github-bot-close-inactive-issues

Bot for automatically closing inactive GitHub issues. Based on configuration, bot will close inactive issues and/or post comments warning that issues will be closed.

For each issue, bot will calculate a last modified time based on comments, events, and issue creation.

• If issue was last modified more than warning_start days ago, a warning comment is posted to the issue.
• Warning messages will not be posted more than every warning_frequency days.
• If issue was last modified more than closing days ago, a comment is posted and the issue is closed.

Both warning comment and closing comment are configurable.

Intallation

Stable Release

pip install github-bot-close-inactive-issues

Development Release

git clone https://github.com/bstriner/github-bot-close-inactive-issues.git
cd github-bot-close-inactive-issues
python setup.py install

Configuration

Bot expects the configuration file github_bot.yml in the user's home directory. A different file path can be provided by using the --config command line option. Most configuration can also be overridden by the command line.

user: user
token: token
repo: user/repo
messages:
  warning: >
    Warning: this issue has been inactive for {days_inactive} days and
    will be automatically closed on {deadline:%Y-%m-%d} if there is no further activity.
  closing: >
    Notice: this issue has been closed because it has been inactive for {days_inactive} days.
    You may reopen this issue if it has been closed in error.
schedule:
  warning_start: 14 # days before starting warnings
  warning_frequency: 7 # minimum time between warnings
  closing: 56 # days before closing

# label to add to issues when closing automatically (optional)
# label: inactive

# issue warnings instead of closing until this date (optional)
# first_closing_date: 2017-03-01 12:00:00

# path to custom logging configuration (optional)
# logging-config: /home/user/logging.conf

# Do not warn or close issues opened by these users (optional)
# ignore-users:
#   - username1
#   - username2

# Do not warn or close issues with these labels (optional)
# ignore-labels:
#   - label1
#   - label2

Scripts

github-rate-limit.py

Use github-rate-limit.py to check connection and rate limit.

usage: github-rate-limit.py [-h] [--config CONFIG]
                            [--logging-config LOGGING_CONFIG] [--user USER]
                            [--token TOKEN]

Check rate limit.

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  --config CONFIG       Configuration file
  --logging-config LOGGING_CONFIG
                        Logging configuration file
  --user USER           Github user
  --token TOKEN         Github token

github-close-inactive-issues.py

Use github-close-inactive-issues.py to close inactive issues and post warnings.

usage: github-close-inactive-issues.py [-h] [--config CONFIG]
                                      [--logging-config LOGGING_CONFIG]
                                       [--user USER] [--token TOKEN]
                                       [--repo REPO] [--test]

Run bot to maintain issues.

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  --config CONFIG       Configuration file
  --logging-config LOGGING_CONFIG
                        Logging configuration file
  --user USER           Github user
  --token TOKEN         Github token
  --repo REPO           Repository
  --test                Print actions that would be taken but do not modify repository

Notes

Tokens and Rate Limits

You can use a password for your token but you will be rate limited to 60 requests per hour. Create an access token to raise the rate limit to 5000 per hour.

Creating an Access Token for Command Line Use

You may provide the access token to the bot either on the command line or in the configuration file.

You should set permissions to the configuration file such that only the bot can view it.

Use a Dedicated Account

Use a dedicated user account for the bot. The bot calculates last modified time by checking for comments for users other than the bot. Otherwise, each time the bot posted a warning the last modified date would reset. If you use your own account for the bot, it may close an issue if that account is the only one commenting on that issue.

• Make sure to verify your account's email address
• Add that account as a collaborator to your repository
• Keep your bot account password and token secret!

first_closing_date

If you include first_closing_date in your configuration, the bot will not begin closing issues until that date. The bot will issue warnings as usual.

If the calculated closing date of an issue is before the first_closing_date, the closing date will be pushed back until that date.

Logging

Bot uses python logging module. A default logging.conf is provided but can be overridden by including logging-config in github_bot.yml or passing --logging-config on the command line.

Labels

Bot can add a label to issues when they are closed. Make sure to create that label on GitHub and confirm that the name exactly matches the name in the configuration file.

Ignoring users

Bot can ignore issues created by selected users, such as the repository owner.

Questions?

Please feel free to submit issues or pull requests if you have any questions or concerns. Cheers!