diff --git a/docs/user_guide/config.rst b/docs/user_guide/config.rst
index f9fd887b..be5a51d7 100644
--- a/docs/user_guide/config.rst
+++ b/docs/user_guide/config.rst
@@ -49,19 +49,55 @@ multiple external repositories can be used as the example below illustrates for
       url: https://github.com/IAMconsortium/common-definitions.git/
   definitions:
     region:
-      repository: common-definitions
+      repository:
+        name: common-definitions
     variable:
       repositories:
-        - common-definitions
-        - legacy-definitions
+        - name: common-definitions
+        - name: legacy-definitions
   mappings:
-    repository: common-definitions
+    repository:
+      name: common-definitions
 
-The value in *definitions.region.repository* needs to reference the repository in the
-*repositories* section.
+The value in *definitions.region.repository* can be a list or a single value, needs to
+contain the ``name`` keyword and reference the repository in the *repositories* section.
 
 For model mappings the process is analogous using *mappings.repository*.
 
+Filter code lists imported from external repositories
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+Since importing the entirety of, for example, common-definitions is too much for most
+projects, the list can be filtered using ``include`` and ``exclude`` keywords. Under
+these keywords, lists of filters can be given that will be applied to the code list from
+the given repository.
+
+The filtering can be done by any attribute:
+
+.. code:: yaml
+
+  repositories:
+    common-definitions:
+      url: https://github.com/IAMconsortium/common-definitions.git/
+  definitions:
+    variable:
+      repository:
+        name: common-definitions
+        include:
+          - name: [Primary Energy*, Final Energy*]
+          - name: "Population*"
+            tier: 1
+        exclude:
+          - name: "Final Energy|*|*"
+
+In the example above we are including:
+1. All variables starting with *Primary Energy* or *Final Energy*
+2. All variables starting with *Population* **and** with the tier attribute equal to 1
+
+From this list we are then **excluding** all variables that match "Final Energy|*|*".
+This means that the final resulting list will contain no Final Energy variables with
+three or more levels.
+
 
 Adding countries to the region codelist
 ---------------------------------------
diff --git a/nomenclature/code.py b/nomenclature/code.py
index 097b6443..8fe4d3a2 100644
--- a/nomenclature/code.py
+++ b/nomenclature/code.py
@@ -171,7 +171,7 @@ class VariableCode(Code):
     )
     method: str | None = None
     check_aggregate: bool | None = Field(default=False, alias="check-aggregate")
-    components: Union[List[str], List[Dict[str, List[str]]]] | None = None
+    components: Union[List[str], Dict[str, list[str]]] | None = None
     drop_negative_weights: bool | None = None
     model_config = ConfigDict(populate_by_name=True)
 
@@ -187,6 +187,18 @@ def deserialize_json(cls, v):
     def convert_none_to_empty_string(cls, v):
         return v if v is not None else ""
 
+    @field_validator("components", mode="before")
+    def cast_variable_components_args(cls, v):
+        """Cast "components" list of dicts to a codelist"""
+
+        # translate a list of single-key dictionaries to a simple dictionary
+        if v is not None and isinstance(v, list) and isinstance(v[0], dict):
+            comp = {}
+            for val in v:
+                comp.update(val)
+            return comp
+        return v
+
     @field_serializer("unit")
     def convert_str_to_none_for_writing(self, v):
         return v if v != "" else None
diff --git a/nomenclature/codelist.py b/nomenclature/codelist.py
index 366e489d..36e60387 100644
--- a/nomenclature/codelist.py
+++ b/nomenclature/codelist.py
@@ -209,13 +209,12 @@ def from_directory(
         for repo in getattr(
             config.definitions, name.lower(), CodeListConfig()
         ).repositories:
-            code_list.extend(
-                cls._parse_codelist_dir(
-                    config.repositories[repo].local_path / "definitions" / name,
-                    file_glob_pattern,
-                    repo,
-                )
+            repository_code_list = cls._parse_codelist_dir(
+                config.repositories[repo.name].local_path / "definitions" / name,
+                file_glob_pattern,
+                repo.name,
             )
+            code_list.extend(repo.filter_list_of_codes(repository_code_list))
         errors = ErrorCollector()
         mapping: Dict[str, Code] = {}
         for code in code_list:
@@ -567,21 +566,6 @@ def check_weight_in_vars(cls, v):
             )
         return v
 
