Keep scheduled workflows alive #128

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Copilot wants to merge 13 commits into main from copilot/add-scheduled-repo-keep-alive-job

+151 −3

Copilot AI commented Jan 29, 2026 •

edited

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GitHub disables scheduled workflows after 60 days of repository inactivity. This workflow prevents deactivation.

Implementation

Monthly cron check (1st of month) - must run within 60 days or workflow disables itself
Checks last commit date on default branch
If inactive >30 days: creates/updates draft PR with empty commits on persistent keep-alive-workflow branch
If active: no-op

Why empty commits

Empty commits generate activity without modifying repository content. The draft PR is reopened/closed to register activity.

# Runs monthly, must execute within 60 days
schedule:
  - cron: "0 0 1 * *"

Fully automated. No human intervention required.

✨ Let Copilot coding agent set things up for you — coding agent works faster and does higher quality work when set up for your repo.


          Initial plan

f5d404e

Copilot AI assigned Copilot and TimHess

Copilot started work on behalf of TimHess

January 29, 2026 17:19

Copilot AI and others added 4 commits

January 29, 2026 17:21


          Add keep-alive workflow to prevent scheduled workflow deactivation

1dc3437

Co-authored-by: TimHess <3947063+TimHess@users.noreply.github.com>


          Add error handling to keep-alive workflow

6a88054

Co-authored-by: TimHess <3947063+TimHess@users.noreply.github.com>


          Address code review feedback: improve regex, branch handling, and doc…

58da803

…umentation

Co-authored-by: TimHess <3947063+TimHess@users.noreply.github.com>


          Add comprehensive documentation to keep-alive workflow

5b30f0d

Co-authored-by: TimHess <3947063+TimHess@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot AI changed the title ~~[WIP] Add job to keep repository alive via scheduled trigger~~ Add automated keep-alive workflow for scheduled jobs

Copilot AI requested a review from TimHess

January 29, 2026 17:26

Copilot finished work on behalf of TimHess

January 29, 2026 17:26

Member

TimHess commented Jan 29, 2026

@copilot I didn't realize opening and closing a PR would be a viable solution here - can it be the same PR (or issue) that's closed/open/modified? If we could edit or open/close the same PR it would be even less of a hassle. Also, this process doesn't appear to require human intervention, so we can run it every 59 days and forget about the buffer window

Copilot started work on behalf of TimHess

January 29, 2026 17:43


          Simplify keep-alive workflow to reuse same PR every ~59 days

cfa441d

Co-authored-by: TimHess <3947063+TimHess@users.noreply.github.com>

Author

Copilot AI commented Jan 29, 2026

@copilot I didn't realize opening and closing a PR would be a viable solution here - can it be the same PR (or issue) that's closed/open/modified? If we could edit or open/close the same PR it would b...

Yes, great suggestions! I've updated the workflow to:

Reuse the same PR: Uses a persistent branch (keep-alive-workflow) and the same PR that gets reopened/closed each time. Much cleaner than creating new PRs.
Run every ~59 days: Changed from monthly to cron: "0 0 1 */2 *" (every 2 months = ~59-62 days). Since this requires no human intervention, we don't need the extra buffer.

The workflow now:

Creates one persistent branch and PR on first run
Every ~59 days: reopens the PR (if closed) then immediately closes it with a timestamp comment
Zero noise after initial setup

Commit: cfa441d

Copilot finished work on behalf of TimHess

January 29, 2026 17:46

TimHess added 2 commits

January 30, 2026 15:16


          run keep-alive every month

769babd

- bump a couple other action refs
- whitespace cleanup


          Merge branch 'main' into copilot/add-scheduled-repo-keep-alive-job

37588ed

TimHess marked this pull request as ready for review

January 30, 2026 21:19

TimHess marked this pull request as draft

January 30, 2026 21:20

TimHess added 2 commits

January 30, 2026 15:27


          move commit message and pr body to env vars for easier formatting

f031123


          add step to check for activity in the last 30 days to reduce noise

ba20ecb

TimHess marked this pull request as ready for review

February 2, 2026 22:28

TimHess requested a review from bart-vmware

February 2, 2026 22:29

bart-vmware reviewed

View reviewed changes

.github/workflows/keep-alive.yml Outdated

Comment on lines 8 to 12

+              #   1. Runs on the first day of every month
+              #   2. Checks if the keep-alive PR exists
+              #   3. If PR doesn't exist, creates it with a persistent branch
+              #   4. Reopens the PR (if closed) and immediately closes it again
+              #   5. This activity prevents workflow deactivation

