oven-sh/bun · error

GITHUB_ISSUE_NUMBER must be set

Error message

GITHUB_ISSUE_NUMBER must be set

What it means

scripts/handle-crash-patterns.ts is a GitHub Actions automation script that triages crash-report issues; it requires GITHUB_ISSUE_NUMBER to know which issue to comment on or close. It throws at startup when the env var is unset or empty.

Source

Thrown at scripts/handle-crash-patterns.ts:8

#!/usr/bin/env bun

const body = process.env.GITHUB_ISSUE_BODY || "";
const title = process.env.GITHUB_ISSUE_TITLE || "";
const issueNumber = process.env.GITHUB_ISSUE_NUMBER;

if (!issueNumber) {
  throw new Error("GITHUB_ISSUE_NUMBER must be set");
}

interface CloseAction {
  reason: "not_planned" | "completed";
  comment: string;
}

let closeAction: CloseAction | null = null;

// Compute lowercase once for performance
const bodyLower = body.toLowerCase();

// Check for workers_terminated
if (bodyLower.includes("workers_terminated")) {
  closeAction = {
    reason: "not_planned",
    comment: `Duplicate of #15964
We are tracking worker stability issues in https://github.com/oven-sh/bun/issues/15964. For now, I recommend against terminating workers when possible.`,

View on GitHub (pinned to 8c5296ac45)

Solutions

1. Add `GITHUB_ISSUE_NUMBER: ${{ github.event.issue.number }}` to the step's env in the workflow
2. Gate the step/job with `if: github.event_name == 'issues'` so it never runs without an issue
3. For local testing: `GITHUB_ISSUE_NUMBER=123 GITHUB_ISSUE_TITLE='...' GITHUB_ISSUE_BODY='...' bun scripts/handle-crash-patterns.ts`

Example fix

# before (workflow step)
- run: bun scripts/handle-crash-patterns.ts
  env:
    GITHUB_ISSUE_BODY: ${{ github.event.issue.body }}

# after
- run: bun scripts/handle-crash-patterns.ts
  if: github.event_name == 'issues'
  env:
    GITHUB_ISSUE_NUMBER: ${{ github.event.issue.number }}
    GITHUB_ISSUE_TITLE: ${{ github.event.issue.title }}
    GITHUB_ISSUE_BODY: ${{ github.event.issue.body }}

function parseIssueNumber(raw = process.env.GITHUB_ISSUE_NUMBER): number {
  const n = Number(raw);
  if (!Number.isInteger(n) || n <= 0) {
    throw new Error('GITHUB_ISSUE_NUMBER must be set to a positive issue number');
  }
  return n;
}

const isIssueNumber = (v: unknown): v is number =>
  typeof v === 'number' && Number.isInteger(v) && v > 0;

When it happens

Trigger: The workflow step runs under a trigger that has no issue context (schedule, push, workflow_dispatch) because the step isn't gated with `if: github.event.issue`; running the script locally without exporting the env var; the env var was renamed in the workflow YAML.

Common situations: Copy-pasting the automation step into a new workflow/trigger; local testing of the script; a refactor of the env block dropping GITHUB_ISSUE_NUMBER.

Related errors

• GITHUB_ISSUE_BODY must be set
• Missing environment variables
• Missing sentry_id
• BUILDKITE_AGENT_TOKEN not set and no existing buildkite-agen
• Buildkite token not found: set BUILDKITE_AGENT_TOKEN or gran

AI-assisted analysis of oven-sh/bun@8c5296ac45 (2026-08-16). Data as JSON: /api/errors/8cf4f2ea5e141374. Report an issue: GitHub.