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The moment it happens

Label new GitHub issues and email me about bugs

New GitHub issues are labelled by type automatically, and you get an email whenever one is a bug.

Runs
The moment it happens
Apps
GitHub, Gmail
AI
Yes, uses the built-in AI allowance
Access
issues:write; gmail.send

Send this to your assistant

Create a ClickRuntime automation: when a new issue is opened in acme/app, have AI label it as bug, feature or question, and email me if it's a bug.

Paste it into your assistant. It tells you what it will send or change before it runs live.

First time? Adding ClickRuntime to your assistant takes about two minutes.

Why use it

Why teams use this automation

A solo maintainer of a popular library gets issues at all hours. Most are questions or feature ideas that can wait, but bugs deserve a quick look. Without labels, every notification looks the same, so either everything gets attention or nothing does.

Labelling each issue when it arrives and emailing only for bugs lets the maintainer ignore notifications with a clear conscience. The repository stays organised, and real problems still get noticed quickly.

What you get out of it

  • Only bugs interrupt you

    Questions and feature requests wait for your next session; bugs reach your inbox. Your attention goes where it is needed.

  • A sorted issue list

    Every issue has a type label from the start. Filtering for bugs or features takes one click.

  • Reporters see a response

    A label appears within seconds, showing the issue was seen. That small signal helps keep contributors patient.

  • Labels you can correct

    If the label is wrong, change it in GitHub. Nothing is locked in.

How it works

What happens, step by step

  1. When a new issue is opened, GitHub notifies ClickRuntime straight away.

  2. AI reads the title and description and decides whether it is a bug, a feature request or a question.

  3. The matching label is added to the issue.

  4. If it is a bug, you get an email with the summary and a link.

Before it runs live

  • Connect GitHub
  • Connect Google through your own Google app (a one-time, 10-minute setup), so it works with your own Gmail
  • Paste your automation's link into the other app's webhook settings

What you get

RunsThe moment it happens
Label new GitHub issues and email me about bugsjust nowSucceeded
Email · New bug in acme/appNew bug in acme/app: Date picker shows wrong month in Safari. Reported by northwind-dev

Build your own

Need it to work differently?

This template is a starting point. Copy the prompt and change it, or describe a different automation from scratch, with your own conditions, more apps or an AI step. Your assistant writes it, tests it and runs it on ClickRuntime.
  • Your own rules

    Conditions, thresholds, filters and exceptions, written the way you'd explain them to a colleague.

  • Any number of apps

    One automation can read from one app and update several others. Over 248 apps are ready, and anything with an API works too.

  • AI where it helps

    Summaries, classification, extraction and drafts use ClickRuntime's built-in AI, with no extra key.

  • On a schedule or on each event

    Runs as often as every 5 minutes, or the moment an app sends an event, and keeps track of what it already handled.

Changes you can ask for

  • Act only on the items that match your own rules, and skip the rest
  • Change what the AI looks for, or how it writes the result
  • Add another app, for example also send it to Slack
  • Combine it with other GitHub and Gmail steps into one automation

Under the hood

The code that runs this automation

This is the Python script that runs each time the automation starts. Your AI assistant writes it for you when you send the prompt, and you allow each step in your assistant. To change how the automation works, describe the change to your assistant and it updates the script for you. For every function it can use, see the script reference.
new_issue_triage_email.pyexample
from clickruntime import on_event, credentials, http, notify, verify, ai

def gh(method, path, **kw):
    resp = http.request(method, f"https://api.github.com{path}", headers={
        "Authorization": f"Bearer {credentials.connection('github', 'work')}", "Accept": "application/vnd.github+json"}, **kw)
    return resp.raise_for_status() or (resp.json() if resp.content else None)

@on_event
def handle(event):
    if not verify.github(event.body, event.header("X-Hub-Signature-256"), credentials.secret("GITHUB_WEBHOOK_SECRET")):
        return {"ignored": "bad signature"}
    body = event.json
    if event.header("X-GitHub-Event") != "issues" or body["action"] != "opened":
        return {"ignored": True}
    issue, repo = body["issue"], body["repository"]["full_name"]
    label = ai.generate(f"{issue['title']}\n{(issue.get('body') or '')[:3000]}", max_output_tokens=5,
                        system="Classify this GitHub issue. Answer with one word: bug, feature or question.").text.strip().lower()
    if label not in ("bug", "feature", "question"):
        label = "question"
    gh("POST", f"/repos/{repo}/issues/{issue['number']}/labels", json={"labels": [label]})
    if label == "bug":
        notify.email_me(f"New bug in {repo}: {issue['title']}"[:200],
                        f"Reported by {issue['user']['login']}\n\n{(issue.get('body') or '')[:1000]}\n\n{issue['html_url']}")
    return {"label": label}

FAQ

Common questions

Can it label priority too?
Yes. Ask for a priority label as well, and the email can be limited to high-priority bugs.
What does the email include?
The issue title, the reporter, the first lines of the description and a link to the issue.
Does it work on several repositories?
Yes. Add the same webhook to each repository, or to your organisation, and every new issue is handled.
What permissions does it need?
issues:write; gmail.send. Nothing else in your accounts is used.
Does it need AI?
Yes. It uses ClickRuntime's built-in AI, so you don't need an OpenAI or Anthropic key. Every plan includes a monthly AI allowance.
How many runs does it use?
One run for each event the app sends.
Can I change how it works?
Yes. Describe the change to your AI assistant, for example a different schedule, channel or filter. It updates the automation, tests it and tells you what changed.

Set up “Label new GitHub issues and email me about bugs” from your assistant

Copy the prompt above, or connect your assistant first. Free plan, no credit card.