Discover human author names from bounded commit history

README.md

@@ -113,6 +113,12 @@ During export, OpenCite validates generated `.zenodo.json` metadata. ZIP exports
 5. Imported author lists include contributor-based context and are deduplicated.
 6. Review, adjust, and regenerate metadata files before release.
 
+The importer also considers human author names in recent commit history when
+repository metadata and contributor profiles do not include everyone. It scans
+up to 100 commits without a token or 1,000 with a token, omitting bot names
+and GitHub handles rather than using them as citation names. Verify imported
+authors before exporting citation metadata.
+
 ## Validation Behavior
 
 OpenCite validates metadata at multiple stages:

src/services/githubApi.js

@@ -104,10 +104,11 @@ export function buildGithubReleaseListApiUrl(owner, repo, perPage = 1) {
   return `${API_BASE}/repos/${owner}/${repo}/releases?per_page=${safePerPage}`;
 }
 
-export function buildGithubCommitListApiUrl(owner, repo, defaultBranch = '', perPage = 1) {
+export function buildGithubCommitListApiUrl(owner, repo, defaultBranch = '', perPage = 1, page = null) {
   const safePerPage = Number.isInteger(perPage) ? Math.min(Math.max(perPage, 1), 100) : 1;
   const branchFilter = defaultBranch ? `&sha=${encodeURIComponent(defaultBranch)}` : '';
-  return `${API_BASE}/repos/${owner}/${repo}/commits?per_page=${safePerPage}${branchFilter}`;
+  const pageFilter = Number.isInteger(page) && page > 1 ? `&page=${page}` : '';
+  return `${API_BASE}/repos/${owner}/${repo}/commits?per_page=${safePerPage}${branchFilter}${pageFilter}`;
 }
 
 export function buildGithubBranchApiUrl(owner, repo, branch) {

src/services/githubImporter.js

@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ import {
   resolveContributorFallbackLimit,
 } from './githubImporterContributors.js';
 import { dedupeAuthors } from './githubImporterAuthors.js';
+import { fetchCommitAuthors } from './githubImporterCommitAuthors.js';
 import { addCitationConsistencyWarnings, mergeMetadata } from './githubImporterMerge.js';
 export { addCitationConsistencyWarnings, mergeMetadata };
 import {
@@ -549,7 +550,7 @@ export async function importGithubMetadata(repoUrl, options = {}) {
   );
   const releaseData = Array.isArray(releaseList) && releaseList.length > 0 ? releaseList[0] : null;
   const recentCommitPayload = await fetchOptionalJson(
-    buildGithubCommitListApiUrl(owner, repo, defaultBranch, 10),
+    buildGithubCommitListApiUrl(owner, repo, defaultBranch, 100),
     buildGithubRequestConfig({
       authToken,
       source: 'commits',
@@ -716,14 +717,22 @@ export async function importGithubMetadata(repoUrl, options = {}) {
     fetchOptionalJson,
     extractOrcidFromGithubProfile,
   });
+  const commitAuthors = await fetchCommitAuthors({
+    owner, repo, defaultBranch, initialCommits: recentCommitPayload,
+    knownGithubLogins: contributorResult.githubLogins,
+    warnings, authToken, cleanString, normalizeAuthor, normalizeAuthors,
+    addWarning, fetchOptionalJson,
+  });
   const coAuthorAuthors = normalizeAuthors(commitCoAuthorNames.map((name) => normalizeAuthor({ name })));
   const contributors = dedupeAuthors([
     ...coAuthorAuthors,
     ...contributorResult.fallbackAuthors.filter(Boolean),
+    ...commitAuthors,
   ]);
   const contributorLookupAuthors = dedupeAuthors([
     ...coAuthorAuthors,
     ...contributorResult.lookupAuthors.filter(Boolean),
+    ...commitAuthors,
   ]);
 
   addRateLimitHintIfNeeded(warnings, authToken);

