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docs: prevent accidental Issue closure from negated PR closing keywords

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Assessment

Difficulty
2/5
Estimated time
1-3 hours
Newbie friendliness
78/100
Issue type
Documentation
Clarity
Clearly specified
Activity status
Active
Tech stack
github, python
Domain
documentation

Research direction

Start by locating the public PR or contributor guidance and the existing PR template, then check how they describe issue references. Add a source-backed explanation with the requested before/after example, cite GitHub’s official documentation with a review date, and validate links through normal CI. Done when the guidance distinguishes intentional closing references from links to ongoing issues and keeps #28’s acceptance independent of #37.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Description

Reproduced maintainer problem (2026-10-20)

When PR #37 merged, Issue #28 was unexpectedly marked completed even though its scoped browser/keyboard/zoom acceptance remained open. The PR description included a negated expression that nonetheless contained the recognized GitHub closing keyword immediately before an issue reference. The issue closure event happened at the PR merge time; the issue has now been reopened, the description clarified, and an explanation added to the issue. This is a concrete repository-maintenance footgun, not a hypothetical warning.

GitHub officially lists close(s), fix(es) and resolve(s) + issue references as auto-closing instructions in PR descriptions and commit messages: official documentation.

Bounded product change

  • Add a short, source-backed paragraph/example to BeautifulRepo's public PR/contributor guidance distinguishing intentional closing references from ordinary mentions to ongoing issues.
  • Use Related: #N or Follow-up: #N to link an unfinished issue. Avoid putting a recognized closing keyword directly before #N even in a negated sentence.
  • Include one concrete before/after, citing PR #37 and Issue #28 (without private controls or personal data).
  • Verify the existing PR template and docs make the distinction easy to follow; tests only if a repository-owned template contract genuinely benefits.
  • Do not change the repository-level auto-close setting or install automations.

Acceptance

  • Clear reader-facing example of the incorrect negated pattern vs deliberate Closes #N.
  • Correct explanation of GitHub's native behavior and a primary-source link with review date.
  • Documentation references/links validated in normal CI.
  • Leave #28's browser/accessibility acceptance independent; do not represent it as resolved by #37.

Priority P2. This is separate from the actual UI/accessibility work in #28 and the overall readiness index #33.

Dominant language
Python
Stars
2
Forks
0
Avg merge
1d 2h
Merged PRs (30d)
19

Getting set up

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

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