-    @field_validator("mapping")
-    @classmethod
-    def cast_variable_components_args(cls, v):
-        """Cast "components" list of dicts to a codelist"""
-
-        # translate a list of single-key dictionaries to a simple dictionary
-        for var in v.values():
-            if var.components and isinstance(var.components[0], dict):
-                comp = {}
-                for val in var.components:
-                    comp.update(val)
-                v[var.name].components = comp
-
-        return v
-
     def vars_default_args(self, variables: List[str]) -> List[VariableCode]:
         """return subset of variables which does not feature any special pyam
         aggregation arguments and where skip_region_aggregation is False"""
@@ -706,21 +690,25 @@ def from_directory(
 
         # importing from an external repository
         for repo in config.definitions.region.repositories:
-            repo_path = config.repositories[repo].local_path / "definitions" / "region"
+            repo_path = (
+                config.repositories[repo.name].local_path / "definitions" / "region"
+            )
 
-            code_list = cls._parse_region_code_dir(
-                code_list,
+            repo_list_of_codes = cls._parse_region_code_dir(
                 repo_path,
                 file_glob_pattern,
-                repository=repo,
+                repository=repo.name,
             )
-            code_list = cls._parse_and_replace_tags(
-                code_list, repo_path, file_glob_pattern
+            repo_list_of_codes = cls._parse_and_replace_tags(
+                repo_list_of_codes, repo_path, file_glob_pattern
             )
+            code_list.extend(repo.filter_list_of_codes(repo_list_of_codes))
 
         # parse from current repository
-        code_list = cls._parse_region_code_dir(code_list, path, file_glob_pattern)
-        code_list = cls._parse_and_replace_tags(code_list, path, file_glob_pattern)
+        local_code_list = cls._parse_region_code_dir(path, file_glob_pattern)
+        code_list.extend(
+            cls._parse_and_replace_tags(local_code_list, path, file_glob_pattern)
+        )
 
         # translate to mapping
         mapping: Dict[str, RegionCode] = {}
@@ -756,13 +744,12 @@ def hierarchy(self) -> List[str]:
     @classmethod
     def _parse_region_code_dir(
         cls,
-        code_list: List[Code],
         path: Path,
         file_glob_pattern: str = "**/*",
         repository: str | None = None,
     ) -> List[RegionCode]:
         """"""
-
+        code_list: List[RegionCode] = []
         for yaml_file in (
             f
             for f in path.glob(file_glob_pattern)
diff --git a/nomenclature/config.py b/nomenclature/config.py
index 487101bd..8ce42196 100644
--- a/nomenclature/config.py
+++ b/nomenclature/config.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 from enum import Enum
 from pathlib import Path
-from typing import Annotated, Optional
+from typing import Any
+from fnmatch import fnmatch
 
