d in $D; do (set -x; git -C $d "$@"); done }
 
@@ -7,4 +15,3 @@ for d in $D; do \cp -a biocommons.example/.github/workflows/labels.yml $d/.githu
 git-all add .github/labels.yml .github/workflows/labels.yml
 git-all com -m "add standardized github labels and update action" .github/labels.yml .github/workflows/labels.yml
 git-all push
-https://axolo.co/blog/p/part-3-github-pull-request-template
diff --git a/etc/labels.yml b/etc/labels.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0cc6145
--- /dev/null
+++ b/etc/labels.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+# Global biocommons labels
+
+- name: "bug"
+  color: "d73a4a"
+  description: "Something isn't working"
+
+- name: "documentation"
+  color: "0075ca"
+  description: "Improvements or additions to documentation"
+
+- name: "duplicate"
+  color: "cfd3d7"
+  description: "This issue or pull request already exists"
+
+- name: "enhancement"
+  color: "a2eeef"
+  description: "New feature or request"
+
+- name: "good first issue"
+  color: "7057ff"
+  description: "Good for newcomers"
+
+- name: "help wanted"
+  color: "008672"
+  description: "Extra attention is needed"
+
+- name: "invalid"
+  color: "e4e669"
+  description: "This doesn't seem right"
+
+- name: "keep alive"
+  color: "666666"
+  description: "exempt issue from staleness checks"
+  aliases: ["keep alive"]
+
+- name: "project proposal"
+  color: "d876e3"
+  description: "project proposal for interns and GSoC students"
+
+- name: "question"
+  color: "d876e3"
+  description: "Further information is requested"
+
+- name: "rfc"
+  color: "d876e3"
+  description: "Request for comments"
+
+- name: "stale"
+  color: "777777"
+  description: "Issue is stale and subject to automatic closing"
+  aliases: ["Stale"]
+
+- name: "stale closed"
+  color: "444444"
+  description: "Issue was closed automatically due to inactivity"
+  aliases: ["stale-closed"]
+
+- name: "won't fix"
+  color: "ffffff"
+  description: "This will not be worked on"
+  aliases: ["wontfix"]
\ No newline at end of file