How to Find GitHub User Email Addresses

When it comes to sourcing technical talent, GitHub is one of the most valuable platforms available. It’s not a resume site but that shouldn’t stop you from using it to gather information on prospective talents you want to approach. As it’s a place where developers actually share their work, it makes it ideal for spotting people based on skills, contribution quality, and real-world engagement.

But once you’ve found someone impressive on GitHub, there’s a common roadblock: How do you contact them?

Many GitHub users don’t list their contact info on their profiles, and default privacy settings mask email addresses on recent commits. Still, if you're sourcing thoughtfully and responsibly, there are legitimate ways to access the information you need to reach out with context, care, and compliance.

Here’s a straightforward way to uncover GitHub user email addresses using commit history.

Step 1: Identify the User and Their Repositories

Start by navigating to the developer’s GitHub profile and checking out the repositories they’ve contributed to. If they’re active, you’ll often see frequent commits, either to their own projects or to public contributions in other repositories.

Look for repositories where they’ve made multiple commits. Personal projects are often best, as users are more likely to have committed under their actual email addresses rather than GitHub’s anonymised noreply format.

Step 2: View the Raw Commit History

Once inside a repository, click on the "Commits" tab. This gives you a list of all the recent contributions to the project.

Find a commit made by the user you’re interested in, then click on the commit hash (that long string of letters and numbers). This opens up the individual commit detail view.

From there, click “Browse files” or “View raw” to access the raw commit data.

Step 3: Look for the Author Metadata

In the raw commit file, you’ll see metadata including the author's name and email address. It appears in a format like this:

yaml

CopyEdit

Author: Jane Developer <janed@example.com>

Date:   Wed Jun 5 12:00:00 2024 +0000

If the user hasn’t anonymised their commits using GitHub’s privacy settings, their actual email address will appear here. This is the email that was used when pushing the commit to GitHub, often a personal or professional address.

Step 4: Use the Information Responsibly

Finding a developer’s email address doesn’t give you permission to spam them. The best outreach is personal, relevant, and respectful. Reference the project or code that caught your eye. Acknowledge their work. Explain why you’re reaching out and why your opportunity may align with their interests or expertise.

Cold outreach that shows genuine understanding and effort stands out, especially in a community used to generic messages.

Be Ethical, Always

While this method is effective, it’s crucial to use it thoughtfully. These email addresses weren’t shared explicitly for recruitment; they were captured as part of the open-source workflow. That means your outreach should be both considerate and compliant with privacy norms.

Done right, this approach can open doors to conversations with highly skilled engineers who aren’t actively looking but who may be open to the right opportunity, presented in the right way.

Looking Beyond LinkedIn?

At Peritus Partners, we help companies reach passive talent through smarter sourcing strategies across platforms like GitHub, Stack Overflow, and Slack. If you're looking to engage technical candidates with credibility, we can help you build sourcing workflows that go beyond the basics.

Contact Us | Peritus Partners Get in touch today to discuss how we can support your hiring needs.

COMING SOON: Sourcing Strategies That Are Not LinkedIn, which will delve into more sourcing strategies that don’t involve doom scrolling through LinkedIn.