Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communications are described. A user equipment (UE) may store configurations for candidate physical cell identifiers (PCIs) that the UE may select from for inter-cell mobility. A base station or a UE or both may identify a first configuration indicating a number of configured PCIs for inter-cell mobility operations. The base station or the UE or both may identify a second configuration indicating a number of selected PCIs for inter-cell mobility operations. In some cases, the selected PCIs may be a subset of the configured PCIs. Identifying the number of configured PCIs and the number of selected PCIs by the base station and UE may be based on a capability report configured by the UE. The UE and the base station may perform an inter-cell mobility operation based on stored cell configurations associated with the configured PCIs and the selected PCIs.