src/services/githubImporterCommitAuthors.js

@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+import { buildGithubCommitListApiUrl, buildGithubRequestConfig } from './githubApi.js';
+import { dedupeAuthors } from './githubImporterAuthors.js';
+
+const COMMIT_PAGE_SIZE = 100;
+const UNAUTHENTICATED_PAGE_LIMIT = 1;
+const AUTHENTICATED_PAGE_LIMIT = 10;
+
+function isUsableCommitName(name, login, knownLogins) {
+  const normalized = name.toLowerCase();
+  if (!name || normalized === String(login ?? '').toLowerCase() || knownLogins.has(normalized)) {
+    return false;
+  }
+  if (/\d/.test(name) || /^@/.test(name) || /\[bot\]|copilot|dependabot|chatgpt|openai|gemini|cursor|codex/i.test(name)) {
+    return false;
+  }
+  if (name.includes('-') && !name.split('-').every((segment) => /^[A-Z][a-z]+$/.test(segment))) {
+    return false;
+  }
+  return true;
+}
+
+export async function fetchCommitAuthors({
+  owner, repo, defaultBranch, initialCommits = [], knownGithubLogins = [],
+  warnings, authToken = '', cleanString, normalizeAuthor, normalizeAuthors,
+  addWarning, fetchOptionalJson,
+}) {
+  const knownLogins = new Set(knownGithubLogins.map((login) => cleanString(login).toLowerCase()));
+  const authorNames = [];
+  let commits = Array.isArray(initialCommits) ? initialCommits : [];
+  let page = 1;
+  const maxPages = authToken ? AUTHENTICATED_PAGE_LIMIT : UNAUTHENTICATED_PAGE_LIMIT;
+
+  while (true) {
+    for (const commit of commits) {
+      const name = cleanString(commit?.commit?.author?.name ?? '');
+      const login = commit?.author?.login;
+      if (commit?.author?.type && commit.author.type !== 'User') continue;
+      if (isUsableCommitName(name, login, knownLogins)) authorNames.push(name);
+    }
+
+    if (commits.length < COMMIT_PAGE_SIZE) break;
+    if (page >= maxPages) {
+      addWarning(warnings, 'commit-authors', 'commit-author-scan-limited',
+        `Scanned the first ${page * COMMIT_PAGE_SIZE} commits for contributor author names.`,
+        { owner, repo, scannedPages: page, scannedCommits: page * COMMIT_PAGE_SIZE });
+      break;
+    }
+
+    page += 1;
+    commits = await fetchOptionalJson(
+      buildGithubCommitListApiUrl(owner, repo, defaultBranch, COMMIT_PAGE_SIZE, page),
+      buildGithubRequestConfig({
+        authToken,
+        source: 'commit-authors',
+        label: `commit authors page ${page}`,
+        onWarning: (source, code, message, details = {}) => addWarning(warnings, source, code, message, details),
+      }),
+    ) || [];
+    if (!Array.isArray(commits) || commits.length === 0) break;
+  }
+
+  return dedupeAuthors(normalizeAuthors(authorNames.map((name) => normalizeAuthor({ name }))));
+}

src/services/githubImporterContributors.js

@@ -375,5 +375,6 @@ export async function fetchContributorAuthors({
   return {
     fallbackAuthors: dedupeAuthors(normalizeAuthors(fallbackAuthors)),
     lookupAuthors: dedupeAuthors(normalizeAuthors(lookupAuthors)),
+    githubLogins: contributors.map((contributor) => cleanString(contributor?.login ?? '').toLowerCase()).filter(Boolean),
   };
 }

