Post a comment on PRs when they are auto-closed, explaining the reason #41287
Description
Discussed in #41273
Originally posted by yueki-work February 18, 2026
Tell us more.
Hello,
Summary
When Renovate auto-closes a PR (e.g., because the dependency update has already been applied to the base branch through other means), no comment is posted on the PR explaining why it was closed. This makes it difficult for
contributors and repository maintainers to understand what happened.
Current behavior
When a PR is auto-closed by Renovate, the PR title is updated to append - autoclosed, but no comment is added to the PR. The only indication is in the Renovate log ('Autoclosing PR' at info level), which is not visible to most
users.
Expected behavior
When Renovate auto-closes a PR, it would be great if Renovate could post a comment on the PR explaining the reason for closure. For example:
This PR has been automatically closed by Renovate because the dependency update has already been applied to the base branch.
Use case
- Repository maintainers and contributors often wonder why a PR was silently closed.
- Without a comment, there is no way to distinguish between different auto-close reasons (e.g., update already applied, dependency no longer needed).
- A comment would improve transparency and help users understand Renovate's behavior without having to dig into logs.