[BUG] [workflow] No email warning when "stale" label is applied

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
• [x] This is a single bug report (please file separate reports for different bugs)
• [x] I am using the latest version of Claude Code

What's Wrong?

On other issue trackers, I recall getting an email warning when a "stale" label was added to an open issue. On this issue tracker, that is not the case; the only notification you get is when the "stale" issue is closed a week later, meaning effectively that you get no warning at all before your issue is summarily closed.

Personally, I have started to sprinkle my issues with junk comments to prevent them from being closed as stale, which is obviously noisy and counter-productive in the grand scheme of things, but really one of the few available defenses until this problem is fixed.

What Should Happen?

I should receive a notification by email when a bot adds the "stale" label to an issue.

Error Messages/Logs

(None. That's the problem here.)

Steps to Reproduce

1. Create an issue in this issue tracker
2. Time passes. Imagine that somebody from Anthropic is looking at your issue, or more cynically, at least hope that it's not going to be closed for no good reason.
3. Disappointment. At long last, you now receive _two_ email messages; one stating "Closing for now — inactive for too long. Please open a new issue if this is still relevant." and another one with the message "This issue has been automatically locked since it was closed and has not had any activity for 7 days. If you're experiencing a similar issue, please file a new issue and reference this one if it's relevant."

Not all my issues are being summarily closed and I'm not entirely sure what exactly is the difference between the ones which are and the ones which aren't.

Claude Model

Sonnet (default)

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

(Don't know, autumn 2025?)

Claude Code Version

2.1.50 (Claude Code)

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

Terminal.app (macOS)

Additional Information

Recent issues of mine where the stale label was recently added without any notification:

• https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/27899
• https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/37790

This exacerbates the problem reported in https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/30407 - if you got a warning before the issue is closed, you could follow up with more information or at least a confirmation that the problem is still reproducible.