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Sub-Issue Closer

Automatically closes parent issues when all their sub-issues are completed

Overview

The Sub-Issue Closer is an automated workflow that maintains a clean and organized issue tracker by automatically closing parent issues when all of their sub-issues have been completed. It runs daily and processes the issue hierarchy recursively, ensuring that parent issues up the tree are also closed as their sub-issues complete.

How It Works

  1. Scans for Parent Issues: The workflow searches for open issues that have sub-issues (tracked issues)
  2. Checks Completion Status: For each parent issue, it verifies that ALL sub-issues are closed
  3. Closes Completed Parents: When a parent issue has 100% of its sub-issues closed, it automatically closes the parent
  4. Processes Recursively: After closing a parent, it checks if that parent is itself a sub-issue of another parent, and repeats the process up the tree
  5. Adds Transparency: Each closure includes an explanatory comment showing the sub-issue completion status

Why This Is Valuable

  • Keeps Issue Tracker Clean: Automatically closes parent issues that are implicitly complete
  • Saves Manual Work: Eliminates the need to manually track and close parent issues
  • Provides Clarity: Team members can see at a glance which initiatives are fully complete
  • Recursive Processing: Handles nested issue hierarchies automatically
  • Conservative Approach: Only closes when absolutely certain all sub-issues are done

When It Runs

  • Daily: Automatically runs once per day on a fuzzy schedule
  • On-Demand: Can be manually triggered via workflow_dispatch

Example Scenario

Imagine you have a parent issue tracking a new feature with 5 sub-issues:

Issue #100: "Feature: Add User Profile"
├── #101: "Design profile page" [CLOSED]
├── #102: "Implement backend API" [CLOSED]
├── #103: "Create frontend UI" [CLOSED]
├── #104: "Write tests" [CLOSED]
└── #105: "Update documentation" [CLOSED]

When the last sub-issue (#105) is closed, the next time Sub-Issue Closer runs, it will:

  1. Detect that issue #100 has all 5 sub-issues closed (100%)
  2. Automatically close issue #100
  3. Add a comment: "🎉 Automatically closed by Sub-Issue Closer - All sub-issues completed (5/5)"
  4. Check if #100 is itself a sub-issue of a higher-level parent and repeat

Configuration

The workflow is configured with conservative limits:

  • Maximum 20 issues closed per run: Prevents accidental mass closures
  • Maximum 20 comments added per run: Respects API rate limits
  • Daily schedule: Provides regular cleanup without overwhelming noise
  • Read-only GitHub permissions: Cannot modify code, only issue status

Best Practices

  • Use Sub-Issues: Create parent issues with sub-issues to track multi-part work
  • Keep Sub-Issues Updated: Close sub-issues promptly when completed
  • Trust the Automation: The workflow is conservative and only closes when 100% certain
  • Review Closure Comments: Each automated closure includes a transparent explanation

What Makes This Workflow Special

  • Simple and Focused: Does one thing well - closes completed parent issues
  • Language-Agnostic: Works with any repository that uses GitHub Issues
  • Zero Configuration: Works out-of-the-box with standard GitHub issue tracking
  • Recursive Logic: Handles complex nested issue hierarchies automatically
  • Transparent Operation: Every action is logged and explained in comments

Merge Rate

While this workflow doesn't create pull requests (it manages issues directly), its sister workflow in the gh-aw repository has been deployed successfully and operates automatically without intervention, demonstrating its reliability and effectiveness in production use.

Adding to Your Repository

gh aw add workflows/sub-issue-closer.md
gh aw compile

Then commit and push the compiled workflow to your repository.

Related Workflows

  • Issue Triage - Automatically labels and organizes new issues
  • Daily Plan - Creates and updates planning issues with sub-tasks

Learn More