Clarify update-issue vs close-issue tool descriptions#15475
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Updated tool descriptions and documentation to clarify: - update-issue: Primarily for editing title/body/metadata WITHOUT closing - close-issue: Specifically for closing issues with closing comments Changes: - Updated pkg/workflow/js/safe_outputs_tools.json with clearer tool descriptions - Updated .github/aw/github-agentic-workflows.md with usage notes - Updated .github/aw/create-shared-agentic-workflow.md to list both tools - Updated .github/aw/create-agentic-workflow.md with clarifications Co-authored-by: pelikhan <4175913+pelikhan@users.noreply.github.com>
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[WIP] Clarify tool description for update-issue and close-issue
Clarify update-issue vs close-issue tool descriptions
Feb 13, 2026
pelikhan
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Feb 13, 2026
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Pull request overview
This PR clarifies the intended division of responsibilities between the update_issue and close_issue safe-output tools, and updates agent-facing workflow docs/prompts to reduce confusion around when to use each.
Changes:
- Strengthened
close_issueandupdate_issuetool descriptions to explicitly distinguish “closing with a comment” vs “metadata/content edits”. - Added clarifying parentheticals and an explanatory note in agentic workflow documentation.
- Updated workflow-creation prompts to mention
close-issueexplicitly alongsideupdate-issue.
Reviewed changes
Copilot reviewed 4 out of 4 changed files in this pull request and generated 2 comments.
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| pkg/workflow/js/safe_outputs_tools.json | Updates tool descriptions to discourage using update_issue for closures and direct closures to close_issue. |
| .github/aw/github-agentic-workflows.md | Adds inline guidance and a note clarifying update-issue vs close-issue usage in safe-outputs docs. |
| .github/aw/create-shared-agentic-workflow.md | Updates recommended safe-outputs list to include close-issue and label update-issue as “for editing”. |
| .github/aw/create-agentic-workflow.md | Updates recommended safe-outputs list to explicitly separate editing (update-issue) from closing (close-issue). |
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| { | ||
| "name": "update_issue", | ||
| "description": "Update an existing GitHub issue's status, title, labels, assignees, milestone, or body. Body updates support replacing, appending to, prepending content, or updating a per-run \"island\" section.", | ||
| "description": "Update an existing GitHub issue's title, body, labels, assignees, or milestone WITHOUT closing it. This tool is primarily for editing issue metadata and content. While it supports changing status between 'open' and 'closed', use close_issue instead when you want to close an issue with a closing comment. Body updates support replacing, appending to, prepending content, or updating a per-run \"island\" section.", |
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The update_issue tool description says it updates an issue “WITHOUT closing it”, but the schema still exposes a status field with closed as an allowed value. This is internally inconsistent for the tool consumer. Consider rephrasing to indicate it’s primarily for metadata/body edits, and that while status: closed is supported, close_issue should be used when you want to close with a closing comment.
Suggested change
| "description": "Update an existing GitHub issue's title, body, labels, assignees, or milestone WITHOUT closing it. This tool is primarily for editing issue metadata and content. While it supports changing status between 'open' and 'closed', use close_issue instead when you want to close an issue with a closing comment. Body updates support replacing, appending to, prepending content, or updating a per-run \"island\" section.", | |
| "description": "Update an existing GitHub issue's title, body, labels, assignees, milestone, or status. This tool is primarily for editing issue metadata and content. While it supports changing status between 'open' and 'closed', you should use close_issue instead when you want to close an issue and record a closing comment. Body updates support replacing, appending to, prepending content, or updating a per-run \"island\" section.", |
Recompiled all workflows to incorporate clarified update-issue vs close-issue tool descriptions into the lock files. 8 workflow lock files updated with the new tool descriptions that emphasize the distinction between the two tools. Co-authored-by: pelikhan <4175913+pelikhan@users.noreply.github.com>
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pkg/workflow/js/safe_outputs_tools.jsonupdate_issuetool description to clarify it's for changing title/body/metadata, NOT for closingclose_issuetool description to emphasize it's specifically for closing issues.github/aw/*.mdfiles to clarify the distinction in documentation✨ Let Copilot coding agent set things up for you — coding agent works faster and does higher quality work when set up for your repo.