Synthetic Industry

Inspectable example · updated 2026-10-12

Example backlog sheet: one state per issue, with the evidence and a reopen list

Five invented issues sorted into keep, possible duplicate, needs information and proposed stale, with the evidence for each and a closure batch a person approves.

An example, not a customer case study. Scope and evidence limitations are described below.

This sheet is synthetic

The tracker, the issues and the dates are invented. The example shows the columns and the four states. Nothing is closed by the sheet; a person approves a batch.

The sheet

One row per issue. Every state carries its evidence.

If the matrix is wider than the box, scroll horizontally to read every column. Keyboard: focus the matrix and use Left/Right.

SYNTHETIC EXAMPLE: five rows from an invented backlog of 412 issues. Stale rule: 365 days without activity.

ROW  ISSUE  STATE                EVIDENCE                                             LABELS (suggested)
1    #118   keep                 reproduced in comments by two users in the last 60 d  bug, checkout
2    #203   possible duplicate   same error text as #187; both show "token expired"   (link both)
3    #251   needs information    no version or steps; question: "Which version?"      question
4    #77    proposed stale       last activity 640 days ago; no comments since       (none)
5    #302   keep                 one comment from a maintainer 12 days ago            feature

DUPLICATES VIEW
  #203 ~ #187   matching text: "Error: token expired at refresh" in both bodies

CLOSURE BATCH (for approval)
  #77    proposed stale   reopen list: yes

SUMMARY BY STATE (412 issues)
  keep 151   possible duplicate 38   needs information 97   proposed stale 126

Nothing was closed or edited. A person on your side approves the batch.

Why a person closes

A contributor to a large project proposed treating a stale bot as a one-off cleanup; maintainers in the thread disagreed and the proposal was closed as not planned. The contributor argued that closing by silence alone can discard issues that still matter.

GitHub warns that labels can trigger other automation, so suggested labels stay in the sheet.

  • A reopen list undoes a mistake
  • Suggested labels stay in the sheet

Sources and limits

  • etcd issue 21051: stale bot proposal Checked 2026-10-12.
    • A contributor proposed on 25 December 2025 to treat a stale bot as a completed one-off cleanup mission and wrote that silence is not low value.
    • Maintainers in the thread disagreed with the proposal, and one said missing details, not neglect, explain stalled issues. The proposal was closed as not planned.
  • GitHub Agentic Workflows: AI issue triage example Checked 2026-10-12.
    • The example agent holds only contents: read and issues: read, and writes go through safe outputs that check label names and comment content first.
    • The page warns that labels can trigger other automation.