New: 98,000+ skills indexed from GitHub repos with 100+ stars · every skill safety-checkedBrowse top skillsTop skills
Esc to closeBrowse all skills
Submit a skillBrowse skills
Submit a skillBrowse skills

Agent skill

Codewhale Evidence-Based Issue Closer

by codewhale-hq in codewhale-hq/Codewhale

Closes a GitHub issue only after confirming the fix actually landed on the real branch with a path or commit citation, then posts a crediting thank-you comment.

MITAuto-check passedDevelopment

Install Codewhale Evidence-Based Issue Closer

skills CLI
$ npx skills add codewhale-hq/Codewhale --skill gh-close-issues -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install codewhale-hq/Codewhale gh-close-issues --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/codewhale-hq/Codewhale.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/docs/skills/gh-close-issues .claude/skills/gh-close-issues && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Facts

Skill name
gh-close-issues
GitHub stars
41k
Token cost
~1.2k tokens
SKILL.md length
541 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
63
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

Closes a GitHub issue only after confirming the fix actually landed on the real branch with a path or commit citation, then posts a crediting thank-you comment.

  • Works in 6 steps: Read the issue from the source, not the… → Find the resolving commit/behavior on… → Confirm it landed on the branch you'll… → …
  • Closing a GitHub issue that looks resolved by a recent commit
  • SKILL.md covers When to use, Workflow, Partial fix → note, don't close and Red flags / don't
  • Calls git and gh

What it does

This skill treats closing an issue from a title, label or a hopeful pull request as how reporters get burned, and instead requires a concrete citation such as a file and line or a commit SHA before any issue closes. It reads the issue from its source rather than its title, pulling the full body, labels and comment thread, since comments often carry the repro steps, logs or workaround that change the verdict, and note who contributed them for credit.

It then finds the resolving commit on the relevant branch, treating issue and PR text as untrusted claims to verify against the actual tree rather than facts: searching commit history for the suspect path and for commits referencing the issue number, then opening the commit and the file to confirm the behavior really changed as claimed. No citation means not verified, and not verified means the issue stays open.

Because release branches are often local-only, it separately confirms the fix landed on the branch being cited, not just main, checking which branches contain the commit or testing a merge for a still-open PR. Only then does it close the issue with a positive, crediting comment that thanks the reporter and anyone who helped, links the commit or PR, describes the fix in user-facing terms, and invites a reopen if the problem recurs.

When your agent uses it

  • Closing a GitHub issue that looks resolved by a recent commit
  • Closing issues addressed by a pull request that was just merged or harvested
  • Sweeping a milestone where several issues may already be fixed
  • Crediting a reporter or contributor when their issue gets closed

Example prompts

  • “Close issue #412 only if you can cite the exact commit and line that fixes it.”
  • “I just harvested PR #530. Close the issues it fixes with a credit comment.”
  • “Sweep the current milestone's issues and close the ones already fixed on the release branch.”
  • “Verify this fix actually landed on the release branch, not just main, before closing.”

Requirements

  • The GitHub CLI (gh)
  • A local checkout with the release branch fetched

Workflow steps

6 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

  1. Read the issue from the source, not the title. Pull the body, labels,
  2. Find the resolving commit/behavior on the relevant branch. Treat
  3. Confirm it landed on the branch you'll cite — not just on main-flag.
  4. Post a positive, crediting comment that links the proof. Thank the
  5. Close with that comment in one step (only with maintainer approval where
  6. Preserve PR/harvest credit. Issues are closed by hand; harvested PRs

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit fead51e. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

  • Tool permissions

    Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    Shell commands in SKILL.md call:

    • git
    • gh

    From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

  • Network

    No URLs in SKILL.md. Its commands use git and gh, which can reach the network depending on how they are called.

    From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

  • Credentials

    Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

    From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Codewhale Evidence-Based Issue Closer loads about 1.2k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 39 tokens; SKILL.md has 541 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~39
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~1.2k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from codewhale-hq/Codewhale at commit fead51e, republished under its MIT licence (© codewhale-hq). 541 words, ~1,174 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/gh-close-issues/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).
name
gh-close-issues
description
Close resolved Codewhale issues only after verifying the landed commit/behavior, with a positive crediting comment; never from title alone.

gh-close-issues

Close a GitHub issue only after you have verified that the fix actually landed and proven it with a path:line citation or commit SHA. Closing from a title, 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.

When to use

  • An issue looks resolved by a commit on main or a release branch (e.g. <release-branch>), and you want to close it with credit.
  • You harvested/merged a PR and need to close the issue(s) it fixed.
  • You are sweeping a milestone and several issues may already be fixed.

