Can unverified @example.com commit emails be linked to GitHub Contributions without rewriting history?

[minhtienngo300-del]

🏷️ Discussion Type

Question

Body

Hello GitHub Community,

I have 19 legitimate backend commits in a public team repository that are not attributed to my GitHub account.

GitHub account: minhtienngo300-del

Verified email: minh.tien.ngo300@gmail.com

Historical commit author: Tiens <Minh.tien.ngo300@example.com>

Example commit:
lamphilong2004/SWP391_Racehorse-Training-Management-System_BE@b8fc8f0

The commits are already on the repository's default branch (main).

I added the exact historical email Minh.tien.ngo300@example.com under GitHub Settings → Emails, but it remains Unverified because example.com is a reserved documentation domain and I cannot access a mailbox there.

I have waited more than 24 hours. The historical commits are still not attributed to my account, although newer commits using my verified Gmail address are recognized correctly.

I read GitHub's documentation stating that historical contributions can be restored by adding an old email without needing access to its mailbox. I also noticed that generic email addresses cannot be linked to commits.

Could someone clarify:

1. Is @example.com specifically classified as a generic or ineligible email domain for commit attribution?
2. Does the Unverified status prevent retrospective attribution in this case?
3. Is there any officially supported way to associate these existing commit SHAs with my GitHub account without rewriting the commits?
4. If this is an attribution-system limitation, is there a support channel or escalation process to request investigation?

Our team cannot rewrite the default branch because doing so would change many other contributors' commit SHAs.

I am asking about attribution of the original commits, not creating replacement commits or artificially increasing my contribution count.

Thank you for your guidance.

[sarashahin]

Hi @minhtienngo300-del
Unfortunately, no- those commits cannot be linked to your profile without rewriting history. GitHub permanently blocks reserved domains like @example.com from commit attribution to prevent generic claiming, and neither users nor GitHub Support have a way to manually link specific commit SHAs to an account. Since rewriting the branch would disrupt your team's history, the best move is to leave it as-is, make sure your local git config user.email uses your verified address for future commits, and simply link directly to those specific commits or PRs when showcasing your work.