diff --git a/__tests__/main.test.ts b/__tests__/main.test.ts
index a46b35b4..5ae9f51d 100644
--- a/__tests__/main.test.ts
+++ b/__tests__/main.test.ts
@@ -44,7 +44,8 @@ const DefaultProcessorOptions: IssueProcessorOptions = {
   onlyLabels: '',
   operationsPerRun: 100,
   debugOnly: true,
-  removeStaleWhenUpdated: false
+  removeStaleWhenUpdated: false,
+  ascending: false
 };
 
 test('empty issue list results in 1 operation', async () => {
diff --git a/action.yml b/action.yml
index 9cd6dbb4..bf2090c2 100644
--- a/action.yml
+++ b/action.yml
@@ -39,6 +39,9 @@ inputs:
   debug-only:
     description: 'Run the processor in debug mode without actually performing any operations on live issues.'
     default: false
+  ascending:
+    description: 'The order to get issues or pull requests. Defaults to false, which is descending'
+    default: false
 runs:
   using: 'node12'
   main: 'dist/index.js'
diff --git a/dist/index.js b/dist/index.js
index 61ab5903..45a26533 100644
--- a/dist/index.js
+++ b/dist/index.js
@@ -3545,7 +3545,8 @@ function getAndValidateArgs() {
         onlyLabels: core.getInput('only-labels'),
         operationsPerRun: parseInt(core.getInput('operations-per-run', { required: true })),
         removeStaleWhenUpdated: !(core.getInput('remove-stale-when-updated') === 'false'),
-        debugOnly: core.getInput('debug-only') === 'true'
+        debugOnly: core.getInput('debug-only') === 'true',
+        ascending: core.getInput('ascending') === 'true'
     };
     for (const numberInput of [
         'days-before-stale',
@@ -3596,7 +3597,7 @@ exports.getUserAgent = getUserAgent;
 /***/ 215:
 /***/ (function(module) {
 