Member

bart-vmware Feb 3, 2026

This and the PR_BODY below don't indicate that an empty commit is being pushed.

bart-vmware reviewed

View reviewed changes

.github/workflows/keep-alive.yml Show resolved Hide resolved

.github/workflows/keep-alive.yml Show resolved Hide resolved

Copilot started work on behalf of TimHess

February 3, 2026 14:36


          Clarify why workflow runs every 30 days instead of 60

34c7b1f

Co-authored-by: TimHess <3947063+TimHess@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot AI changed the title ~~Add automated keep-alive workflow for scheduled jobs~~ Document critical constraint: keep-alive workflow must run every 30 days

Copilot finished work on behalf of TimHess

February 3, 2026 14:40

TimHess changed the title ~~Document critical constraint: keep-alive workflow must run every 30 days~~ add keep-alive workflow

Copilot started work on behalf of TimHess

February 3, 2026 19:54


          Reduce verbosity, add draft PR flag, and document empty commits

bb3a97c

Co-authored-by: TimHess <3947063+TimHess@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot AI changed the title ~~add keep-alive workflow~~ Reduce workflow verbosity and create draft PRs

Copilot finished work on behalf of TimHess

February 3, 2026 19:57


          further comment cleanup

4dc69d2

Copilot started work on behalf of TimHess

February 3, 2026 20:34

Copilot AI changed the title ~~Reduce workflow verbosity and create draft PRs~~ Keep scheduled workflows alive

Copilot finished work on behalf of TimHess

February 3, 2026 20:36

TimHess requested a review from bart-vmware

February 3, 2026 20:58

bart-vmware reviewed

View reviewed changes

.github/workflows/keep-alive.yml

+                      GH_TOKEN: ${{ github.token }}
+                    shell: bash
+                    run: |
+                      # Skip keep-alive if repository has been active in last 30 days

Member

bart-vmware Feb 4, 2026

Suggested change

      
                    # Skip keep-alive if repository has been active in last 30 days
          
                    # Determine if the repository has been active in the last 30 days.

Or remove this comment entirely, as the step name already indicates it.

.github/workflows/keep-alive.yml

Comment on lines +55 to +56


		echo "Days since last activity: $days_diff"

Member

bart-vmware Feb 4, 2026

Suggested change

      
                    echo "Days since last activity: $days_diff"
          
                    echo "Days since last activity: $days_diff"

.github/workflows/keep-alive.yml

+                        gh pr create \
+                          --draft \
+                          --head "$branch_name" \
+                          --base ${{ github.event.repository.default_branch }} \

Member

bart-vmware Feb 4, 2026

The step above has a fallback to main, which doesn't appear here. Is it redundant?

.github/workflows/keep-alive.yml

+                      pr_state=$(gh pr view "$pr_number" --json state --jq '.state')
+                      echo "PR #$pr_number is $pr_state"
+                      if [ "$pr_state" = "CLOSED" ]; then

Member

bart-vmware Feb 4, 2026

I'm no bash expert, but this looks like an assignment to me. According to https://stackoverflow.com/a/4277753, the typical syntax uses double brackets:

if [[ "$pr_state" == "CLOSED" ]]

.github/workflows/keep-alive.yml

+                      if [ "$pr_state" = "CLOSED" ]; then
+                        echo "Reopening PR #$pr_number"
+                        gh pr reopen "$pr_number"
+                        sleep 2

Member

bart-vmware Feb 4, 2026

Why do we need to sleep?

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