Automate 'needs more info' label lifecycle: follow-up and auto-close

[Copilot]

Reduces manual issue triage overhead by automating follow-up and closure of stale issues awaiting user input.

Implementation

Workflow: .github/workflows/needs-more-info.yml

• Runs twice daily (5:30, 17:30 UTC) + manual dispatch
• Scans open issues with needs more info label

Lifecycle:

1. T+14d: Posts follow-up if author inactive for 2 weeks
2. On author reply: Pings label creator + assignees, then stops (no auto-close per requirements)
3. T+28d: Closes if no author reply within 14d of follow-up
4. Label re-add: Resets cycle using most recent labeled event

Technical approach

Uses actions/github-script@v7 for API control. Key logic:

• Filters comments by timestamp relative to most recent label addition
• Distinguishes author replies before/after follow-up comment
• Bot comment detection via string matching (consistent with repo patterns)

Edge case handling:

• Multiple label additions (uses most recent)
• Author replies before follow-up (delays follow-up, doesn't close)
• Author replies after follow-up (pings team, skips closure logic)

Restrictions:

• Only runs on dotnet/sdk (not forks)
• Requires issues: write permission

Original prompt

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This section details on the original issue you should resolve

<issue_title>'Needs More Info' label - automatic follow up, automatic closure</issue_title>
<issue_description>It will help us be more diligent and save time from issue management if we have a GitHub actions workflow that detects the 'needs more info' label and follows up with the customer. We should give them ample time to reply (perhaps, 2 wk) - if the customer does reply, ping whoever added the needs more info label. (We could ping the assignee as well if one exists.) Let's not close the issue based on inactivity after that point, since we don't often have enough bandwidth to respond to all issues in a timely manner, and we don't want to frustrate the customer. However, if the customer does not add more info, or the label is re-added and again goes idle for 2 weeks, then we should automatically close the issue with a message asking them to refile the issue and provide the requested info if they still have the issue. </issue_description>

Comments on the Issue (you are @copilot in this section)

• Fixes 'Needs More Info' label - automatic follow up, automatic closure #52615

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