diff --git a/.github/workflows/closed_references.yml b/.github/workflows/closed_references.yml
index 3e21a743..78abc92a 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/closed_references.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/closed_references.yml
@@ -22,6 +22,5 @@ jobs:
       - uses: ory/closed-reference-notifier@v1
         with:
           token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
-          ignore: ".git,**/node_modules,docs,CHANGELOG.md,.bin,*.md"
-          issueLabels: upstream
+          issueLabels: upstream,good first issue,help wanted
           issueLimit: ${{ github.event.inputs.issueLimit || '5' }}
diff --git a/.reference-ignore b/.reference-ignore
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..eee2a89c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.reference-ignore
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+**/node_modules
+docs
+CHANGELOG.md