diff --git a/changes/30481-gitops-manual-label-no-hosts b/changes/30481-gitops-manual-label-no-hosts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..fae8e40bb4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changes/30481-gitops-manual-label-no-hosts
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+- Fixed missing empty host lists on manual labels in gitops
diff --git a/pkg/spec/gitops.go b/pkg/spec/gitops.go
index 8ca17f4f57..35d2d7261f 100644
--- a/pkg/spec/gitops.go
+++ b/pkg/spec/gitops.go
@@ -675,8 +675,14 @@ func parseLabels(top map[string]json.RawMessage, result *GitOps, baseDir string,
 		if l.Name == "" {
 			multiError = multierror.Append(multiError, errors.New("name is required for each label"))
 		}
-		if l.Query == "" && len(l.Hosts) == 0 && l.HostVitalsCriteria == nil {
-			multiError = multierror.Append(multiError, errors.New("a SQL query, hosts list or host vitals criteria is required for each label"))
+
+		if l.LabelMembershipType != fleet.LabelMembershipTypeManual && l.Query == "" && l.HostVitalsCriteria == nil {
+			multiError = multierror.Append(multiError, errors.New("a SQL query or host vitals criteria is required for each non-manual label"))
+		}
+
+		// Manual labels can have empty hosts lists, just make sure we initialize the empty list
+		if l.LabelMembershipType == fleet.LabelMembershipTypeManual && l.Hosts == nil {
+			l.Hosts = []string{}
 		}
 		// Don't use non-ASCII
 		if !isASCII(l.Name) {
diff --git a/pkg/spec/gitops_test.go b/pkg/spec/gitops_test.go
index f60cbbb695..c232d8a40b 100644
--- a/pkg/spec/gitops_test.go
+++ b/pkg/spec/gitops_test.go
@@ -366,6 +366,21 @@ policies:
 	assert.ErrorContains(t, err, "duplicate policy names")
 }
 
+func TestManualLabelEmptyHostList(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+	config := getGlobalConfig([]string{})
+	config += `
+labels:
+  - name: TestLabel
+    description: Label for testing
+    hosts:
+    label_membership_type: manual`
+
+	gitops, err := gitOpsFromString(t, config)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.NotNil(t, gitops.Labels[0].Hosts)
+}
+
 func TestDuplicateQueryNames(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Parallel()
 	config := getGlobalConfig([]string{"queries"})