Make the close older issue option for scheduled reports configurable

[strawgate]

Right now we always close the old issue (the default behavior maybe?)

We should make this an input on the workflows

[github-actions]

3 related issues

• Add downstream health monitoring workflow #39 — it includes a scheduled report workflow configured with close-older-issues: true, which matches the current behavior this issue wants to make configurable.
• [gh-aw-upgrade] gh-aw upgrade available: v0.45.1 → v0.47.2 #212 — it records the upstream release note where auto-closing older issues was added, which helps explain why this behavior is now present by default.
• [docs-drift] Document gh-aw-upgrade-check internal workflow #22 — it documents the shared scheduled-report reusable workflow used by internal scheduled jobs, which is useful context for where to expose this option.

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[github-actions]

TL;DR: I recommend adding a new close-older-issues workflow input (default true) across scheduled report workflows, because today this behavior is hardcoded and not caller-configurable.

Recommendation

Add close-older-issues as a workflow_call input on scheduled report workflows and wire it into safe-outputs.create-issue.close-older-issues; keep default true for backward compatibility. Also expose/document the input in each corresponding gh-agent-workflows/*/example.yml + README input table so callers can disable auto-closing when they want report history.

Findings

• Issue request is clear: Make the close older issue option for scheduled reports configurable #354 asks to make the “close older issue” behavior configurable for scheduled reports.
• In reusable workflow definitions, close-older-issues is currently hardcoded (not parameterized), e.g.:
  • .github/workflows/gh-aw-scheduled-audit.md:85
  • .github/workflows/gh-aw-project-summary.md:78
  • .github/workflows/gh-aw-performance-profiler.md:79
  • .github/workflows/gh-aw-downstream-health.md:77
  • .github/workflows/gh-aw-stale-issues.md:77
• Those same workflows do not expose any close-older-issues input in on.workflow_call.inputs (examples above: input blocks at lines ~19-52 / ~20-46).
• Trigger examples currently cannot pass this option:
  • gh-agent-workflows/scheduled-audit/example.yml:15-29
  • gh-agent-workflows/project-summary/example.yml:14-16
  • gh-agent-workflows/performance-profiler/example.yml:14-16
  • gh-agent-workflows/downstream-health/example.yml:14-16
  • gh-agent-workflows/stale-issues/example.yml:14-16
• README docs currently describe this as always auto-closing older reports, e.g.:
  • gh-agent-workflows/scheduled-audit/README.md:44
  • gh-agent-workflows/project-summary/README.md:53
  • gh-agent-workflows/performance-profiler/README.md:36
• Scope check: there are 15 gh-aw-*.md workflows importing gh-aw-fragments/scheduled-audit.md and hardcoding close-older-issues: true.

Related history reviewed:

• PR Add project summary workflow #105 introduced project-summary with hardcoded close-older-issues: true.
• PR Let callers set runtime limits in gh-agent examples #221 is a good precedent for adding caller-facing configurability across examples/docs.
• No clearly duplicate open issue for this exact request was found in search results.

Verification

I validated current behavior with repository searches and file inspection:

$ rg -n "close-older-issues" .github/workflows/*.md
... gh-aw-scheduled-audit.md:85:    close-older-issues: true
... gh-aw-project-summary.md:78:    close-older-issues: true
... gh-aw-performance-profiler.md:79:    close-older-issues: true
... gh-aw-downstream-health.md:77:    close-older-issues: true
... gh-aw-stale-issues.md:77:    close-older-issues: true
(and additional scheduled-audit-based detectors)

$ python (scan gh-aw-*.md for both "gh-aw-fragments/scheduled-audit.md" and "close-older-issues: true")
gh-aw-agent-suggestions.md
gh-aw-breaking-change-detector.md
gh-aw-bug-hunter.md
gh-aw-code-duplication-detector.md
gh-aw-docs-patrol-external.md
gh-aw-docs-patrol.md
gh-aw-downstream-health.md
gh-aw-flaky-test-investigator.md
gh-aw-newbie-contributor-patrol-external.md
gh-aw-newbie-contributor-patrol.md
gh-aw-performance-profiler.md
gh-aw-project-summary.md
gh-aw-scheduled-audit.md
gh-aw-stale-issues.md
gh-aw-text-auditor.md

Detailed Action Plan

1. Add new input to each scheduled-report reusable workflow

   • In each .github/workflows/gh-aw-*.md that files scheduled issues, add:
     • on.workflow_call.inputs.close-older-issues
     • type: boolean, required: false, default: true
   • Start with the core ones requested/most visible:
     • .github/workflows/gh-aw-scheduled-audit.md
     • .github/workflows/gh-aw-project-summary.md
     • .github/workflows/gh-aw-performance-profiler.md
   • Then apply to remaining scheduled-audit-based issue-report workflows (15-file set found above) for consistency.

2. Wire safe output to input

   • Replace hardcoded values such as:
     • .github/workflows/gh-aw-scheduled-audit.md:85
     • .github/workflows/gh-aw-project-summary.md:78
   • From:
     • close-older-issues: true
   • To:
     • close-older-issues: $\{\{ inputs.close-older-issues }}

3. Expose override in install examples

   • Update corresponding gh-agent-workflows/*/example.yml to show optional usage:
     • close-older-issues: false (commented or explicit example) under jobs.run.with.

4. Update workflow READMEs

   • Add new row in each affected workflow’s Inputs table:
     • close-older-issues — whether to auto-close older reports with matching prefix.
   • Adjust Safe Outputs text from “auto-closes older reports” to “configurable via input (default true)”.

5. Regenerate and validate

   • Run:
     • make compile
     • make lint-workflows
   • Ensure generated .lock.yml files now include the input-derived GH_AW_SAFE_OUTPUTS_HANDLER_CONFIG value.

Related Items

Type	Link	Relevance
Issue	#354	Current request
PR	#105	Added project-summary with hardcoded close-older-issues: true
PR	#221	Precedent for adding caller-configurable workflow knobs + docs/examples updates
File	.github/workflows/gh-aw-scheduled-audit.md:19-52,80-86	No input today; hardcoded close behavior
File	.github/workflows/gh-aw-project-summary.md:20-30,73-79	Same pattern
File	gh-agent-workflows/scheduled-audit/README.md:34-45	Inputs/docs currently don’t expose this setting

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[github-actions]

This issue was labeled stale on 2026-02-21 and has had no further activity for 30 days. Closing automatically. If this issue is still relevant, please reopen it.