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Close Pull Requests

This repository provides two methods to close all open pull requests with a comment explaining that this is a template repository maintained by the Codespaces team:

  1. Node.js Script - Run locally with a GitHub token
  2. GitHub Actions Workflow - Trigger from the GitHub UI (recommended)

Method 1: GitHub Actions Workflow (Recommended)

Usage

  1. Go to the repository on GitHub
  2. Click on Actions tab
  3. Select Close Open Pull Requests workflow from the left sidebar
  4. Click Run workflow button
  5. Choose whether to do a dry run first (recommended):
    • Select true for dry run (lists PRs without closing them)
    • Select false to actually close the PRs
  6. Click Run workflow to start

Advantages

  • No need to install anything locally
  • Uses built-in GitHub authentication
  • Safe dry-run mode to preview what will happen
  • All actions are logged in the workflow run
  • Can be scheduled or triggered by events

Method 2: Node.js Script

This script closes all open pull requests in the github/haikus-for-codespaces repository with a comment explaining that this is a template repository maintained by the Codespaces team.

Prerequisites

  • Node.js installed
  • A GitHub Personal Access Token with repo permissions

How to Get a GitHub Token

  1. Go to https://github.com/settings/tokens
  2. Click "Generate new token" (classic)
  3. Give it a descriptive name like "Close PRs Script"
  4. Select the repo scope (full control of private repositories)
  5. Click "Generate token"
  6. Copy the token immediately (you won't be able to see it again)

Usage

# Set your GitHub token as an environment variable
export GITHUB_TOKEN=your_github_token_here

# Run the script
node close-prs.js

Or in a single command:

GITHUB_TOKEN=your_github_token_here node close-prs.js

What the Script Does

  1. Fetches all open pull requests in the repository
  2. For each open PR:
    • Adds a comment: "This is a template repo, with changes owned by the Codespaces team."
    • Closes the pull request
  3. Reports the status of each operation

Example Output

Fetching open PRs for github/haikus-for-codespaces...
Found 8 open pull request(s).

Processing PR #463: [WIP] Force close all open PRs in template repo
  Adding comment...
  Closing PR...
  ✓ Successfully closed PR #463

Processing PR #462: Create from wahyu to ania
  Adding comment...
  Closing PR...
  ✓ Successfully closed PR #462

...

Done!

Security Notes

  • Never commit your GitHub token to the repository
  • Use environment variables to pass sensitive credentials
  • The token should have minimal required permissions (repo scope)
  • Consider deleting the token after use

Alternative: Using GitHub CLI

If you have gh (GitHub CLI) installed, you can also use it:

# List all open PRs
gh pr list --repo github/haikus-for-codespaces --state open

# Close each PR with a comment (manual approach)
gh pr close <PR_NUMBER> --repo github/haikus-for-codespaces --comment "This is a template repo, with changes owned by the Codespaces team."

Notes

  • This script uses the native Node.js https module (no external dependencies required)
  • The script will process all open PRs, including the one it was created from
  • Failed operations are logged but don't stop the script from processing remaining PRs