Keep scheduled workflows alive by Copilot · Pull Request #128 · SteeltoeOSS/NetCoreToolTemplates

Copilot · 2026-01-29T17:19:39Z

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.

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

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

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

TimHess · 2026-01-29T17:43:29Z

@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

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

Copilot · 2026-01-29T17:45:35Z

@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

- bump a couple other action refs - whitespace cleanup

.github/workflows/keep-alive.yml

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

bart-vmware · 2026-02-04T11:27:25Z

.github/workflows/keep-alive.yml

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


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

bart-vmware · 2026-02-04T11:32:49Z

.github/workflows/keep-alive.yml

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


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

looks like it's defense against a situation that effectively shouldn't be able to happen. probably not needed in either place, but don't see how it could hurt to include in both

bart-vmware · 2026-02-04T11:38:47Z

.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


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" ]]

bart-vmware · 2026-02-04T11:39:33Z

.github/workflows/keep-alive.yml

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


Why do we need to sleep?

I don't think it would hurt, but the github UI responds fine to button clicks without a wait, so I don't see how it would help either

Co-authored-by: Bart Koelman <104792814+bart-vmware@users.noreply.github.com>

- shell vars all lowercase_with_underscores, env vars UPPER_SNAKE - consistent conditional formatting - consistent fallback for branch - reduce verbosity

TimHess · 2026-02-19T19:48:09Z

.github/workflows/keep-alive.yml

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


TimHess · 2026-02-19T19:49:41Z

.github/workflows/keep-alive.yml

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


I don't think it would hurt, but the github UI responds fine to button clicks without a wait, so I don't see how it would help either

TimHess · 2026-02-19T19:54:51Z

.github/workflows/keep-alive.yml

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


looks like it's defense against a situation that effectively shouldn't be able to happen. probably not needed in either place, but don't see how it could hurt to include in both

Initial plan

f5d404e

Copilot AI assigned Copilot and TimHess Jan 29, 2026

Copilot started work on behalf of TimHess January 29, 2026 17:19 View session

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 Jan 29, 2026

Copilot AI requested a review from TimHess January 29, 2026 17:26

Copilot finished work on behalf of TimHess January 29, 2026 17:26

Copilot started work on behalf of TimHess January 29, 2026 17:43 View session

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

cfa441d

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

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 Feb 3, 2026

View reviewed changes

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bart-vmware reviewed Feb 3, 2026

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Copilot started work on behalf of TimHess February 3, 2026 14:36 View session

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 Feb 3, 2026

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 Feb 3, 2026

Copilot started work on behalf of TimHess February 3, 2026 19:54 View session

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 Feb 3, 2026

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 View session

Copilot AI changed the title ~~Reduce workflow verbosity and create draft PRs~~ Keep scheduled workflows alive Feb 3, 2026

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 Feb 4, 2026

View reviewed changes

TimHess and others added 2 commits February 19, 2026 13:48

Update .github/workflows/keep-alive.yml

095a2d7

Co-authored-by: Bart Koelman <104792814+bart-vmware@users.noreply.github.com>

pr feedback & polish

94cb8e1

- shell vars all lowercase_with_underscores, env vars UPPER_SNAKE - consistent conditional formatting - consistent fallback for branch - reduce verbosity

TimHess approved these changes Feb 19, 2026

View reviewed changes

TimHess requested a review from bart-vmware February 19, 2026 20:05

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

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Implementation

Why empty commits

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TimHess commented Jan 29, 2026

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TimHess Feb 19, 2026 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

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TimHess Feb 19, 2026 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

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Copilot AI commented Jan 29, 2026 •

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TimHess Feb 19, 2026 •

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