diff --git a/.github/scripts/plugin-helper-gh-pr-create.sh b/.github/scripts/plugin-helper-gh-pr-create.sh
index 4e8ba06c54..ca52da3407 100755
--- a/.github/scripts/plugin-helper-gh-pr-create.sh
+++ b/.github/scripts/plugin-helper-gh-pr-create.sh
@@ -1,20 +1,14 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 
-# this script expects the following env vars to be set
-#  - GITHUB_TOKEN
-#  - PLUGIN_REPO
-#  - VAULT_BRANCH
-#  - PLUGIN_BRANCH
-#  - RUN_ID
+set -e
 
-echo "ENVS:"
-if [ -z $GITHUB_TOKEN ]; then
-  echo "github token is unset?"
-fi
-echo "$PLUGIN_REPO"
-echo "$VAULT_BRANCH"
-echo "$PLUGIN_BRANCH"
-echo "$RUN_ID"
+# this script expects the following env vars to be set
+# error if these are not set
+[ ${GITHUB_TOKEN:?} ]
+[ ${PLUGIN_REPO:?} ]
+[ ${VAULT_BRANCH:?} ]
+[ ${PLUGIN_BRANCH:?} ]
+[ ${RUN_ID:?} ]
 
 # we are using the GH API directly so that we can get the resluting
 # PR URL from the JSON response
@@ -31,19 +25,23 @@ resp=$(curl -SL \
   "title":"[DO NOT MERGE]: $PLUGIN_REPO Automated plugin update check",
   "body":"Updates $PLUGIN_REPO to verify vault CI. Full log: https://github.com/hashicorp/vault/actions/runs/$RUN_ID",
   "head":"$VAULT_BRANCH",
-  "base":"master",
-  "label": "dependencies,pr/no-changelog,pr/no-milestone",
+  "base":"main",
   "reviewer": "$reviewers",
 }
 EOF
 )
 )
 
+echo "captured response:"
 echo "$resp" | jq .
 
 # get Vault PR number
+vault_pr_num=$(echo "$resp" | jq '.number')
 vault_pr_url=$(echo "$resp" | jq '.html_url')
-echo "$vault_pr_url"
+echo "Vault PR number: $vault_pr_url"
+
+# add labels to Vault PR
+gh pr edit $vault_pr_num ---add-label "dependencies,pr/no-changelong,pr/no-milestone" --repo hashicorp/vault
 
 # get Plugin PR number
 plugin_pr_num=$(gh pr list --head "$PLUGIN_BRANCH" --json number --repo hashicorp/$PLUGIN_REPO -q '.[0].number')