diff --git a/.buildkite/hooks/pre-command b/.buildkite/hooks/pre-command
new file mode 100755
index 000000000000..b991303db363
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.buildkite/hooks/pre-command
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# This file should be kept in sync with vtools's pre-command file.
+# https://github.com/redpanda-data/vtools/.buildkite/hooks/pre-command
+
+set -uo pipefail
+set +e
+
+disable_hook="${DISABLE_PRE_COMMAND_HOOK:-0}"
+
+if [[ ${disable_hook} == 0 ]]; then
+  PARALLEL_STEPS=1
+
+  repo=$(echo $BUILDKITE_REPO | awk -F/ '{print $NF}' | awk -F. '{print $1}')
+
+  if [[ ${BUILDKITE_PULL_REQUEST} != false ]]; then
+    labels=$(curl \
+      --retry 3 --retry-connrefused --fail \
+      -H "Accept: application/vnd.github.v3+json" \
+      -H "Authorization: token ${GITHUB_API_TOKEN}" \
+      "https://api.github.com/repos/redpanda-data/${repo}/issues/${BUILDKITE_PULL_REQUEST}/labels")
+
+    if [[ $? == "0" ]]; then
+      set -e
+      parallel=$(echo "${labels}" | jq -r '.[].name|select(startswith("ci-repeat-"))|ltrimstr("ci-repeat-")' | head -1)
+      curl \
+        -X "DELETE" \
+        --retry 3 --retry-connrefused --silent \
+        -H "Accept: application/vnd.github.v3+json" \
+        -H "Authorization: token ${GITHUB_API_TOKEN}" \
+        "https://api.github.com/repos/redpanda-data/${repo}/issues/${BUILDKITE_PULL_REQUEST}/labels/ci-repeat-$parallel"
+
+      if ((parallel > 1 && parallel < 20)); then
+        PARALLEL_STEPS=$parallel
+      else
+        echo >&2 "Provided parallel number is out of range(2-19). Changing to 1."
+        PARALLEL_STEPS=1
+      fi
+    fi
+  fi
+
+  export PARALLEL_STEPS
+fi
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 041311bb466a..516cc5f77232 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
 *.out
 *.app
 /*build*
+!.buildkite
 /dbuild
 bin
 _e2e_artifacts/
@@ -240,4 +241,4 @@ vbuild/
 # VSCode java settings
 .classpath
 .factorypath
-.settings/
\ No newline at end of file
+.settings/