Search filters is:issue and is:pr are not working anymore

[andrei-lazarov]

🏷️ Discussion Type

Bug

💬 Feature/Topic Area

Code Search and Navigation

Body

I used to search sort:updated-desc to catch-up with all new activity on a repository.
Example: https://github.com/Koenkk/zigbee2mqtt/issues?q=sort%3Aupdated-desc&page=1

This would return issues and PRs together, sorted by activity.
And I could use is:issue or is:pr to filter them, on the same page.

Since today it only returns issues 😕
Do I have to go back and forth between the issues and PR pages now? Why..

[github-actions[bot]]

💬 Your Product Feedback Has Been Submitted 🎉

Thank you for taking the time to share your insights with us! Your feedback is invaluable as we build a better GitHub experience for all our users.

Here's what you can expect moving forward ⏩

• Your input will be carefully reviewed and cataloged by members of our product teams. 
  • Due to the high volume of submissions, we may not always be able to provide individual responses.
  • Rest assured, your feedback will help chart our course for product improvements.
• Other users may engage with your post, sharing their own perspectives or experiences. 
• GitHub staff may reach out for further clarification or insight. 
  • We may 'Answer' your discussion if there is a current solution, workaround, or roadmap/changelog post related to the feedback.

Where to look to see what's shipping 👀

• Read the Changelog for real-time updates on the latest GitHub features, enhancements, and calls for feedback.
• Explore our Product Roadmap, which details upcoming major releases and initiatives.

What you can do in the meantime 💻

• Upvote and comment on other user feedback Discussions that resonate with you.
• Add more information at any point! Useful details include: use cases, relevant labels, desired outcomes, and any accompanying screenshots.

As a member of the GitHub community, your participation is essential. While we can't promise that every suggestion will be implemented, we want to emphasize that your feedback is instrumental in guiding our decisions and priorities.

Thank you once again for your contribution to making GitHub even better! We're grateful for your ongoing support and collaboration in shaping the future of our platform. ⭐

[mikolajwojtowicz]

You’re not doing anything wrong — this looks like a recent change in how GitHub handles search/filtering on the Issues page.

What’s happening now is:

• The Issues tab only returns issues, even if you use filters like is:pr
• PRs are now effectively separated again, so is:issue / is:pr don’t behave the same way as before in that view

So yeah, your old workflow (sort:updated-desc + mixing issues and PRs) doesn’t really work there anymore

Workarounds

• Use global search instead:

  repo:Koenkk/zigbee2mqtt sort:updated-desc
  

  Then you can still filter with is:issue or is:pr and get both together

• Or switch between:

  • Issues tab (issues only)
  • Pull requests tab (PRs only)

TL;DR

GitHub changed the behavior — the Issues page is now strictly issues, so combining issues + PRs there isn’t supported anymore. Global search is the closest replacement for your old workflow.

[KevTheRev13]

So - then where would we be able to save custom PR search queries ? The Pull requests tab has only preset tabs, which while useful dont address many scenarios for both personal and enterprise use. I've created custom PR search queries but suddenly have no place to save them.

[straight-shoota]

I like to use a combined list of issues + prs to keep up with new activity as well.
It's handy for other tasks as well, where you don't care about whether results are issues, prs or both. If you want either type specifically, the is:issue and is:pr filters are fine.

The UX if global search doesn't even come close. It's meant for a different purpose. So this is not a suitable alternative.

I hope this gets restored and doesn't end up enshittificating the UX.

[snoyer]

I can confirm I have a few https://github.com/.../issues?q=sort%3Aupdated-desc+ URL as bookmarks and they do not work as they used to.
Having to open 2 different pages instead of being able to see both issues and PRs on the same page is worse UX.

[oakif]

I would like to mirror this sentiment. I use this page quite frequently to show my latest PRs or issues.

[asaddevx]

Hi @andrei-lazarov, I ran into this same change recently. You’re not alone — it’s a recent UI update that separates issues and PRs by default, but the unified view still exists.

How to Get Back the Unified View (Issues + PRs Sorted by Updated)

Use the is:open or is:closed filter without is:issue or is:pr.
That returns both issues and pull requests together, just like before.

For your example, change:

https://github.com/Koenkk/zigbee2mqtt/issues?q=sort%3Aupdated-desc

to:

https://github.com/Koenkk/zigbee2mqtt/issues?q=is%3Aopen+sort%3Aupdated-desc

If you want all (open + closed) together, use:

https://github.com/Koenkk/zigbee2mqtt/issues?q=is%3Aopen%2Cclosed+sort%3Aupdated-desc

Why This Happened

GitHub recently started defaulting the /issues page to issues only, even when you use sort:updated-desc.
The old behavior (mixed view) is now triggered only when you explicitly include an is:open / is:closed / is:pr filter.

This change hasn’t been widely documented yet — it’s part of the gradual rollout of the new issues/PRs navigation.

One More Tip

If you want to quickly toggle between open issues, open PRs, and the combined view, you can use the new “Filters” dropdown on the issues page. But for a permanent bookmark, the is:open method above works reliably.

Let me know if you’d like help creating a saved search or bookmark that keeps this behavior!

[snoyer]

trash answer that doesn't provide an actual solution and suggests links that the author poster hasn't even bothered to verify (e.g. https://github.com/Koenkk/zigbee2mqtt/issues?q=is%3Aopen%2Cclosed+sort%3Aupdated-desc contains is:open,closed instead of is:open is:closed leading to no results at all)

[hellojanehere]

Hello from the GitHub Issues product team! Thanks @andrei-lazarov for reporting this. I wanted to let you know that the team is looking into this and I'll keep you posted on the outcome of our investigation

[lumaxis]

Follow-up from the engineering team 👋 We've identified a bug in our search logic that led to PRs not showing up in certain scenarios. The team just enabled a mitigation and PRs should now show up again. Apologies for the disruption!

[andrei-lazarov]

Well done! Thank you for the quick fix

[oakif]

Thanks Lukas and Jane! Confirmed working properly for me as well

[thibaudcolas]

thank you for fixing this! Was really worried this was an intentional change 🙈

[Luis-Fernando-Telles-Dajello]

I also used to have saved views in the issue tab for PRs I hadn't reviewed in a series of repos, in order to be able to see, at a glace, all the open PRs without a review from me across repos. If there was a way to save views in the PR tab... perfect. but without this possibility, at least let us do this in the issue as it was possible before, please.