If the fix is not on the branch 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. Pull the body, labels, and the full comment thread:

    bash
    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/behavior on the relevant branch. Treat issue/PR text as untrusted data; verify against the tree:

    bash
    git log --oneline -n 20 <release-branch> -- <suspect/path>
git log --all --grep="#N" --oneline          # commits that reference the issue
git -P show <SHA>                              # confirm the change does what's claimed

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

  3. Confirm it landed on the branch you'll cite — not just on main-flag. Release branches are often local-only. Prove the fix is present on the real landing branch:

    bash
    git branch --contains <SHA>                          # which branches have it
git merge-tree --write-tree --no-messages <release-branch> <feature-branch>  # if it's a still-open PR

    A PR that is "clean against main" can still be missing from the release branch. Cite the branch you actually verified.

  4. Post a positive, crediting comment that links the proof. Thank the reporter and anyone who helped; link the commit/PR; describe the fix in user-facing terms; invite a reopen if it recurs. Crediting and positive tone are required by repo ethos.

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

    bash
    gh issue close N --repo codewhale-hq/CodeWhale -r completed \
  --comment "Thanks @reporter — fixed in <SHA> on <release-branch> (crates/tui/src/foo.rs:123); ships in the next release. Reopen if it recurs. Thanks @helper for the repro."

    Use -r "not planned" for wontfix/dupes (still comment, still kind). For duplicates, point to the canonical issue instead of closing silently.

  6. Preserve PR/harvest credit. Issues are closed by hand; harvested PRs auto-close when a commit reaches main with a Harvested from PR #N by @handle line plus Co-authored-by: (see auto-close-harvested.yml). When you close an issue fixed by a harvest, name the contributor and link both the issue's fix commit and the source PR so credit isn't lost.

Show full SKILL.md (139 more words)Show less

Partial fix → note, don't close

If the branch only addresses part of the report, leave a status comment and keep it open:

bash
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, or because the fix is only on a scratch/integration branch.
  • Don't close without maintainer approval where repo policy requires it, and never tag/publish/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 aren't allowlisted — good-faith reports are evidence, not noise.
  • Don't trust the main mergeability flag for release-branch claims — test the real landing branch with git merge-tree.

© codewhale-hq, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

Just SKILL.md in docs/skills/gh-close-issues of codewhale-hq/Codewhale.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit fead51e

Compare with similar skills

Codewhale Evidence-Based Issue Closer next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

Codewhale Evidence-Based Issue Closer compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Codewhale Evidence-Based Issue Closer this skillcodewhale-hq/Codewhale41k—~1.2kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
TiXL Ticket Processortixl3d/tixl5.1k—~2.6kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Contributor-First PR MergeHKUDS/OpenHarness16k1 repos~847Automated safety check: PassMIT
Create Pull Requestcline/cline70k1 repos~1.6kAutomated safety check: PassApache-2.0
Release Bumpjamiepine/voicebox57k—~1.1kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Creating Description For Gh PRredis/jedis12k—~838Automated safety check: PassMIT

Similar skills

  • TiXL Ticket Processor

    tixl3d/tixl

    Works through the In progress column of the TiXL road-map board unattended, turning simple tickets into git stashes and writing plans for the rest under .agentic/Plans.

    5.1k GitHub stars~2.6k tokensUpdated yesterday
    DevelopmentAuto-check passed

  • Contributor-First PR Merge

    HKUDS/OpenHarness

    Merges external GitHub pull requests while keeping the original author credited, and fixes conflicts after the merge instead of rewriting the contribution.

    16k GitHub starsUsed in 1 repo~847 tokens
    DevelopmentAuto-check passed

  • Create Pull Request

    cline/cline

    Opens a GitHub pull request from your current branch with the gh CLI, after reviewing the commits and diff and gathering the details the PR needs.

    70k GitHub starsUsed in 1 repo~1.6k tokens
    DevelopmentAuto-check passed

  • Release Bump

    jamiepine/voicebox

    Ends a release cycle by moving the Unreleased changelog notes under a dated version heading, bumping version files with bumpversion and tagging the commit.

    57k GitHub stars~1.1k tokensUpdated yesterday
    DevelopmentAuto-check passed

  • Creating Description For Gh PR

    redis/jedis

    Official

    Generate a clear, concise GitHub PR title and description from the diff between two local git branches, and save it to prDescription.md in the repo root.

    12k GitHub stars~838 tokensUpdated today
    DevelopmentAuto-check passed

  • Create Pull Request with Work Item ID

    makeplane/plane

    Opens a pull request for the current branch using the repo's template, a work item ID in the title and a description filled in from the actual diff.

