---
title: Propagate labels and annotations
description: Starting with version 3.1.0, Elastic Cloud on Kubernetes supports propagating labels and annotations from the parent resource to the child resources it...
url: https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/5399/deploy-manage/deploy/cloud-on-k8s/propagate-labels-annotations
products:
  - Elastic Cloud on Kubernetes
applies_to:
  - Elastic Cloud on Kubernetes: Preview since 3.1
---

# Propagate labels and annotations
Starting with version `3.1.0`, Elastic Cloud on Kubernetes supports propagating labels and annotations from the parent resource to the child resources it creates. This can be used on all custom resources managed by ECK, such as Elasticsearch, Kibana, APM Server, Beats, Elastic Agent, Elastic Maps Server, Logstash, AutoOps Agent Policy and Package Registry.
The example below demonstrates how to use this feature on a Elasticsearch cluster, however, as mentioned above, this can be also applied to any custom resource managed by Elastic Cloud on Kubernetes.
```yaml
apiVersion: elasticsearch.k8s.elastic.co/v1
kind: Elasticsearch
metadata:
  annotations:
    # Some custom annotations to be propagated to resources created by the operator.
    my-annotation1: "my-annotation1-value"
    my-annotation2: "my-annotation2-value"
    # Instructions for the operator to propagate these annotations and labels to resources it creates.
    eck.k8s.alpha.elastic.co/propagate-annotations: "my-annotation1, my-annotation2"
    eck.k8s.alpha.elastic.co/propagate-labels: "my-label1, my-label2"
  labels:
    # Some custom labels to be propagated to resources created by the operator.
    my-label1: "my-label1-value"
    my-label2: "my-label2-value"
  name: elasticsearch-sample
spec:
  version: 9.3.1
  nodeSets:
    - name: default
      config:
        # this allows ES to run on nodes even if their vm.max_map_count has not been increased, at a performance cost
        node.store.allow_mmap: false
      count: 1
```

The custom labels and annotations specified in the `metadata` section of the parent resource will be propagated to all child resources created by Elastic Cloud on Kubernetes, such as StatefulSets, Pods, Services, and Secrets. This ensures that all resources have consistent metadata, which can be useful for filtering, monitoring, and managing resources in Kubernetes:
```sh
kubectl get sts,pods,svc -l my-label1=my-label1-value,my-label2=my-label2-value
```

```sh
NAME                                               READY   AGE
statefulset.apps/elasticsearch-sample-es-default   1/1     4m10s

NAME                                    READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
pod/elasticsearch-sample-es-default-0   1/1     Running   0          4m9s

NAME                                            TYPE        CLUSTER-IP       EXTERNAL-IP   PORT(S)    AGE
service/elasticsearch-sample-es-default         ClusterIP   None             <none>        9200/TCP   4m12s
service/elasticsearch-sample-es-http            ClusterIP   XX.XX.XX.XX      <none>        9200/TCP   4m14s
service/elasticsearch-sample-es-internal-http   ClusterIP   XX.XX.XX.XX      <none>        9200/TCP   4m14s
service/elasticsearch-sample-es-transport       ClusterIP   None             <none>        9300/TCP   4m14s
```

It is possible to use `*` as a wildcard to propagate all labels and annotations from the parent resource to the child resources. For example:
```yaml
apiVersion: elasticsearch.k8s.elastic.co/v1
kind: Elasticsearch
metadata:
  annotations:
    # Instructions for the operator to propagate all the annotations and labels to resources it creates.
    eck.k8s.alpha.elastic.co/propagate-annotations: "*"
    eck.k8s.alpha.elastic.co/propagate-labels: "*"
  name: elasticsearch-sample
spec:
  version: 9.3.1
  nodeSets:
    - name: default
      config:
        # this allows ES to run on nodes even if their vm.max_map_count has not been increased, at a performance cost
        node.store.allow_mmap: false
      count: 1
```

<note>
  Note the following considerations when using this feature:
  - Propagated labels and annotations are not automatically deleted. If you want to remove them from the child resources, you need to do so manually or use a cleanup script.
  - To prevent conflicts, some labels and annotations reserved for internal use by ECK or Kubernetes are not propagated. This is the case for labels and annotations that match `*.k8s.*.elastic.co/` and also `kubectl.kubernetes.io/last-applied-configuration`.
</note>