Extract triage prompt into /triage-issue command and use a dedicated
edit-issue-labels.sh script for label operations instead of raw
gh issue edit. The script validates labels against the repo's existing
labels before applying them.
The sweep script was closing issues based solely on when a lifecycle label
was applied, ignoring any human comments posted after the label. This caused
active issues (like #11792) to be closed even when users responded to the
stale warning.
Three changes:
1. Teach the triage bot about `stale` and `autoclose` labels so it removes
them when a human comments on the issue.
2. Add a safety net in `closeExpired()` that checks for non-bot comments
posted after the lifecycle label was applied — if any exist, skip closing.
3. Extend the 10-upvote protection (which previously only applied to
enhancements) to all issue types, in both `markStale()` and
`closeExpired()`.
Fixes#16497
## Test plan
Trace through scenarios manually:
- Issue with stale label + human comment after → triage removes label;
sweep skips even if triage hasn't run yet (safety net)
- Issue with stale label + no human comment → closes as before
- Issue with 10+ upvotes of any type → never marked stale or closed
Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
When lifecycle labels (needs-info, needs-repro, invalid, stale, autoclose)
are applied to an issue, the author currently only sees a label change with
no explanation. They then get a closing comment days later without ever
being nudged to respond.
Add a GitHub Actions workflow that triggers on issues.labeled and runs a
new lifecycle-comment.ts script to post a comment explaining what's needed
and how long before auto-close.
Extract lifecycle config (labels, timeouts, close reasons, nudge messages)
into a shared issue-lifecycle.ts so the sweep script and comment script
stay in sync. Previously the timeouts were duplicated between the sweep
script and the comment messages.
- needs-info: asks for version, OS, error messages
- needs-repro: asks for steps to trigger the issue
- invalid: links to the Claude Code repo and Anthropic support
- stale/autoclose: explains inactivity auto-close
The script no-ops for non-lifecycle labels, so the workflow fires on every
label event and lets the script decide — single source of truth.
## Test plan
Dry-run all labels locally:
GITHUB_REPOSITORY=anthropics/claude-code LABEL=needs-info ISSUE_NUMBER=12345 bun run scripts/lifecycle-comment.ts --dry-run
GITHUB_REPOSITORY=anthropics/claude-code LABEL=needs-repro ISSUE_NUMBER=12345 bun run scripts/lifecycle-comment.ts --dry-run
GITHUB_REPOSITORY=anthropics/claude-code LABEL=invalid ISSUE_NUMBER=12345 bun run scripts/lifecycle-comment.ts --dry-run
GITHUB_REPOSITORY=anthropics/claude-code LABEL=stale ISSUE_NUMBER=12345 bun run scripts/lifecycle-comment.ts --dry-run
GITHUB_REPOSITORY=anthropics/claude-code LABEL=autoclose ISSUE_NUMBER=12345 bun run scripts/lifecycle-comment.ts --dry-run
Verified sweep.ts still works:
GITHUB_TOKEN=$(gh auth token) GITHUB_REPOSITORY_OWNER=anthropics GITHUB_REPOSITORY_NAME=claude-code bun run scripts/sweep.ts --dry-run
The sweep job (https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/actions/runs/21983111029/job/63510453226)
was silently failing when closeExpired tried to comment on a locked issue,
causing a 403 from the GitHub API.
Two issues:
1. closeExpired didn't skip locked issues like markStale already does.
Adding the same `if (issue.locked) continue` guard fixes this.
2. The error was swallowed by `main().catch(console.error)` which logs
to stderr but exits 0, so CI reported success despite the crash.
Replaced the main() wrapper with top-level await so unhandled errors
properly crash the process with a non-zero exit code.
## Test plan
YOLO
* Unify issue lifecycle labeling and sweep into a single system
Consolidate issue triage, stale detection, and lifecycle enforcement into
two components: a Claude-powered triage workflow and a unified sweep script.
Triage workflow changes:
- Add issue_comment trigger so Claude can re-evaluate lifecycle labels when
someone responds to a needs-repro/needs-info issue
- Add concurrency group per issue with cancel-in-progress to avoid pile-up
- Filter out bot comments to prevent sweep/dedupe triggering re-triage
- Hardcode allowed label whitelist to prevent label sprawl (was discovering
labels via gh label list, leading to junk variants like 'needs repro' vs
'needs-repro')
- Replace MCP GitHub server with gh CLI — simpler, no Docker dependency,
chaining is caught by the action so permissions are equivalent
- Add lifecycle labels (needs-repro, needs-info) for bugs missing info
- Add invalid label for off-topic issues (Claude API, billing, etc.)
- Add anti-patterns to prevent false positives (don't require specific
format, model behavior issues don't need traditional repro, etc.)
Sweep script changes:
- Absorb stale issue detection (was separate stale-issue-manager workflow)
- Mark issues as stale after 14 days of inactivity
- Skip assigned issues (team is working on it internally)
- Skip enhancements with 10+ thumbs up (community wants it)
- Add invalid label with 3-day timeout
- Add autoclose label support to drain 200+ legacy issues
- Drop needs-votes (stale handles inactive enhancements)
- Unify close messages into a single template with per-label reasons
- Run 2x daily instead of once
Delete stale-issue-manager.yml — its logic is now in sweep.ts.
## Test plan
Dry-run sweep locally:
GITHUB_TOKEN=$(gh auth token) GITHUB_REPOSITORY_OWNER=anthropics GITHUB_REPOSITORY_NAME=claude-code bun run scripts/sweep.ts --dry-run
Triage workflow will be tested by opening a test issue after merge.
* Update .github/workflows/claude-issue-triage.yml
Co-authored-by: Ashwin Bhat <ashwin@anthropic.com>
---------
Co-authored-by: Ashwin Bhat <ashwin@anthropic.com>
Introduce a simple, mechanical daily sweep that closes issues with
lifecycle labels past their timeout:
- needs-repro: 7 days
- needs-info: 7 days
- needs-votes: 30 days
- stale: 30 days
The sweep checks when the label was last applied via the events API,
and closes the issue if the timeout has elapsed. No AI, no comment
checking — if the label is still there past its timeout, close it.
Removing a label (by a triager, slash command, or future AI retriage)
is what prevents closure.
Each close message directs the reporter to open a new issue rather
than engaging with the closed one.
The script supports --dry-run for local testing:
GITHUB_TOKEN=$(gh auth token) \
GITHUB_REPOSITORY_OWNER=anthropics \
GITHUB_REPOSITORY_NAME=claude-code \
bun run scripts/sweep.ts --dry-run
## Test plan
Ran --dry-run against anthropics/claude-code. Correctly identified 3
issues past their timeouts (1 needs-repro at 12d, 2 needs-info at
14d and 26d). No false positives.
