Closing Issues via Pull Requests
It’s been possible to close an issue from a commit for quite a while, but some issues take more work than a single commit to close. That’s why you can…
It’s been possible to close an issue from a commit for quite a while, but
some issues take more work than a single commit to close. That’s why you
can now close an issue from a Pull Request. All you have to do is include the
special keyword syntax (eg. “fixes #5”) in the body of your Pull Request.

And the referenced issue will automatically be closed when the PR is merged
into the default branch.

You will even see the references as pending fixes before merging.

This works the same way closing an issue from a commit message does.
It even works across repositories.

Happy bug fixing!
Written by
Related posts
The next developer interface is ambient intelligence
AI, agents, voice, and physical controls are shifting software development from operating tools to expressing intent—and helping developers stay focused on building.
GitHub availability report: September 2026
In September, we experienced two incidents that resulted in degraded performance across GitHub services.
10 technical talks I’m excited about at GitHub Universe 2026
From verifying AI-written code to securing npm dependencies, these are the sessions I’m building my Universe agenda around.