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github-user-email

Get the email address for GitHub username
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7/19/2025
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README.md

GitHub User Email Lookup

A Val Town project that finds email addresses associated with a GitHub user by analyzing their public commit history using multiple methods.

šŸš€ Live Demo

Visit the live demo to try it out!

šŸ“‹ Features

  • Dual Method Approach: Uses two different GitHub API strategies to maximize email discovery
  • Smart Early Stopping: Stops after the first method if emails are found, saving API calls
  • Smart Filtering: Automatically filters out GitHub's noreply email addresses
  • Ranked Results: Shows emails ranked by frequency of use in commits
  • Rate Limit Friendly: Includes delays and error handling to respect GitHub's API limits
  • Clean UI: Modern, responsive interface built with Hono JSX and Tailwind CSS
  • Modular Architecture: Well-organized codebase with separated concerns

šŸ” How It Works

The tool uses two complementary methods to find email addresses:

Method 1: Public Events Analysis (getGithubUserEmailFromEvents)

  • Fetches the user's recent public events (up to 100)
  • Filters for PushEvent activities
  • Extracts email addresses from commit authors in those events
  • Pros: Fast, single API call
  • Cons: Limited to recent public activity, may miss older emails

Method 2: Repository Commits Analysis (getGithubUserEmailFromCommits)

  • Gets the user's 10 most recently updated repositories
  • Fetches the last 10 commits from each repository (authored by the user)
  • Extracts email addresses from commit metadata
  • Pros: More comprehensive, can find emails from older commits
  • Cons: Multiple API calls, slower execution

Combined Approach (getGithubUserEmail)

  • Runs both methods simultaneously using Promise.allSettled
  • Merges and deduplicates results
  • Aggregates commit counts across both methods
  • Provides fallback if one method fails

šŸ› ļø Technical Implementation

File Structure

ā”œā”€ā”€ github-events.ts    # Core email extraction logic
ā”œā”€ā”€ demo.tsx           # Web interface (HTTP endpoint)
└── README.md          # This file

Key Technologies

  • Runtime: Deno on Val Town
  • Framework: Hono for HTTP handling
  • UI: Server-side JSX with Tailwind CSS
  • API: GitHub REST API v4

Rate Limiting & Authentication

  • Uses Val Town's proxied fetch to help with rate limits
  • Supports optional GITHUB_TOKEN environment variable for higher rate limits
  • Includes 100ms delays between repository API calls
  • Graceful error handling for failed requests

šŸ”§ Setup & Configuration

Environment Variables (Optional)

GITHUB_TOKEN=your_github_personal_access_token

Adding a GitHub token increases your rate limit from 60 to 5,000 requests per hour.

Local Development

  1. Clone or fork this Val Town project
  2. Set up your GITHUB_TOKEN if desired
  3. The main entry point is demo.tsx (HTTP endpoint)

šŸ“Š API Usage

Direct Function Usage

import { getGithubUserEmail, // Combined approach (recommended) getGithubUserEmailFromEvents, // Events-only method getGithubUserEmailFromCommits // Commits-only method } from "./github-events.ts"; // Get emails using both methods const emails = await getGithubUserEmail("username"); // Results format interface EmailOccurrence { username: string; // Author name from commits email: string; // Email address commitCount: number; // Number of commits using this email }

HTTP API

# Web interface GET /?username=octocat # Returns HTML page with results

🚨 Limitations & Considerations

Privacy & Ethics

  • Only analyzes public repositories and commits
  • Respects users who have configured private emails
  • Filters out GitHub's @users.noreply.github.com addresses
  • Use responsibly and respect privacy

Technical Limitations

  • GitHub API rate limits (60/hour without token, 5000/hour with token)
  • Only finds emails from commits where the user is the author
  • May miss emails from private repositories or private commits
  • Results depend on user's commit history and email configuration

Accuracy Notes

  • Email addresses found may be outdated
  • Users can configure different emails for different repositories
  • Some commits may use organization or work emails
  • Results are ranked by frequency, not recency

šŸ”„ Error Handling

The application handles various error scenarios:

  • Invalid usernames
  • API rate limit exceeded
  • Network timeouts
  • Private or empty repositories
  • Malformed API responses

Errors are logged to console and displayed to users with helpful messages.

šŸ¤ Contributing

This is a Val Town project. To contribute:

  1. Fork the project in Val Town
  2. Make your changes
  3. Test thoroughly
  4. Share your improvements!

šŸ“„ License

This project is open source and available under standard Val Town terms.

āš ļø Disclaimer

This tool is for educational and legitimate research purposes only. Always respect privacy, follow GitHub's Terms of Service, and use responsibly. The authors are not responsible for misuse of this tool.

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