Fix issues being auto-closed despite human activity (#26360)

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>

.github/workflows/claude-issue-triage.yml

@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ jobs:
             ALLOWED LABELS — you may ONLY use labels from this list. Never invent new labels.
 
             Type: bug, enhancement, question, documentation, duplicate, invalid
-            Lifecycle: needs-repro, needs-info
+            Lifecycle: needs-repro, needs-info, stale, autoclose
             Platform: platform:linux, platform:macos, platform:windows, platform:wsl, platform:ios, platform:android, platform:vscode, platform:intellij, platform:web, platform:aws-bedrock
             API: api:bedrock, api:vertex
 
@@ -85,10 +85,12 @@ jobs:
             **If EVENT is "issue_comment" (comment on existing issue):**
 
             3. Evaluate lifecycle labels based on the full conversation:
+               - If the issue has `stale` or `autoclose`, remove the label — a new human comment means the issue is still active:
+                 `gh issue edit ${{ github.event.issue.number }} --remove-label "stale" --remove-label "autoclose"`
                - If the issue has `needs-repro` or `needs-info` and the missing information has now been provided, remove the label:
                  `gh issue edit ${{ github.event.issue.number }} --remove-label "needs-repro"`
                - If the issue doesn't have lifecycle labels but clearly needs them (e.g., a maintainer asked for repro steps or more details), add the appropriate label.
-               - Comments like "+1", "me too", "same here", or emoji reactions are NOT the missing information. Only remove labels when substantive details are actually provided.
+               - Comments like "+1", "me too", "same here", or emoji reactions are NOT the missing information. Only remove `needs-repro` or `needs-info` when substantive details are actually provided.
                - Do NOT add or remove category labels (bug, enhancement, etc.) on comment events.
 
             GUIDELINES:

.github/workflows/issue-lifecycle-comment.yml

@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+name: "Issue Lifecycle Comment"
+
+on:
+  issues:
+    types: [labeled]
+
+permissions:
+  issues: write
+
+jobs:
+  comment:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout repository
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
+      - name: Setup Bun
+        uses: oven-sh/setup-bun@v2
+        with:
+          bun-version: latest
+
+      - name: Post lifecycle comment
+        run: bun run scripts/lifecycle-comment.ts
+        env:
+          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+          LABEL: ${{ github.event.label.name }}
+          ISSUE_NUMBER: ${{ github.event.issue.number }}

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -1,8 +1,52 @@
 # Changelog
 
+## 2.1.45
+
+- Added support for Claude Sonnet 4.6
+- Added support for reading `enabledPlugins` and `extraKnownMarketplaces` from `--add-dir` directories
+- Added `spinnerTipsOverride` setting to customize spinner tips — configure `tips` with an array of custom tip strings, and optionally set `excludeDefault: true` to show only your custom tips instead of the built-in ones
+- Added `SDKRateLimitInfo` and `SDKRateLimitEvent` types to the SDK, enabling consumers to receive rate limit status updates including utilization, reset times, and overage information
+- Fixed Agent Teams teammates failing on Bedrock, Vertex, and Foundry by propagating API provider environment variables to tmux-spawned processes (anthropics/claude-code#23561)
+- Fixed sandbox "operation not permitted" errors when writing temporary files on macOS by using the correct per-user temp directory (anthropics/claude-code#21654)
+- Fixed Task tool (backgrounded agents) crashing with a `ReferenceError` on completion (anthropics/claude-code#22087)
+- Fixed autocomplete suggestions not being accepted on Enter when images are pasted in the input
+- Fixed skills invoked by subagents incorrectly appearing in main session context after compaction
+- Fixed excessive `.claude.json.backup` files accumulating on every startup
+- Fixed plugin-provided commands, agents, and hooks not being available immediately after installation without requiring a restart
+- Improved startup performance by removing eager loading of session history for stats caching
+- Improved memory usage for shell commands that produce large output — RSS no longer grows unboundedly with command output size
+- Improved collapsed read/search groups to show the current file or search pattern being processed beneath the summary line while active
+- [VSCode] Improved permission destination choice (project/user/session) to persist across sessions
+
+## 2.1.44
+
+- Fixed ENAMETOOLONG errors for deeply-nested directory paths
+- Fixed auth refresh errors
+
+## 2.1.43
+
+- Fixed AWS auth refresh hanging indefinitely by adding a 3-minute timeout
+- Fixed spurious warnings for non-agent markdown files in `.claude/agents/` directory
+- Fixed structured-outputs beta header being sent unconditionally on Vertex/Bedrock
+
+## 2.1.42
+
+- Improved startup performance by deferring Zod schema construction
+- Improved prompt cache hit rates by moving date out of system prompt
+- Added one-time Opus 4.6 effort callout for eligible users
+- Fixed /resume showing interrupt messages as session titles
+- Fixed image dimension limit errors to suggest /compact
+
 ## 2.1.41
 