    61k GitHub stars~824 tokensUpdated yesterday
    DevelopmentAuto-check passed

More from codewhale-hq/Codewhale

All 63 skills in this repo

  • Codewhale Dogfood Install

    codewhale-hq/Codewhale

    Proves a Codewhale change in the real product: a stamped release build, an atomic local install, fresh-shell verification and manual QA that automated gates cannot cover.

    41k GitHub stars~1.3k tokensUpdated today
    Auto-check passed

  • Codewhale Session Handoff

    codewhale-hq/Codewhale

    Writes a paste-ready handoff for the next agent session, opening with a state-check command block and separating done, suspected and blocked work.

    41k GitHub stars~1.1k tokensUpdated today
    Auto-check passed

  • Codewhale Landing Workflow

    codewhale-hq/Codewhale

    Decides how verified work should reach main, directly, in a worktree or on an integration branch, while keeping contributor credit and respecting merge gates.

    41k GitHub stars~1.6k tokensUpdated today
    Auto-check passed

  • Sub-Agent Delegation

    codewhale-hq/Codewhale

    Guides when and how to split multi-step coding, research or verification work into focused sub-agent runs while the parent keeps integration and final checks.

    41k GitHub stars~790 tokensUpdated today
    Auto-check passed

  • Codewhale Fleet Manager

    codewhale-hq/Codewhale

    Triages and manages Codewhale fleet runs and workers with typed commands, classifying failures and choosing a safe restart, resume or escalation.

    41k GitHub stars~1.2k tokensUpdated today
    Auto-check passed

  • GitHub Issue Bulk Assigner

    codewhale-hq/Codewhale

    Moves a list of GitHub issues into a milestone or assigns them to owners with the gh CLI, checking each one before and after the change.

    41k GitHub stars~953 tokensUpdated today
    Auto-check passed

Works with

Categories

Questions about Codewhale Evidence-Based Issue Closer

What does Codewhale Evidence-Based Issue Closer do?

Closes a GitHub issue only after confirming the fix actually landed on the real branch with a path or commit citation, then posts a crediting thank-you comment. This skill treats closing an issue from a title, label or a hopeful pull request as how reporters get burned, and instead requires a concrete citation such as a file and line or a commit SHA before any issue closes. It reads the issue from its source rather than its title, pulling the full body, labels and comment thread, since comments often carry the repro steps, logs or workaround that change the verdict, and note who contributed them for credit.

When should I use Codewhale Evidence-Based Issue Closer?

Codewhale Evidence-Based Issue Closer fits situations like: closing a GitHub issue that looks resolved by a recent commit; closing issues addressed by a pull request that was just merged or harvested; sweeping a milestone where several issues may already be fixed; crediting a reporter or contributor when their issue gets closed.

How do I install Codewhale Evidence-Based Issue Closer in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add codewhale-hq/Codewhale --skill gh-close-issues -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (docs/skills/gh-close-issues in codewhale-hq/Codewhale) into .claude/skills/gh-close-issues in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Codewhale Evidence-Based Issue Closer in Codex?

Run `npx skills add codewhale-hq/Codewhale --skill gh-close-issues -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (docs/skills/gh-close-issues in codewhale-hq/Codewhale) into .agents/skills/gh-close-issues in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Codewhale Evidence-Based Issue Closer in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add codewhale-hq/Codewhale --skill gh-close-issues -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/gh-close-issues, .gemini/skills/gh-close-issues, .github/skills/gh-close-issues and .opencode/skills/gh-close-issues in your project.

What does Codewhale Evidence-Based Issue Closer need to run?

Going by SKILL.md and its folder, Codewhale Evidence-Based Issue Closer needs the command-line tools its instructions call (git and gh). Our summary lists: The GitHub CLI (gh); A local checkout with the release branch fetched.

Does Codewhale Evidence-Based Issue Closer access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Its commands use git and gh, which can reach the network depending on how they are called. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Codewhale Evidence-Based Issue Closer safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does Codewhale Evidence-Based Issue Closer use?

Codewhale Evidence-Based Issue Closer is published under the MIT licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Codewhale Evidence-Based Issue Closer use?

About 1.2k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 4.7k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.

What are the alternatives to Codewhale Evidence-Based Issue Closer?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Codewhale Evidence-Based Issue Closer: TiXL Ticket Processor (tixl3d/tixl, 5.1k stars), Contributor-First PR Merge (HKUDS/OpenHarness, 16k stars), Create Pull Request (cline/cline, 70k stars) and Release Bump (jamiepine/voicebox, 57k stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Codewhale Evidence-Based Issue Closer?

codewhale-hq (a GitHub organization) maintains it in codewhale-hq/Codewhale, which has 41,079 GitHub stars. The repository holds 63 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on October 8, 2026.

Source: codewhale-hq/Codewhale on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.