 import yaml
 from git import Repo
@@ -11,29 +12,83 @@
     field_validator,
     model_validator,
     ConfigDict,
-    BeforeValidator,
 )
+from nomenclature.code import Code
+
+
+class RepositoryWithFilter(BaseModel):
+    name: str
+    include: list[dict[str, Any]] = [{"name": "*"}]
+    exclude: list[dict[str, Any]] = Field(default_factory=list)
+
+    def filter_function(self, code: Code, filter: dict[str, Any], keep: bool):
+        # if is list -> recursive
+        # if is str -> fnmatch
+        # if is int -> match exactly
+        # if is None -> Attribute does not exist therefore does not match
+        def check_attribute_match(code_value, filter_value):
+            if isinstance(filter_value, int):
+                return code_value == filter_value
+            if isinstance(filter_value, str):
+                return fnmatch(code_value, filter_value)
+            if isinstance(filter_value, list):
+                return any(
+                    check_attribute_match(code_value, value) for value in filter_value
+                )
+            if filter_value is None:
+                return False
+            raise ValueError("Something went wrong with the filtering")
+
+        filter_match = all(
+            check_attribute_match(getattr(code, attribute, None), value)
+            for attribute, value in filter.items()
+        )
+        if keep:
+            return filter_match
+        else:
+            return not filter_match
+
+    def filter_list_of_codes(self, list_of_codes: list[Code]) -> list[Code]:
+        # include first
+        filter_result = [
+            code
+            for code in list_of_codes
+            if any(
+                self.filter_function(
+                    code,
+                    filter,
+                    keep=True,
+                )
+                for filter in self.include
+            )
+        ]
+
+        if self.exclude:
+            filter_result = [
+                code
+                for code in filter_result
+                if any(
+                    self.filter_function(code, filter, keep=False)
+                    for filter in self.exclude
+                )
+            ]
 
-
-def convert_to_set(v: str | list[str] | set[str]) -> set[str]:
-    match v:
-        case set(v):
-            return v
-        case list(v):
-            return set(v)
-        case str(v):
-            return {v}
-        case _:
-            raise TypeError("`repositories` must be of type str, list or set.")
+        return filter_result
 
 
 class CodeListConfig(BaseModel):
     dimension: str | None = None
-    repositories: Annotated[set[str], BeforeValidator(convert_to_set)] = Field(
-        default_factory=set, alias="repository"
+    repositories: list[RepositoryWithFilter] = Field(
+        default_factory=list, alias="repository"
     )
     model_config = ConfigDict(populate_by_name=True)
 
+    @field_validator("repositories", mode="before")
+    def convert_to_set_of_repos(cls, v):
+        if not isinstance(v, list):
+            return [v]
+        return v
+
     @property
     def repository_dimension_path(self) -> str:
         return f"definitions/{self.dimension}"
@@ -109,8 +164,8 @@ class DataStructureConfig(BaseModel):
 
     """
 
-    region: Optional[RegionCodeListConfig] = Field(default_factory=RegionCodeListConfig)
-    variable: Optional[CodeListConfig] = Field(default_factory=CodeListConfig)
+    region: RegionCodeListConfig = Field(default_factory=RegionCodeListConfig)
+    variable: CodeListConfig = Field(default_factory=CodeListConfig)
 
     @field_validator("region", "variable", mode="before")
     @classmethod
@@ -126,12 +181,22 @@ def repos(self) -> dict[str, str]:
         }
 
 
+class MappingRepository(BaseModel):
+    name: str
+
+
 class RegionMappingConfig(BaseModel):
-    repositories: Annotated[set[str], BeforeValidator(convert_to_set)] = Field(
-        default_factory=set, alias="repository"
+    repositories: list[MappingRepository] = Field(
+        default_factory=list, alias="repository"
     )
     model_config = ConfigDict(populate_by_name=True)
 
+    @field_validator("repositories", mode="before")
+    def convert_to_set_of_repos(cls, v):
+        if not isinstance(v, list):
+            return [v]
+        return v
+
 
 class DimensionEnum(str, Enum):
     model = "model"
@@ -157,8 +222,9 @@ def check_definitions_repository(
         mapping_repos = {"mappings": v.mappings.repositories} if v.mappings else {}
         repos = {**v.definitions.repos, **mapping_repos}
         for use, repositories in repos.items():
-            if repositories - v.repositories.keys():
-                raise ValueError((f"Unknown repository {repositories} in '{use}'."))
+            repository_names = [repository.name for repository in repositories]
+            if unknown_repos := repository_names - v.repositories.keys():
+                raise ValueError((f"Unknown repository {unknown_repos} in '{use}'."))
         return v
 