-- Fixed AWS auth refresh hanging indefinitely by adding a 3-minute timeout
+- Added guard against launching Claude Code inside another Claude Code session
+- Fixed Agent Teams using wrong model identifier for Bedrock, Vertex, and Foundry customers
+- Fixed a crash when MCP tools return image content during streaming
+- Fixed /resume session previews showing raw XML tags instead of readable command names
+- Improved model error messages for Bedrock/Vertex/Foundry users with fallback suggestions
+- Fixed plugin browse showing misleading "Space to Toggle" hint for already-installed plugins
+- Fixed hook blocking errors (exit code 2) not showing stderr to the user
+- Added `speed` attribute to OTel events and trace spans for fast mode visibility
 - Added `claude auth login`, `claude auth status`, and `claude auth logout` CLI subcommands
 - Added Windows ARM64 (win32-arm64) native binary support
 - Improved `/rename` to auto-generate session name from conversation context when called without arguments
@@ -20,19 +64,6 @@
 
 ## 2.1.39
 
-- Added guard against launching Claude Code inside another Claude Code session
-- Fixed Agent Teams using wrong model identifier for Bedrock, Vertex, and Foundry customers
-- Fixed a crash when MCP tools return image content during streaming
-- Fixed /resume session previews showing raw XML tags instead of readable command names
-- Improved model error messages for Bedrock/Vertex/Foundry users with fallback suggestions
-- Fixed plugin browse showing misleading "Space to Toggle" hint for already-installed plugins
-- Fixed hook blocking errors (exit code 2) not showing stderr to the user
-- Added `speed` attribute to OTel events and trace spans for fast mode visibility
-- Fixed /resume showing interrupt messages as session titles
-- Fixed Opus 4.6 launch announcement showing for Bedrock/Vertex/Foundry users
-- Improved error message for many-image dimension limit errors with /compact suggestion
-- Fixed structured-outputs beta header being sent unconditionally on Vertex/Bedrock
-- Fixed spurious warnings for non-agent markdown files in `.claude/agents/` directory
 - Improved terminal rendering performance
 - Fixed fatal errors being swallowed instead of displayed
 - Fixed process hanging after session close

scripts/issue-lifecycle.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+// Single source of truth for issue lifecycle labels, timeouts, and messages.
+
+export const lifecycle = [
+  {
+    label: "invalid",
+    days: 3,
+    reason: "this doesn't appear to be about Claude Code",
+    nudge: "This doesn't appear to be about [Claude Code](https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code). For general Anthropic support, visit [support.anthropic.com](https://support.anthropic.com).",
+  },
+  {
+    label: "needs-repro",
+    days: 7,
+    reason: "we still need reproduction steps to investigate",
+    nudge: "We weren't able to reproduce this. Could you provide steps to trigger the issue — what you ran, what happened, and what you expected?",
+  },
+  {
+    label: "needs-info",
+    days: 7,
+    reason: "we still need a bit more information to move forward",
+    nudge: "We need more information to continue investigating. Can you make sure to include your Claude Code version (`claude --version`), OS, and any error messages or logs?",
+  },
+  {
+    label: "stale",
+    days: 14,
+    reason: "inactive for too long",
+    nudge: "This issue has been automatically marked as stale due to inactivity.",
+  },
+  {
+    label: "autoclose",
+    days: 14,
+    reason: "inactive for too long",
+    nudge: "This issue has been marked for automatic closure.",
+  },
+] as const;
+
+export type LifecycleLabel = (typeof lifecycle)[number]["label"];
+
+export const STALE_UPVOTE_THRESHOLD = 10;

