GitHub · Pull requests · Commits · Checked October 27, 2026

GitHub: a co-author is not credited for a commit

A commit is attributed to more than one author with one or more Co-authored-by trailers in its message. For the commit to count as a contribution, the trailer must use an email address associated with the co-author's account on GitHub.com; a co-author who keeps their email address private is named with their GitHub-provided no-reply email (GitHub's creating a commit with multiple authors, checked October 27, 2026).

Refactor usability tests.

Co-authored-by: NAME <NAME@EXAMPLE.COM>
Co-authored-by: ANOTHER-NAME <ANOTHER-NAME@EXAMPLE.COM>

Why the co-author is not credited

The trailer: one Co-authored-by: name <email> line for each co-author, after the description of the commit and an empty line. In the web editor on GitHub, the lines go in the text box below the commit message.
The email: GitHub links a commit to a user by matching the email address to an email address on a GitHub account. An address the co-author has not added to their account is not linked to them.
A commit linked to no one: on the commit on GitHub, the mark next to the username says why: Unrecognized author with an email address (add that address to the account), Unrecognized author with no email address (set a commit email address in Git, then add it to the account), or Invalid email (GitHub's troubleshooting commits).
A commit linked to someone else: change the email address in your local Git configuration, on each machine you work on, and add it to your account. Being linked to your commits does not give the other user access to your repository.

Squash merges

One new commit: squash and merge combines the commits of a pull request into one commit on the base branch, with a default commit message that you can edit (GitHub's pull request merges).
The default message: the commit title and message when the pull request has one commit, and the pull request title and list of commits when it has two or more. A repository can instead use the pull request title only, the title and commit details, or the title and description (GitHub's configuring commit squashing; see merge commit message not what you expected).
Check the message: the trailers are part of a commit message, so before a squash merge, see that the Co-authored-by lines are in the message of the commit that lands.

On behalf of an organization

The trailer: on-behalf-of: @ORG NAME@ORGANIZATION.COM on a signed commit attributes it to an organization. You must be a member, and both your commit email and the organization email must be in a domain the organization has verified. It is not available on GitHub Enterprise Server.

What to do

Future commits: once the address is on the account, future commits that use it are linked to it. Old commits might not be linked after you change your email settings.
A commit not pushed yet: git commit --amend and add the trailer to the message.
A commit already pushed: changing its message creates a new commit ID, so the rewritten history has to be force pushed, for example with git push --force-with-lease (GitHub's changing a commit message; see force push blocked when the branch refuses it).

In IntelliJ IDEA: one author per commit, the trailers left in the message

How the GitHub support built into IntelliJ IDEA reads who wrote the commits of a pull request, in its source (checked October 31, 2026; IntelliJ IDEA: commitShort.graphql, commit.graphql, gitActorInfo.graphql, GraphQL files):

One author: it asks GitHub for each commit's author (name, email, avatar, date and GitHub user) and committer. None of its 78 GraphQL files asks for authors, GitHub's list built from the git author and the Co-authored-by trailers, so the IDE does not read whom GitHub credits as co-authors.
The trailers stay text: it asks for the commit's messageHeadline and messageBody, so a Co-authored-by line is part of the message it reads, not an author.

GitHub pull requests in IntelliJ IDEA

Pull Request Inbox for GitHub, a plugin by Lesstep for JetBrains IDEs 2024.1 or later, shows a pull request's reviews, checks and conversations next to the diff, and merges it with the methods the target branch allows. Its merge dialog sets only the commit title of a merge or squash commit (left blank, GitHub's default title is used) and adds nothing to the message, so the rest of the message is GitHub's automatic one. The review inbox, diffs and conversations are free; approving, commenting, resolving and merging are Pro (US$1.50 a month, with a 30-day trial).

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