Update PR-linking guidance to prevent cross-repo issues from auto-closing - #37534
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wadepickett with Copilot wants to merge 3 commits into
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Update PR-linking guidance to prevent cross-repo issues from auto-closing#37534wadepickett with Copilot wants to merge 3 commits into
wadepickett with Copilot wants to merge 3 commits into
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Co-authored-by: wadepickett <10985336+wadepickett@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: wadepickett <10985336+wadepickett@users.noreply.github.com>
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[WIP] Update copilot-instructions.md PR-linking guidance
Update PR-linking guidance to prevent cross-repo issues from auto-closing
Aug 25, 2026
wadepickett
marked this pull request as ready for review
August 25, 2026 21:13
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Pull request overview
This PR updates contributor/agent guidance in the .github meta files to prevent cross-repository issues from being accidentally auto-closed (or incorrectly linked) due to using Fixes #... with an unqualified issue reference in PR descriptions.
Changes:
- Updated Section 6 in
.github/copilot-instructions.mdto distinguish same-repo vs cross-repo issue references (closing vs non-closing, and requiring fully-qualified cross-repo references). - Updated
.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.mdto mirror the same guidance so the template doesn’t reintroduce the problematic pattern.
Reviewed changes
Copilot reviewed 2 out of 2 changed files in this pull request and generated no comments.
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| .github/copilot-instructions.md | Replaces the “always use Fixes #[issue-number]” guidance with same-repo vs cross-repo rules, plus exceptions. |
| .github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md | Updates the PR template instructions comment to match the revised linking/closing guidance. |
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wadepickett
approved these changes
Aug 25, 2026
Youssef1313
approved these changes
Aug 26, 2026
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Section 6 of
.github/copilot-instructions.mdand the PR template both told authors to always useFixes #[issue-number]. For a PR authored in this docs repo against an issue that lives in another repo (e.g.dotnet/aspnetcore), that keyword auto-closes an issue that should stay open, and a bare#[issue-number]resolves to the wrong same-numbered issue in this repo.Changes
.github/copilot-instructions.md(Section 6) — First-line reference rules split by issue origin:Fixes #[issue-number](auto-close, unchanged default).Contributes to [owner]/[repo]#[issue-number](links without closing).Contributes to #[issue-number]; maintainer-requested cross-repo close →Fixes [owner]/[repo]#[issue-number].#[issue-number]disallowed for cross-repo refs. Also refreshedms.date..github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md— Rewrote the instructions comment to mirror the same same-repo/cross-repo split so it doesn't reintroduce the auto-close behavior.Out of scope
.github/skills/whats-new-include-content-rules/SKILL.md— always same-repo, no cross-repo exposure..github/agents/breakingchange.agent.md— not modified.Guidance-only change; enforcement (e.g. a status check validating the first PR-description line) is noted in the issue as a possible follow-up.