Close a pull request within an archived repository.

[cstockton]

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When viewing my pr's pkg/errors#198 often shows up as the oldest PR and I would like to close it out. I can't seem to find a way to close my PR now that the repo has been archived. I think that may sort of be the point, but knowing I'll have a PR open forever feels bad 😆 🤣

This is a very minor thing! But if there is a way via CLI or other mechanism to close this out I would love to.

[Nixxx19]

Hey! @cstockton

Sadly, there’s no secret “close PR anyway” button hiding in the GitHub UI
Once a repo is archived, GitHub freezes it in carbonite — no merges, no comments, no PR closing… nothing. It’s basically museum-mode.

The only way to close your long-lost PR is:

1. The repo owner temporarily unarchives the repo,
2. Closes the PR,
3. Re-archives it so it can return to its peaceful eternal slumber.

If you’re not an owner, you’ll have to poke one of the maintainers and ask them to resurrect the repo for 30 seconds.

Otherwise… yes… your PR will sit there forever, silently judging you, haha.

[mariotc1]

You cannot directly close a pull request in an archived repository because archiving makes the repository read-only for everyone, including the owners.

To close PR #181234, you must be an administrator of the repository and follow these steps to temporarily restore write access:

Step 1: Unarchive the Repository
Navigate to the main page of the repository on GitHub.
Click on the Settings tab.
Scroll down to the "Danger Zone" section.
Click Unarchive this repository.
Confirm the action.
Step 2: Close the Pull Request
Go to the Pull requests tab.
Open PR #181234.
Scroll to the bottom and click Close pull request.
Step 3: Re-archive the Repository
Go back to the Settings tab.
Scroll down to the "Danger Zone" section.
Click Archive this repository.
If you do not have admin permissions to the repository, you cannot close the pull request; you must ask an admin to perform these steps.

[pruthviraj-gaikwad]

You can’t close a pull request in an archived repository — GitHub locks everything in read-only mode once a repo is archived. That means:

• No closing PRs
• No merging
• No commenting
• No pushing

The only way to close your PR is for someone with admin access to temporarily unarchive the repo.

✅ If you (or a maintainer) have admin permissions:

1. Unarchive the repo

   • Go to Settings → Danger Zone → Unarchive this repository

2. Close the pull request

   • Open the PR
   • Click Close pull request

3. Re-archive the repo

   • Settings → Danger Zone → Archive this repository

❌ If you’re not an admin:

You won’t be able to close it yourself — you’ll need to ask a repo owner or maintainer to unarchive it briefly and close the PR.

Once archived again, the repo returns to read-only mode and your PR will be cleanly closed.

Hope that helps!