     def fetch_repos(self, target_folder: Path):
diff --git a/nomenclature/processor/region.py b/nomenclature/processor/region.py
index a8888a22..2b3320b9 100644
--- a/nomenclature/processor/region.py
+++ b/nomenclature/processor/region.py
@@ -487,7 +487,7 @@ def from_directory(cls, path: DirectoryPath, dsd: DataStructureDefinition):
             mapping_files.extend(
                 f
                 for f in (
-                    dsd.config.repositories[repository].local_path / "mappings"
+                    dsd.config.repositories[repository.name].local_path / "mappings"
                 ).glob("**/*")
                 if f.suffix in {".yaml", ".yml"}
             )
diff --git a/poetry.lock b/poetry.lock
index ef9e3660..069e4c85 100644
--- a/poetry.lock
+++ b/poetry.lock
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# This file is automatically @generated by Poetry 1.8.3 and should not be changed by hand.
+# This file is automatically @generated by Poetry 1.8.2 and should not be changed by hand.
 
 [[package]]
 name = "alabaster"
diff --git a/tests/data/config_filter/definitions/region/.gitkeep b/tests/data/config_filter/definitions/region/.gitkeep
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e69de29b
diff --git a/tests/data/config_filter/definitions/variable/.gitkeep b/tests/data/config_filter/definitions/variable/.gitkeep
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e69de29b
diff --git a/tests/data/config_filter/nomenclature.yaml b/tests/data/config_filter/nomenclature.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e990ed5a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/data/config_filter/nomenclature.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+repositories:
+  common-definitions:
+    url: https://github.com/IAMconsortium/common-definitions.git/
+  legacy-definitions:
+    url: https://github.com/IAMconsortium/legacy-definitions.git/
+definitions:
+  variable:
+    repository:
+      - name: common-definitions
+        filters:
+          - name: [Primary Energy*, Final Energy*]
+          - name: "Population*"
+            tier: 1
+      - name: legacy-definitions
+  region:
+    repository: common-definitions
+    country: true
diff --git a/tests/data/general-config-only/nomenclature.yaml b/tests/data/general-config-only/nomenclature.yaml
index eb390c76..48acdb3f 100644
--- a/tests/data/general-config-only/nomenclature.yaml
+++ b/tests/data/general-config-only/nomenclature.yaml
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@ repositories:
     url: https://github.com/IAMconsortium/common-definitions.git/
 definitions:
   region:
-    repository: common-definitions
+    repository:
+      name: common-definitions
   variable:
-    repository: common-definitions
+    repository:
+      name: common-definitions
diff --git a/tests/data/general-config/nomenclature.yaml b/tests/data/general-config/nomenclature.yaml
index fe35a156..14b70014 100644
--- a/tests/data/general-config/nomenclature.yaml
+++ b/tests/data/general-config/nomenclature.yaml
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ repositories:
     url: https://github.com/IAMconsortium/common-definitions.git/
 definitions:
   region:
-    repository: common-definitions
+    repository:
+      name: common-definitions
   variable:
-    repository: common-definitions
+    repository:
+      name: common-definitions
diff --git a/tests/data/nomenclature_configs/external_repo_filters.yaml b/tests/data/nomenclature_configs/external_repo_filters.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..bb77dd7b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/data/nomenclature_configs/external_repo_filters.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+repositories:
+  common-definitions:
+    url: https://github.com/IAMconsortium/common-definitions.git/
+definitions:
+  variable:
+    repository:
+      name: common-definitions
+      include:
+        - name: [Primary Energy*, Final Energy*]
+        - name: "Population*"
+          tier: 1
+      exclude:
+        - name: "Final Energy|*|*"
+  region:
+    repository:
+      name: common-definitions
+      include:
+        - hierarchy: R5
+      exclude:
+        - name: Other (R5)
diff --git a/tests/data/nomenclature_configs/hash_and_release.yaml b/tests/data/nomenclature_configs/hash_and_release.yaml
index 502d18e4..f7e2a2ad 100644
--- a/tests/data/nomenclature_configs/hash_and_release.yaml
+++ b/tests/data/nomenclature_configs/hash_and_release.yaml
@@ -5,7 +5,9 @@ repositories:
     release: "1.0"
 definitions:
   region:
-    repository: common-definitions
+    repository:
+      name: common-definitions
     country: true
   variable:
-    repository: common-definitions
+    repository:
+      name: common-definitions
diff --git a/tests/data/nomenclature_configs/multiple_external_repos_filters.yaml b/tests/data/nomenclature_configs/multiple_external_repos_filters.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..343541f3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/data/nomenclature_configs/multiple_external_repos_filters.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+repositories:
+  common-definitions:
+    url: https://github.com/IAMconsortium/common-definitions.git/
+  legacy-definitions:
+    url: https://github.com/IAMconsortium/legacy-definitions.git/
+definitions:
+  variable:
+    repository:
+      - name: common-definitions
+        include:
+          - name: [Primary Energy*, Final Energy*]
+          - name: "Population*"
+            tier: 1
+        exclude:
+          - name: "Primary Energy|*|*" # exclude all third tier variables
+      - name: legacy-definitions
diff --git a/tests/data/nomenclature_configs/multiple_repos_for_mapping.yaml b/tests/data/nomenclature_configs/multiple_repos_for_mapping.yaml
index ff2bd784..c09c81a1 100644
--- a/tests/data/nomenclature_configs/multiple_repos_for_mapping.yaml
+++ b/tests/data/nomenclature_configs/multiple_repos_for_mapping.yaml
@@ -5,5 +5,5 @@ repositories:
     url: https://github.com/IAMconsortium/legacy-definitions.git/
 mappings:
   repositories:
-    - common-definitions
-    - legacy-definitions
+    - name: common-definitions
+    - name: legacy-definitions
diff --git a/tests/data/nomenclature_configs/multiple_repos_per_dimension.yaml b/tests/data/nomenclature_configs/multiple_repos_per_dimension.yaml
index 2fa400de..0d085dfb 100644
--- a/tests/data/nomenclature_configs/multiple_repos_per_dimension.yaml
+++ b/tests/data/nomenclature_configs/multiple_repos_per_dimension.yaml
@@ -8,5 +8,5 @@ repositories:
 definitions:
   variable:
     repository:
-      - common-definitions
-      - legacy-definitions
+      - name: common-definitions
+      - name: legacy-definitions
diff --git a/tests/data/nomenclature_configs/regions/.gitkeep b/tests/data/nomenclature_configs/regions/.gitkeep
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e69de29b
diff --git a/tests/data/nomenclature_configs/unknown_repo.yaml b/tests/data/nomenclature_configs/unknown_repo.yaml
index 08187c7a..57ad005d 100644
--- a/tests/data/nomenclature_configs/unknown_repo.yaml
+++ b/tests/data/nomenclature_configs/unknown_repo.yaml
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
 definitions:
   region:
-    repository: common-definitions
+    repository:
+      name: common-definitions
diff --git a/tests/data/region_processing/external_repo_test/nomenclature.yaml b/tests/data/region_processing/external_repo_test/nomenclature.yaml
index 6c6b2c53..0c90e76d 100644
--- a/tests/data/region_processing/external_repo_test/nomenclature.yaml
+++ b/tests/data/region_processing/external_repo_test/nomenclature.yaml
@@ -3,8 +3,11 @@ repositories:
     url: https://github.com/IAMconsortium/common-definitions.git/
 definitions:
   region:
-    repository: common-definitions
+    repository:
+      name: common-definitions
   variable:
-    repository: common-definitions
+    repository:
+      name: common-definitions
 mappings:
-  repository: common-definitions
+  repository:
+    name: common-definitions
diff --git a/tests/test_codelist.py b/tests/test_codelist.py
index 2d292fd7..e2416b01 100644
--- a/tests/test_codelist.py
+++ b/tests/test_codelist.py
@@ -442,3 +442,56 @@ def test_variablecodelist_list_missing_variables_to_new_file(simple_df, tmp_path
     }
 
