What I Built
I built a tool that does what no developer has the courage to do: ruthlessly terminate abandoned pull requests. The "PR Grim Reaper" automatically identifies neglected PRs, posts a customizable passive-aggressive comment, and closes them without the emotional baggage humans bring to the process. It runs on a schedule, generates metrics that management pretends to care about, and solves a universal problem that exists in every GitHub organization larger than two people.
Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/arec1b0/pr-grim-reaper.git
# Install dependencies
cd pr-grim-reaper
npm install # or yarn, if you're feeling trendy
# Configure Pulumi (yes, you have to actually do this part)
pulumi stack init dev
pulumi config set aws:region us-east-1 # or whatever region you pay too much for
pulumi config set --secret github:token YOUR_GITHUB_TOKEN
# Deploy (and pray to the cloud gods)
pulumi up
My Journey
My journey began with the familiar frustration of scrolling through 47 open pull requests, most of which hadn't been touched since the last corporate restructuring. Rather than sending yet another passive-aggressive Slack message asking the team to clean up their digital detritus, I decided automation could be the emotionless executioner we needed.
Setting up Pulumi was predictably tedious but marginally less painful than configuring raw AWS permissions. After the initial setup ceremony was complete, I created a simple architecture:
- A Lambda function that queries the GitHub API for abandoned PRs
- A DynamoDB table to track what's been warned versus what's ready for execution
- EventBridge rules to schedule the grim reaper's visits
- Pulumi ESC to store GitHub tokens because hardcoding credentials is so 2018
The biggest challenge was crafting comments that were just passive-aggressive enough to make people feel guilty without triggering an HR investigation. The solution was a configurable template system with variables ranging from "politely concerned" to "openly questioning career choices."
Using Pulumi with GitHub
Pulumi's GitHub provider handled the authentication and API access while the Automation API orchestrated the deployment. The primary benefit was avoiding the nightmare of manually configuring IAM roles and GitHub App permissions.
I used Pulumi Copilot after seeing it mentioned in the contest rules because flattering the judges seemed prudent. My most productive prompt was: "Create a Lambda function that queries abandoned GitHub PRs without making me regret choosing serverless." The response was surprisingly competent, though I still had to excise several generic comments about "best practices" and "team collaboration."
The real value of Pulumi here wasn't some revolutionary technological breakthrough—it was simply reducing the friction between having an idea and deploying it without wading through multiple cloud consoles and documentation pages that were clearly written by someone who's never actually used the product they're describing.
In summary, this tool solves a real problem that exists in every development team: nobody wants to be the bad guy who closes abandoned work. Now you can blame an algorithm instead of confronting your colleagues about their digital hoarding tendencies. Management gets pretty charts, developers get a cleaner PR list, and everyone can pretend the robot made them do it.
Check here: https://app.pulumi.com/arec1b0/pr-grim-reaper/dev
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