Post a comment when lifecycle labels are applied to issues (#25665)

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

.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 }}

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[]>(
@@ -115,6 +108,7 @@ async function closeExpired(owner: string, repo: string) {
 
       for (const issue of issues) {
         if (issue.pull_request) continue;
+        if (issue.locked) continue;
         const base = `/repos/${owner}/${repo}/issues/${issue.number}`;
 
         const events = await githubRequest<any[]>(`${base}/events?per_page=100`);
@@ -144,20 +138,14 @@ async function closeExpired(owner: string, repo: string) {
 
 // --
 
-async function main() {
-  const owner = process.env.GITHUB_REPOSITORY_OWNER;
-  const repo = process.env.GITHUB_REPOSITORY_NAME;
-  if (!owner || !repo)
-    throw new Error("GITHUB_REPOSITORY_OWNER and GITHUB_REPOSITORY_NAME required");
+const owner = process.env.GITHUB_REPOSITORY_OWNER;
+const repo = process.env.GITHUB_REPOSITORY_NAME;
+if (!owner || !repo)
+  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 closed = await closeExpired(owner, repo);
+const labeled = await markStale(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"}`);
-}
-
-main().catch(console.error);
-
-export {};
+console.log(`\nDone: ${labeled} ${DRY_RUN ? "would be labeled" : "labeled"} stale, ${closed} ${DRY_RUN ? "would be closed" : "closed"}`);