Improvement: mark issues as stale and close them

.github/workflows/build.yml

@@ -190,3 +190,34 @@ jobs:
             artifacts/*.zip, artifacts/*.bin
         env:
           GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.RELEASE_TOKEN }}
+
+  stale:
+        name: 'Stale (dry run)'
+        runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
+        steps:
+          - uses: actions/stale@v9
+            with:
+                debug-only: true # TODO: remove before adding to repo-maintenance.yml
+                start-date: 2024-01-01 # TODO: discuss start-date
+                operations-per-run: 300
+                remove-stale-when-updated: true
+                days-before-issue-stale: 14
+                days-before-issue-close: 14 # days after the issue is marked as stale
+                stale-issue-message: >
+                  This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had
+                  recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs. Thank you
+                  for your contributions.
+                close-issue-message: >
+                  This issue has been automatically closed because it has not had
+                  recent activity. Please add a comment if you want to get this issue re-opened. Thank you
+                  for your contributions.
+                stale-issue-label: stale # adds a label
+                exempt-issue-labels: 'acknowledged, contribution needed' # exclude issues with label
+                days-before-pr-stale: 14
+                days-before-pr-close: -1 # never close prs
+                stale-pr-label: stale # adds a label
+                any-of-pr-labels: 'changes requested' # only consider prs with this label
+                stale-pr-message: >
+                  This pull-request has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had
+                  recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs. Thank you
+                  for your contributions.