diff --git a/plugins/scaffolder-backend/src/scaffolder/actions/builtin/publish/gitlab.ts b/plugins/scaffolder-backend/src/scaffolder/actions/builtin/publish/gitlab.ts
index c7a811a4d2..53669efd0b 100644
--- a/plugins/scaffolder-backend/src/scaffolder/actions/builtin/publish/gitlab.ts
+++ b/plugins/scaffolder-backend/src/scaffolder/actions/builtin/publish/gitlab.ts
@@ -183,12 +183,9 @@ export function createPublishGitlabAction(options: {
         namespace_id: targetNamespace,
         name: repo,
         visibility: repoVisibility,
+        ...(topics.length ? { topics } : {}),
       });
 
-      if (topics.length) {
-        await client.Projects.edit(projectId, { topics });
-      }
-
       // When setUserAsOwner is true the input token is expected to come from an unprivileged user GitLab
       // OAuth flow. In this case GitLab works in a way that allows the unprivileged user to
       // create the repository, but not to push the default protected branch (e.g. master).