Stalled PR Close Policies

Two PR-only close reasons handle external pull requests that stop making progress: stalled_unproven_pr and abandoned_pr. Both are review-proposed and apply-guarded like every other close reason: review records the proposal, and apply re-checks live GitHub state immediately before any mutation.

Both reasons are for non-maintainer pull requests only. Maintainer-authored PRs, protected labels, and the standard exemption labels (clawsweeper:human-review, clawsweeper:manual-only, clawsweeper:autofix, clawsweeper:automerge) always block them.

#stalled_unproven_pr

An external PR was asked for real-behavior proof, the ask expired, and the branch is low-rated and idle.

Review may propose it only when all of these hold:

• realBehaviorProof.status is missing, mock_only, or insufficient;
• prRating.overallTier is D or F;
• the proof requirement is visible on the PR (ClawSweeper review comment,

proof nudge, or a needs-proof label).

Apply additionally verifies live state:

• the PR is older than 14 days and its current head has no source-triggered

workflow run associated with that pull request created in the last 14 days. This immutable run creation time counts a push of an old commit as fresh activity without letting later CI reruns reset the clock. A force-push event targeting the current head also resets the clock; missing source-activity data keeps the PR open;

• a dated proof request is visible on the PR — a needs-proof label timeline

event or a proof-nudge comment — and that request is at least 14 days old, so the contributor had a real window to respond. The durable review comment is edited in place and cannot date the ask, so it does not count;

• the PR is not a draft (drafts route to abandoned_pr instead);
• no proof: sufficient or proof: override label is present;
• no human engagement: no assignee, requested reviewer/team, or

maintainer comment/review/inline comment.

The close comment names the missing proof kind and invites reopening with a live run, logs, or a reproducible validation transcript. Historical proof-nudge comments still count as dated proof requests; the proof-nudge lane itself was retired in July 2026.

#abandoned_pr

An external PR has clearly been abandoned in a non-landable state.

Review may propose it for stalled external PRs, but not for high-quality proven work: an S/A/B overall rating with sufficient or overridden proof blocks the reason because that work belongs in repair/adopt paths.

Apply additionally verifies live state:

• the PR is older than 30 days and its current head has no source-triggered

workflow run associated with that pull request created in the last 30 days, using the same push-safe, rerun-stable inactivity clock as stalled_unproven_pr;

• the live PR is still stalled: a draft, labeled

status: ⏳ waiting on author, failing checks, or not cleanly mergeable due to conflicts on its current head (combined status failure/error, or a check run concluding failure/timed_out) on its current head;

• no human engagement, same checks as above.

The close comment acknowledges the useful part of the work, states the observed inactivity window and stalled state, and invites a rebased reopen or a fresh PR with green checks.

#Failure posture

Live-state probes run through safe wrappers: if any GitHub read fails, the apply run records a skip reason and keeps the PR open. Snapshot drift rules still apply — any new commit, comment, or label change since the review blocks the close until a fresh review confirms the proposal.