-module.exports = {"_args":[["@octokit/rest@16.43.1","/Users/hross/Code/stale"]],"_from":"@octokit/rest@16.43.1","_id":"@octokit/rest@16.43.1","_inBundle":false,"_integrity":"sha512-gfFKwRT/wFxq5qlNjnW2dh+qh74XgTQ2B179UX5K1HYCluioWj8Ndbgqw2PVqa1NnVJkGHp2ovMpVn/DImlmkw==","_location":"/@octokit/rest","_phantomChildren":{"@octokit/types":"2.8.2","deprecation":"2.3.1","once":"1.4.0"},"_requested":{"type":"version","registry":true,"raw":"@octokit/rest@16.43.1","name":"@octokit/rest","escapedName":"@octokit%2frest","scope":"@octokit","rawSpec":"16.43.1","saveSpec":null,"fetchSpec":"16.43.1"},"_requiredBy":["/","/@actions/github"],"_resolved":"https://registry.npmjs.org/@octokit/rest/-/rest-16.43.1.tgz","_spec":"16.43.1","_where":"/Users/hross/Code/stale","author":{"name":"Gregor Martynus","url":"https://github.com/gr2m"},"bugs":{"url":"https://github.com/octokit/rest.js/issues"},"bundlesize":[{"path":"./dist/octokit-rest.min.js.gz","maxSize":"33 kB"}],"contributors":[{"name":"Mike de Boer","email":"info@mikedeboer.nl"},{"name":"Fabian Jakobs","email":"fabian@c9.io"},{"name":"Joe Gallo","email":"joe@brassafrax.com"},{"name":"Gregor Martynus","url":"https://github.com/gr2m"}],"dependencies":{"@octokit/auth-token":"^2.4.0","@octokit/plugin-paginate-rest":"^1.1.1","@octokit/plugin-request-log":"^1.0.0","@octokit/plugin-rest-endpoint-methods":"2.4.0","@octokit/request":"^5.2.0","@octokit/request-error":"^1.0.2","atob-lite":"^2.0.0","before-after-hook":"^2.0.0","btoa-lite":"^1.0.0","deprecation":"^2.0.0","lodash.get":"^4.4.2","lodash.set":"^4.3.2","lodash.uniq":"^4.5.0","octokit-pagination-methods":"^1.1.0","once":"^1.4.0","universal-user-agent":"^4.0.0"},"description":"GitHub REST API client for Node.js","devDependencies":{"@gimenete/type-writer":"^0.1.3","@octokit/auth":"^1.1.1","@octokit/fixtures-server":"^5.0.6","@octokit/graphql":"^4.2.0","@types/node":"^13.1.0","bundlesize":"^0.18.0","chai":"^4.1.2","compression-webpack-plugin":"^3.1.0","cypress":"^3.0.0","glob":"^7.1.2","http-proxy-agent":"^4.0.0","lodash.camelcase":"^4.3.0","lodash.merge":"^4.6.1","lodash.upperfirst":"^4.3.1","lolex":"^5.1.2","mkdirp":"^1.0.0","mocha":"^7.0.1","mustache":"^4.0.0","nock":"^11.3.3","npm-run-all":"^4.1.2","nyc":"^15.0.0","prettier":"^1.14.2","proxy":"^1.0.0","semantic-release":"^17.0.0","sinon":"^8.0.0","sinon-chai":"^3.0.0","sort-keys":"^4.0.0","string-to-arraybuffer":"^1.0.0","string-to-jsdoc-comment":"^1.0.0","typescript":"^3.3.1","webpack":"^4.0.0","webpack-bundle-analyzer":"^3.0.0","webpack-cli":"^3.0.0"},"files":["index.js","index.d.ts","lib","plugins"],"homepage":"https://github.com/octokit/rest.js#readme","keywords":["octokit","github","rest","api-client"],"license":"MIT","name":"@octokit/rest","nyc":{"ignore":["test"]},"publishConfig":{"access":"public"},"release":{"publish":["@semantic-release/npm",{"path":"@semantic-release/github","assets":["dist/*","!dist/*.map.gz"]}]},"repository":{"type":"git","url":"git+https://github.com/octokit/rest.js.git"},"scripts":{"build":"npm-run-all build:*","build:browser":"npm-run-all build:browser:*","build:browser:development":"webpack --mode development --entry . --output-library=Octokit --output=./dist/octokit-rest.js --profile --json > dist/bundle-stats.json","build:browser:production":"webpack --mode production --entry . --plugin=compression-webpack-plugin --output-library=Octokit --output-path=./dist --output-filename=octokit-rest.min.js --devtool source-map","build:ts":"npm run -s update-endpoints:typescript","coverage":"nyc report --reporter=html && open coverage/index.html","generate-bundle-report":"webpack-bundle-analyzer dist/bundle-stats.json --mode=static --no-open --report dist/bundle-report.html","lint":"prettier --check '{lib,plugins,scripts,test}/**/*.{js,json,ts}' 'docs/*.{js,json}' 'docs/src/**/*' index.js README.md package.json","lint:fix":"prettier --write '{lib,plugins,scripts,test}/**/*.{js,json,ts}' 'docs/*.{js,json}' 'docs/src/**/*' index.js README.md package.json","postvalidate:ts":"tsc --noEmit --target es6 test/typescript-validate.ts","prebuild:browser":"mkdirp dist/","pretest":"npm run -s lint","prevalidate:ts":"npm run -s build:ts","start-fixtures-server":"octokit-fixtures-server","test":"nyc mocha test/mocha-node-setup.js \"test/*/**/*-test.js\"","test:browser":"cypress run --browser chrome","update-endpoints":"npm-run-all update-endpoints:*","update-endpoints:fetch-json":"node scripts/update-endpoints/fetch-json","update-endpoints:typescript":"node scripts/update-endpoints/typescript","validate:ts":"tsc --target es6 --noImplicitAny index.d.ts"},"types":"index.d.ts","version":"16.43.1"};
+module.exports = {"_args":[["@octokit/rest@16.43.1","/Users/andymckay/c/stale"]],"_from":"@octokit/rest@16.43.1","_id":"@octokit/rest@16.43.1","_inBundle":false,"_integrity":"sha512-gfFKwRT/wFxq5qlNjnW2dh+qh74XgTQ2B179UX5K1HYCluioWj8Ndbgqw2PVqa1NnVJkGHp2ovMpVn/DImlmkw==","_location":"/@octokit/rest","_phantomChildren":{"@octokit/types":"2.8.2","deprecation":"2.3.1","once":"1.4.0"},"_requested":{"type":"version","registry":true,"raw":"@octokit/rest@16.43.1","name":"@octokit/rest","escapedName":"@octokit%2frest","scope":"@octokit","rawSpec":"16.43.1","saveSpec":null,"fetchSpec":"16.43.1"},"_requiredBy":["/","/@actions/github"],"_resolved":"https://registry.npmjs.org/@octokit/rest/-/rest-16.43.1.tgz","_spec":"16.43.1","_where":"/Users/andymckay/c/stale","author":{"name":"Gregor Martynus","url":"https://github.com/gr2m"},"bugs":{"url":"https://github.com/octokit/rest.js/issues"},"bundlesize":[{"path":"./dist/octokit-rest.min.js.gz","maxSize":"33 kB"}],"contributors":[{"name":"Mike de Boer","email":"info@mikedeboer.nl"},{"name":"Fabian Jakobs","email":"fabian@c9.io"},{"name":"Joe Gallo","email":"joe@brassafrax.com"},{"name":"Gregor Martynus","url":"https://github.com/gr2m"}],"dependencies":{"@octokit/auth-token":"^2.4.0","@octokit/plugin-paginate-rest":"^1.1.1","@octokit/plugin-request-log":"^1.0.0","@octokit/plugin-rest-endpoint-methods":"2.4.0","@octokit/request":"^5.2.0","@octokit/request-error":"^1.0.2","atob-lite":"^2.0.0","before-after-hook":"^2.0.0","btoa-lite":"^1.0.0","deprecation":"^2.0.0","lodash.get":"^4.4.2","lodash.set":"^4.3.2","lodash.uniq":"^4.5.0","octokit-pagination-methods":"^1.1.0","once":"^1.4.0","universal-user-agent":"^4.0.0"},"description":"GitHub REST API client for Node.js","devDependencies":{"@gimenete/type-writer":"^0.1.3","@octokit/auth":"^1.1.1","@octokit/fixtures-server":"^5.0.6","@octokit/graphql":"^4.2.0","@types/node":"^13.1.0","bundlesize":"^0.18.0","chai":"^4.1.2","compression-webpack-plugin":"^3.1.0","cypress":"^3.0.0","glob":"^7.1.2","http-proxy-agent":"^4.0.0","lodash.camelcase":"^4.3.0","lodash.merge":"^4.6.1","lodash.upperfirst":"^4.3.1","lolex":"^5.1.2","mkdirp":"^1.0.0","mocha":"^7.0.1","mustache":"^4.0.0","nock":"^11.3.3","npm-run-all":"^4.1.2","nyc":"^15.0.0","prettier":"^1.14.2","proxy":"^1.0.0","semantic-release":"^17.0.0","sinon":"^8.0.0","sinon-chai":"^3.0.0","sort-keys":"^4.0.0","string-to-arraybuffer":"^1.0.0","string-to-jsdoc-comment":"^1.0.0","typescript":"^3.3.1","webpack":"^4.0.0","webpack-bundle-analyzer":"^3.0.0","webpack-cli":"^3.0.0"},"files":["index.js","index.d.ts","lib","plugins"],"homepage":"https://github.com/octokit/rest.js#readme","keywords":["octokit","github","rest","api-client"],"license":"MIT","name":"@octokit/rest","nyc":{"ignore":["test"]},"publishConfig":{"access":"public"},"release":{"publish":["@semantic-release/npm",{"path":"@semantic-release/github","assets":["dist/*","!dist/*.map.gz"]}]},"repository":{"type":"git","url":"git+https://github.com/octokit/rest.js.git"},"scripts":{"build":"npm-run-all build:*","build:browser":"npm-run-all build:browser:*","build:browser:development":"webpack --mode development --entry . --output-library=Octokit --output=./dist/octokit-rest.js --profile --json > dist/bundle-stats.json","build:browser:production":"webpack --mode production --entry . --plugin=compression-webpack-plugin --output-library=Octokit --output-path=./dist --output-filename=octokit-rest.min.js --devtool source-map","build:ts":"npm run -s update-endpoints:typescript","coverage":"nyc report --reporter=html && open coverage/index.html","generate-bundle-report":"webpack-bundle-analyzer dist/bundle-stats.json --mode=static --no-open --report dist/bundle-report.html","lint":"prettier --check '{lib,plugins,scripts,test}/**/*.{js,json,ts}' 'docs/*.{js,json}' 'docs/src/**/*' index.js README.md package.json","lint:fix":"prettier --write '{lib,plugins,scripts,test}/**/*.{js,json,ts}' 'docs/*.{js,json}' 'docs/src/**/*' index.js README.md package.json","postvalidate:ts":"tsc --noEmit --target es6 test/typescript-validate.ts","prebuild:browser":"mkdirp dist/","pretest":"npm run -s lint","prevalidate:ts":"npm run -s build:ts","start-fixtures-server":"octokit-fixtures-server","test":"nyc mocha test/mocha-node-setup.js \"test/*/**/*-test.js\"","test:browser":"cypress run --browser chrome","update-endpoints":"npm-run-all update-endpoints:*","update-endpoints:fetch-json":"node scripts/update-endpoints/fetch-json","update-endpoints:typescript":"node scripts/update-endpoints/typescript","validate:ts":"tsc --target es6 --noImplicitAny index.d.ts"},"types":"index.d.ts","version":"16.43.1"};
 