     assert obs.mapping == exp
+
+
+def test_variable_code_list_external_repo_with_filters():
+    nomenclature_config = NomenclatureConfig.from_file(
+        TEST_DATA_DIR / "nomenclature_configs" / "external_repo_filters.yaml"
+    )
+    try:
+        variable_code_list = VariableCodeList.from_directory(
+            "variable",
+            TEST_DATA_DIR / "nomenclature_configs" / "variable",
+            nomenclature_config,
+        )
+        exp_included_variables = [
+            "Final Energy",
+            "Population",
+            "Primary Energy|Oil|Hydrogen|w/ CCS",
+        ]
+        exp_excluded_variables = [
+            "Final Energy|Agriculture|Electricity",  # no third level Final Energy
+            "Population|Clean Cooking Access",  # only tier 1 Population
+        ]
+        assert all(
+            variable in variable_code_list for variable in exp_included_variables
+        )
+        assert all(
+            variable not in variable_code_list for variable in exp_excluded_variables
+        )
+    finally:
+        clean_up_external_repos(nomenclature_config.repositories)
+
+
+def test_region_code_list_external_repo_with_filters():
+    nomenclature_config = NomenclatureConfig.from_file(
+        TEST_DATA_DIR / "nomenclature_configs" / "external_repo_filters.yaml"
+    )
+    try:
+        region_code_list = RegionCodeList.from_directory(
+            "region",
+            TEST_DATA_DIR / "nomenclature_configs" / "variable",
+            nomenclature_config,
+        )
+        R5_regions = [
+            "OECD & EU (R5)",
+            "Reforming Economies (R5)",
+            "Asia (R5)",
+            "Middle East & Africa (R5)",
+            "Latin America (R5)",
+        ]
+        assert len(region_code_list) == 5
+        assert all(r5_region in region_code_list for r5_region in R5_regions)
+        assert "Other (R5)" not in region_code_list
+    finally:
+        clean_up_external_repos(nomenclature_config.repositories)
diff --git a/tests/test_config.py b/tests/test_config.py
index 7670424e..ebc836a9 100644
--- a/tests/test_config.py
+++ b/tests/test_config.py
@@ -1,7 +1,11 @@
 from pathlib import Path
+import pytest
 from pytest import raises
 
-from nomenclature.config import Repository, NomenclatureConfig, CodeListConfig
+from nomenclature.config import (
+    Repository,
+    NomenclatureConfig,
+)
 
 from conftest import TEST_DATA_DIR, clean_up_external_repos
 
@@ -34,24 +38,16 @@ def test_multiple_definition_repos():
     try:
         exp_repos = {"common-definitions", "legacy-definitions"}
         assert nomenclature_config.repositories.keys() == exp_repos
-        assert nomenclature_config.definitions.variable.repositories == exp_repos
     finally:
         clean_up_external_repos(nomenclature_config.repositories)
 
 
-def test_codelist_config_set_input():
-    exp_repos = {"repo1", "repo2"}
-    code_list_config = CodeListConfig(dimension="variable", repositories=exp_repos)
-    assert code_list_config.repositories == exp_repos
-
-
 def test_multiple_mapping_repos():
     nomenclature_config = NomenclatureConfig.from_file(
         TEST_DATA_DIR / "nomenclature_configs" / "multiple_repos_for_mapping.yaml"
     )
     try:
         exp_repos = {"common-definitions", "legacy-definitions"}
-        assert nomenclature_config.mappings.repositories == exp_repos
         assert nomenclature_config.repositories.keys() == exp_repos
     finally:
         clean_up_external_repos(nomenclature_config.repositories)
@@ -89,3 +85,17 @@ def test_invalid_config_dimensions_raises():
         ),
     ):
         NomenclatureConfig(dimensions=["year"])
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "config_file",
+    ["external_repo_filters.yaml", "multiple_external_repos_filters.yaml"],
+)
+def test_config_with_filter(config_file):
+    config = NomenclatureConfig.from_file(
+        TEST_DATA_DIR / "nomenclature_configs" / config_file
+    )
+    try:
+        assert isinstance(config.definitions.variable.repositories, list)
+    finally:
+        clean_up_external_repos(config.repositories)