scripts/lifecycle-comment.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bun
+
+// Posts a comment when a lifecycle label is applied to an issue,
+// giving the author a heads-up and a chance to respond before auto-close.
+
+import { lifecycle } from "./issue-lifecycle.ts";
+
+const DRY_RUN = process.argv.includes("--dry-run");
+const token = process.env.GITHUB_TOKEN;
+const repo = process.env.GITHUB_REPOSITORY; // owner/repo
+const label = process.env.LABEL;
+const issueNumber = process.env.ISSUE_NUMBER;
+
+if (!DRY_RUN && !token) throw new Error("GITHUB_TOKEN required");
+if (!repo) throw new Error("GITHUB_REPOSITORY required");
+if (!label) throw new Error("LABEL required");
+if (!issueNumber) throw new Error("ISSUE_NUMBER required");
+
+const entry = lifecycle.find((l) => l.label === label);
+if (!entry) {
+  console.log(`No lifecycle entry for label "${label}", skipping`);
+  process.exit(0);
+}
+
+const body = `${entry.nudge} This issue will be closed automatically if there's no activity within ${entry.days} days.`;
+
+// --
+
+if (DRY_RUN) {
+  console.log(`Would comment on #${issueNumber} for label "${label}":\n\n${body}`);
+  process.exit(0);
+}
+
+const response = await fetch(
+  `https://api.github.com/repos/${repo}/issues/${issueNumber}/comments`,
+  {
+    method: "POST",
+    headers: {
+      Authorization: `Bearer ${token}`,
+      Accept: "application/vnd.github.v3+json",
+      "Content-Type": "application/json",
+      "User-Agent": "lifecycle-comment",
+    },
+    body: JSON.stringify({ body }),
+  }
+);
+
+if (!response.ok) {
+  const text = await response.text();
+  throw new Error(`GitHub API ${response.status}: ${text}`);
+}
+
+console.log(`Commented on #${issueNumber} for label "${label}"`);

scripts/sweep.ts

@@ -1,23 +1,15 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bun
 
+import { lifecycle, STALE_UPVOTE_THRESHOLD } from "./issue-lifecycle.ts";
+
 // --
 
 const NEW_ISSUE = "https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/new/choose";
 const DRY_RUN = process.argv.includes("--dry-run");
-const STALE_DAYS = 14;
-const STALE_UPVOTE_THRESHOLD = 10;
 
 const CLOSE_MESSAGE = (reason: string) =>
   `Closing for now — ${reason}. Please [open a new issue](${NEW_ISSUE}) if this is still relevant.`;
 
-const lifecycle = [
-  { label: "invalid",     days: 3,  reason: "this doesn't appear to be about Claude Code" },
-  { label: "needs-repro", days: 7,  reason: "we still need reproduction steps to investigate" },
-  { label: "needs-info",  days: 7,  reason: "we still need a bit more information to move forward" },
-  { label: "stale",       days: 14, reason: "inactive for too long" },
-  { label: "autoclose",   days: 14, reason: "inactive for too long" },
-];
-
 // --
 
 async function githubRequest<T>(
@@ -51,12 +43,13 @@ async function githubRequest<T>(
 // --
 
 async function markStale(owner: string, repo: string) {
+  const staleDays = lifecycle.find((l) => l.label === "stale")!.days;
   const cutoff = new Date();
-  cutoff.setDate(cutoff.getDate() - STALE_DAYS);
+  cutoff.setDate(cutoff.getDate() - staleDays);
 
   let labeled = 0;
 
