diff --git a/action.yml b/action.yml
index b2bb534d..2c1a5d6c 100644
--- a/action.yml
+++ b/action.yml
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ inputs:
     description: 'The number of days old an issue can be before marking it stale'
     default: 60
   days-before-close:
-    description: 'The number of days to wait to close an issue or pull request after it being marked stale'
+    description: 'The number of days to wait to close an issue or pull request after it being marked stale. Set to -1 to never close stale issues.'
     default: 7
   stale-issue-label:
     description: 'The label to apply when an issue is stale'
diff --git a/src/main.ts b/src/main.ts
index b24d6287..e725be74 100644
--- a/src/main.ts
+++ b/src/main.ts
@@ -66,11 +66,16 @@ async function processIssues(
     if (exemptLabel && isLabeled(issue, exemptLabel)) {
       continue;
     } else if (isLabeled(issue, staleLabel)) {
-      if (wasLastUpdatedBefore(issue, args.daysBeforeClose)) {
-        operationsLeft -= await closeIssue(client, issue);
-      } else {
+      if (args.daysBeforeClose < 0) {
         continue;
       }
+      else {
+        if (wasLastUpdatedBefore(issue, args.daysBeforeClose)) {
+          operationsLeft -= await closeIssue(client, issue);
+        } else {
+          continue;
+        }
+      }
     } else if (wasLastUpdatedBefore(issue, args.daysBeforeStale)) {
       operationsLeft -= await markStale(
         client,