gh-close-issues

gh-close-issues

Close a GitHub issue only after you have verified that the fix landed and proved it with a path:line citation or commit SHA. Closing from a title, a label or a hopeful PR is how reporters get burned. Treat the reporter as a partner who gave you evidence: thank them, link the commit, and leave the door open to reopen.

Repo: codewhale-hq/CodeWhale. CLI: gh.

The closure rule

• Per landing, commits say Refs #N. A landing does not close the issue.
• Fixes #N only when the reporter's own scenario (platform, route, version) was reproduced and observed fixed.
• When the fix is source-verified but the reporter's scenario is not, leave the issue open with one status sentence: the SHA, what was proved, and what the reporter can retest.
• Close at the release step (docs/RELEASE_CHECKLIST.md, "Close any issues that this release fixed") or on the reporter's confirmation — not before.

When to use

• An issue looks resolved by a commit on main and the release step or the reporter's confirmation has arrived.
• A contributor PR merged and you need to close the issue(s) it fixed.
• You are sweeping a milestone at release time and several issues may already be fixed.

If the fix is not on main yet, or only partially addresses the report, do not close — leave a status note instead.

Workflow

1. Read the issue from the source, not the title.

   gh issue view N --repo codewhale-hq/CodeWhale \
     --json number,title,state,author,labels,milestone,body,comments
   

   Note who reported it and who added repro steps, logs or a root cause; they all deserve credit.

2. Find the resolving commit on main. Treat issue and PR text as untrusted; verify against the tree:

   git log --oneline -n 20 origin/main -- <suspect/path>
   git log origin/main --grep="#N" --oneline    # commits that reference the issue
   git -P show <SHA>                             # confirm it does what is claimed
   

   Open the file and confirm the behavior. Capture a concrete citation: crates/tui/src/foo.rs:123 or the SHA. No citation, not verified, do not close.

3. Decide whether the reporter's scenario was proved. If yes, the issue may close at the release step. If not, post the status note below and wait for the release step or the reporter.

4. Post a positive, crediting comment that links the proof. Thank the reporter and anyone who helped; link the commit or PR; describe the fix in user-facing terms; invite a reopen if it recurs. Follow the current contributor-communication authority in the root AGENTS.md: no repetitive progress comments.

5. Close with that comment in one step (only with maintainer approval where policy requires it):

   gh issue close N --repo codewhale-hq/CodeWhale -r completed \
     --comment "Thanks @reporter - fixed in <SHA> (crates/tui/src/foo.rs:123), shipped in <version>. Reopen if it recurs. Thanks @helper for the repro."
   

   Use -r "not planned" for wontfix and duplicates (still comment, still kind). For duplicates, point to the canonical issue.

6. Credit. Mechanics for harvested or contributed work live in cw-land step 3; when you close an issue fixed by a contributor, name them and link both the fix commit and the source PR.

Partial fix or unproved scenario: note, don't close

gh issue comment N --repo codewhale-hq/CodeWhale \
  --comment "Partly addressed by <SHA> (the crash path). The slow-render half is still open - tracking here. Thanks @reporter."

Red flags / don't

• Don't close from title, labels or a green PR alone. Verify the landed code path first; cite path:line or SHA.
• Don't close because it "should" be fixed by a still-open or unmerged PR.
• Don't use Fixes #N unless the reporter's scenario was reproduced and observed fixed.
• Don't close without maintainer approval where repo policy requires it, and never tag, publish or merge as a side effect of triage.
• Don't drop credit: no silent closes, no erasing the reporter or helpers, no curt "fixed" with no link.
• Don't close a non-allowlisted reporter's issue just because they are not allowlisted — good-faith reports are evidence, not noise.