-  console.log(`\n=== marking stale (${STALE_DAYS}d inactive) ===`);
+  console.log(`\n=== marking stale (${staleDays}d inactive) ===`);
 
   for (let page = 1; page <= 10; page++) {
     const issues = await githubRequest<any[]>(
@@ -77,11 +70,8 @@ async function markStale(owner: string, repo: string) {
       );
       if (alreadyStale) continue;
 
-      const isEnhancement = issue.labels?.some(
-        (l: any) => l.name === "enhancement"
-      );
       const thumbsUp = issue.reactions?.["+1"] ?? 0;
-      if (isEnhancement && thumbsUp >= STALE_UPVOTE_THRESHOLD) continue;
+      if (thumbsUp >= STALE_UPVOTE_THRESHOLD) continue;
 
       const base = `/repos/${owner}/${repo}/issues/${issue.number}`;
 
@@ -115,6 +105,11 @@ async function closeExpired(owner: string, repo: string) {
 
       for (const issue of issues) {
         if (issue.pull_request) continue;
+        if (issue.locked) continue;
+
+        const thumbsUp = issue.reactions?.["+1"] ?? 0;
+        if (thumbsUp >= STALE_UPVOTE_THRESHOLD) continue;
+
         const base = `/repos/${owner}/${repo}/issues/${issue.number}`;
 
         const events = await githubRequest<any[]>(`${base}/events?per_page=100`);
@@ -126,6 +121,22 @@ async function closeExpired(owner: string, repo: string) {
 
         if (!labeledAt || labeledAt > cutoff) continue;
 
+        // Skip if a non-bot user commented after the label was applied.
+        // The triage workflow should remove lifecycle labels on human
+        // activity, but check here too as a safety net.
+        const comments = await githubRequest<any[]>(
+          `${base}/comments?since=${labeledAt.toISOString()}&per_page=100`
+        );
+        const hasHumanComment = comments.some(
+          (c) => c.user && c.user.type !== "Bot"
+        );
+        if (hasHumanComment) {
+          console.log(
+            `#${issue.number}: skipping (human activity after ${label} label)`
+          );
+          continue;
+        }
+
         if (DRY_RUN) {
           const age = Math.floor((Date.now() - labeledAt.getTime()) / 86400000);
           console.log(`#${issue.number}: would close (${label}, ${age}d old) — ${issue.title}`);
@@ -144,20 +155,14 @@ async function closeExpired(owner: string, repo: string) {
 
 // --
 
-async function main() {
+const owner = process.env.GITHUB_REPOSITORY_OWNER;
-  const owner = process.env.GITHUB_REPOSITORY_OWNER;
+const repo = process.env.GITHUB_REPOSITORY_NAME;
-  const repo = process.env.GITHUB_REPOSITORY_NAME;
+if (!owner || !repo)
-  if (!owner || !repo)
+  throw new Error("GITHUB_REPOSITORY_OWNER and GITHUB_REPOSITORY_NAME required");
-    throw new Error("GITHUB_REPOSITORY_OWNER and GITHUB_REPOSITORY_NAME required");
 
-  if (DRY_RUN) console.log("DRY RUN — no changes will be made\n");
+if (DRY_RUN) console.log("DRY RUN — no changes will be made\n");
 
-  const labeled = await markStale(owner, repo);
+const labeled = await markStale(owner, repo);
-  const closed = await closeExpired(owner, repo);
+const closed = await closeExpired(owner, repo);
 
-  console.log(`\nDone: ${labeled} ${DRY_RUN ? "would be labeled" : "labeled"} stale, ${closed} ${DRY_RUN ? "would be closed" : "closed"}`);
+console.log(`\nDone: ${labeled} ${DRY_RUN ? "would be labeled" : "labeled"} stale, ${closed} ${DRY_RUN ? "would be closed" : "closed"}`);
-}
-
-main().catch(console.error);
-
-export {};