diff --git a/.github/workflows/closeDevIssues.yml b/.github/workflows/closeDevIssues.yml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f8577bc0c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/closeDevIssues.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+name: Close linked issue on PR merge
+
+on:
+  pull_request:
+    types:
+      - closed
+
+jobs:
+  close_issues:
+    if: github.event.pull_request.merged == true && github.base_ref == 'develop'
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    
+    steps:
+    - name: Checkout 🛎️
+      uses: actions/checkout@v4
+      
+    - name: Run script
+      working-directory: .github/workflows/scripts
+      run: |
+        pip install requests
+        python closeDevIssues.py ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }} jplag JPlag ${{ github.event.pull_request.number }}
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diff --git a/.github/workflows/scripts/closeDevIssues.py b/.github/workflows/scripts/closeDevIssues.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..aea3871ba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/scripts/closeDevIssues.py
@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
+import requests
+import re
+import sys
+
+headers = {"Authorization": f"Bearer {sys.argv[1]}"}
+
+owner = sys.argv[2]
+repo = sys.argv[3]
+pr_number = int(sys.argv[4])
+
+query = f"""
+{{
+  repository(owner: "{owner}", name: "{repo}") {{
+    pullRequest(number: {pr_number}) {{
+      merged
+      baseRefName
+      body
+      closingIssuesReferences (first: 50) {{
+        nodes {{
+          number
+        }}
+      }}
+    }}
+  }}
+}}
+"""
+
+def run_query(query):
+    request = requests.post('https://api.github.com/graphql', json={'query': query}, headers=headers)
+    if request.status_code == 200:
+        return request.json()
+    else:
+        raise Exception("Query failed to run by returning code of {}. {}".format(request.status_code, query))
+
+
+closing_keywords = [
+    'closes', 'close', 'closed', 'fix', 'fixes', 'fixed', 'resolves', 'resolve', 'resolved'
+]
+
+# checks all subsequeces of the pr body for closing keywords and extracts the coresponidng issue numbers
+def subsequences_matching_regex(input_string, regex):
+    matches = []
+    for i in range(len(input_string)):
+        for j in range(i+1, len(input_string)+1):
+            subsequence = input_string[i:j]
+            match = re.fullmatch(regex, subsequence)
+            if match:
+                matches.append(int(match.group(1)))
+    return matches
+
+# gets all issues linked to pr either via the closing keywords or the sidebar
+def get_linked_issues(result):
+    closing_issues = []
+    for keyword in closing_keywords:
+        closing_issues.extend(subsequences_matching_regex(result['body'].lower(), f'{keyword} #([0-9]+)'))
+    for k in result['closingIssuesReferences']['nodes']:
+        closing_issues.append(k['number'])
+    return list(set(closing_issues))
+
+result = run_query(query)['data']['repository']['pullRequest']
+issues = get_linked_issues(result)
+
+def close_issue(issue_number):
+    requests.post(f"https://api.github.com/repos/{owner}/{repo}/issues/{issue_number}/comments", json={"body": f"Closed by #{pr_number}."}, headers=headers)
+    requests.patch(f"https://api.github.com/repos/{owner}/{repo}/issues/{issue_number}", json={"state": "closed"}, headers=headers)
+
+if result['baseRefName'] != "develop":
+    print("PR not merged to develop, not closing issues")
+elif result['merged']:
+    print(f"Closing issues: {issues}")
+    for issue in issues:
+        close_issue(issue)
+        print(f"Closed issue {issue}")
+else:
+  print("PR not merged, not closing issues")
\ No newline at end of file