Creating a commit on behalf of an organization

You can create commits on behalf of an organization by adding a trailer to the commit's message. Commits attributed to an organization include an on-behalf-of badge on GitHub.

Note: The ability to create a commit on behalf of an organization is currently in public beta and is subject to change.

To create commits on behalf of an organization:

  • you must be a member of the organization indicated in the trailer
  • you must sign the commit
  • your commit email and the organization email must be in a domain verified by the organization
  • your commit message must end with the commit trailer on-behalf-of: @org <[email protected]>

Organization's can use the [email protected] email as a public point of contact for open source efforts.

Creating commits with an on-behalf-of badge on the command line

  1. Type your commit message and a short, meaningful description of your changes. After your commit description, instead of a closing quotation, add two empty lines.

    $ git commit -m "Refactor usability tests.
    >
    >

    Tip: If you're using a text editor on the command line to type your commit message, ensure there are two newlines between the end of your commit description and the on-behalf-of: commit trailer.

  2. On the next line of the commit message, type on-behalf-of: @org <[email protected]>, then a closing quotation mark.

    $ git commit -m "Refactor usability tests.
    >
    >
    on-behalf-of: @org <[email protected]>"

The new commit, message, and badge will appear on GitHub the next time you push. For more information, see "Pushing changes to a remote repository."

Creating commits with an on-behalf-of badge on GitHub

After you've made changes in a file using the web editor on GitHub, you can create a commit on behalf of your organization by adding an on-behalf-of: trailer to the commit's message.

  1. After making your changes, at the bottom of the page, type a short, meaningful commit message that describes the changes you made. Commit message for your change

  2. In the text box below your commit message, add on-behalf-of: @org <[email protected]>.

    Commit message on-behalf-of trailer example in second commit message text box

  3. Click Commit changes or Propose changes.

The new commit, message, and badge will appear on GitHub.

Further reading

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