# Possible to add lables before transaction starts? **URL:** \ **Category:** APM\ **Tags:** java\ **Created:** [July 10, 2019, 3:44pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/possible-to-add-lables-before-transaction-starts/189817 "2019-07-10T15:44:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![OrangeDog](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/orangedog/32/4630_2.png) [@OrangeDog](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/OrangeDog)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2019, 3:44pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/possible-to-add-lables-before-transaction-starts/189817/1 "2019-07-10T15:44:43Z")
With the Elastic APM Java Agent API you can add lables and custom context to an in-progress transaction and/or span. Is it possible to add a label that will be used for the next, or all transactions, on the current thread? Similar to using logback's MDC. I'm guessing adding them to a No-Op Span doesn't work. ---
**Author:** ![felixbarny](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/felixbarny/32/27341_2.png) [@felixbarny](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/felixbarny)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2019, 3:56pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/possible-to-add-lables-before-transaction-starts/189817/2 "2019-07-10T15:56:58Z")
Hi 🙂 No, that's not possible. What's you use case? Why is adding labels to an existing transaction not sufficient? To add labels to all transactions, use the [`global_labels`](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/apm/agent/java/current/config-core.html#config-global-labels) configuration option. I hope that helps 👍 ---
**Author:** ![OrangeDog](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/orangedog/32/4630_2.png) [@OrangeDog](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/OrangeDog)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2019, 3:59pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/possible-to-add-lables-before-transaction-starts/189817/3 "2019-07-10T15:59:34Z")
> Why is adding labels to an existing transaction not sufficient? Because I'd have to repeat the same code in many places. It would be better if I could add it in a single place before any instrumented methods are called. ---
**Author:** ![felixbarny](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/felixbarny/32/27341_2.png) [@felixbarny](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/felixbarny)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2019, 9:12am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/possible-to-add-lables-before-transaction-starts/189817/4 "2019-07-11T09:12:20Z")
Would `global_labels` help for your scenario, then? If not, could you elaborate on what your scenario is and where you want to add which tags to which transactions? ---
**Author:** ![OrangeDog](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/orangedog/32/4630_2.png) [@OrangeDog](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/OrangeDog)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2019, 10:07am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/possible-to-add-lables-before-transaction-starts/189817/5 "2019-07-11T10:07:13Z")
No, because they're not global. It's a non-HTTP request-based protocol. The connection is established and a thread assigned to it before any requests (i.e. transactions) begin. There will be many request of different types on each connection. I want to add details of the connection to the recorded transactions. I don't want to have to add code to do this in every single different request-handling method. ---
**Author:** ![felixbarny](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/felixbarny/32/27341_2.png) [@felixbarny](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/felixbarny)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2019, 11:58am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/possible-to-add-lables-before-transaction-starts/189817/6 "2019-07-11T11:58:02Z")
Which protocol and framework are you using? Is that something homegrown or an open source framework? Most frameworks have a way to register filters/interceptors. Is that possible with the framework you are using? ---
**Author:** ![OrangeDog](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/orangedog/32/4630_2.png) [@OrangeDog](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/OrangeDog)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2019, 2:14pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/possible-to-add-lables-before-transaction-starts/189817/7 "2019-07-11T14:14:19Z")
It is an in-house protocol, no framework. ---
**Author:** ![felixbarny](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/felixbarny/32/27341_2.png) [@felixbarny](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/felixbarny)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2019, 3:22pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/possible-to-add-lables-before-transaction-starts/189817/8 "2019-07-11T15:22:25Z")
In that case I would suggest to either add interceptor capabilities to that or to use Byte Buddy or some other bytecode manipulation/aspect oriented programing framework like AspectJ or Spring AOP to achieve something similar without requiring code changes. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2019, 11:22am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/possible-to-add-lables-before-transaction-starts/189817/9 "2019-08-01T11:22:29Z")
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