 /***/ }),
 
@@ -8780,6 +8781,7 @@ class IssueProcessor {
                     state: 'open',
                     labels: this.options.onlyLabels,
                     per_page: 100,
+                    direction: this.options.ascending ? 'asc' : 'desc',
                     page
                 });
                 return issueResult.data;
diff --git a/src/IssueProcessor.ts b/src/IssueProcessor.ts
index a21c9ad0..f8709c26 100644
--- a/src/IssueProcessor.ts
+++ b/src/IssueProcessor.ts
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ export interface IssueProcessorOptions {
   operationsPerRun: number;
   removeStaleWhenUpdated: boolean;
   debugOnly: boolean;
+  ascending: boolean;
 }
 
 /***
@@ -292,6 +293,7 @@ export class IssueProcessor {
           state: 'open',
           labels: this.options.onlyLabels,
           per_page: 100,
+          direction: this.options.ascending ? 'asc' : 'desc',
           page
         }
       );
diff --git a/src/main.ts b/src/main.ts
index ebc5a8a3..c7595dd7 100644
--- a/src/main.ts
+++ b/src/main.ts
@@ -35,7 +35,8 @@ function getAndValidateArgs(): IssueProcessorOptions {
     removeStaleWhenUpdated: !(
       core.getInput('remove-stale-when-updated') === 'false'
     ),
-    debugOnly: core.getInput('debug-only') === 'true'
+    debugOnly: core.getInput('debug-only') === 'true',
+    ascending: core.getInput('ascending') === 'true'
   };
 
   for (const numberInput of [