tests/services/commitAuthors.test.js

@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+import test from 'node:test';
+import assert from 'node:assert/strict';
+
+import { fetchCommitAuthors } from '../../src/services/githubImporterCommitAuthors.js';
+import { cleanString, normalizeAuthor, normalizeAuthors } from '../../src/services/githubImporterUtils.js';
+
+function commit(name, login = '') {
+  return { commit: { author: { name } }, author: login ? { login, type: 'User' } : null };
+}
+
+test('authenticated scans continue to page two for human author names', async () => {
+  const urls = [];
+  const warnings = [];
+  const result = await fetchCommitAuthors({
+    owner: 'test-owner', repo: 'test-repo', defaultBranch: 'feature/new', authToken: 'token',
+    initialCommits: Array.from({ length: 100 }, () => commit('known-login')),
+    knownGithubLogins: ['known-login'], warnings,
+    cleanString, normalizeAuthor, normalizeAuthors,
+    addWarning: (items, source, code) => items.push({ source, code }),
+    fetchOptionalJson: async (url) => {
+      urls.push(url);
+      return [commit('Ada Lovelace'), commit('bot-123'), commit('name-handle'), commit('Alice Example', 'Alice Example')];
+    },
+  });
+  assert.equal(urls.length, 1);
+  assert.equal(urls[0].endsWith('commits?per_page=100&sha=feature%2Fnew&page=2'), true);
+  assert.deepEqual(result.map((author) => `${author.givenNames} ${author.familyNames}`), ['Ada Lovelace']);
+  assert.equal(warnings.length, 0);
+});
+
+test('unauthenticated scans stop after the first 100 commits', async () => {
+  const warnings = [];
+  const result = await fetchCommitAuthors({
+    owner: 'test-owner', repo: 'test-repo', initialCommits: Array.from({ length: 100 }, () => commit('Dana Example')),
+    warnings, cleanString, normalizeAuthor, normalizeAuthors,
+    addWarning: (items, source, code) => items.push({ source, code }),
+    fetchOptionalJson: async () => { throw new Error('Should not request another page'); },
+  });
+  assert.equal(result.length, 1);
+  assert.equal(warnings.some((warning) => warning.code === 'commit-author-scan-limited'), true);
+});

tests/services/githubImporter.test.js

@@ -982,7 +982,7 @@ test('importGithubMetadata ignores username-like contributors when no real profi
       return new Response(JSON.stringify({ message: 'Not Found' }), { status: 404, headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' } });
     }
 
-    if (value.endsWith('/repos/test-owner/test-repo/commits?per_page=10&sha=main')) {
+    if (value.endsWith('/repos/test-owner/test-repo/commits?per_page=100&sha=main')) {
       return Response.json([
         {
           commit: {
@@ -1061,7 +1061,7 @@ test('importGithubMetadata excludes AI bot co-authors and contributor accounts w
       return new Response(JSON.stringify({ message: 'Not Found' }), { status: 404, headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' } });
     }
 
-    if (value.endsWith('/repos/test-owner/test-repo/commits?per_page=10&sha=main')) {
+    if (value.endsWith('/repos/test-owner/test-repo/commits?per_page=100&sha=main')) {
       return Response.json([
         {
           commit: {
@@ -1224,7 +1224,7 @@ test('importGithubMetadata ignores GitHub usernames in co-author names and prefe
       return new Response(JSON.stringify({ message: 'Not Found' }), { status: 404, headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' } });
     }
 
-    if (value.endsWith('/repos/test-owner/test-repo/commits?per_page=10&sha=main')) {
+    if (value.endsWith('/repos/test-owner/test-repo/commits?per_page=100&sha=main')) {
       return Response.json([
         {
           commit: {
@@ -1304,7 +1304,7 @@ test('importGithubMetadata prefers commit co-author names over username fallback
       return new Response(JSON.stringify({ message: 'Not Found' }), { status: 404, headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' } });
     }
 
-    if (value.endsWith('/repos/test-owner/test-repo/commits?per_page=10&sha=main')) {
+    if (value.endsWith('/repos/test-owner/test-repo/commits?per_page=100&sha=main')) {
       return Response.json([
         {
           commit: {
@@ -1383,7 +1383,7 @@ test('importGithubMetadata includes co-authored contributor names from commit me
       return new Response(JSON.stringify({ message: 'Not Found' }), { status: 404, headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' } });
     }
 
-    if (value.endsWith('/repos/test-owner/test-repo/commits?per_page=10&sha=main')) {
+    if (value.endsWith('/repos/test-owner/test-repo/commits?per_page=100&sha=main')) {
       return Response.json([
         {
           commit: {
@@ -1461,7 +1461,7 @@ test('importGithubMetadata includes co-authored contributor names from recent hi
       return new Response(JSON.stringify({ message: 'Not Found' }), { status: 404, headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' } });
     }
 
-    if (value.endsWith('/repos/test-owner/test-repo/commits?per_page=10&sha=main')) {
+    if (value.endsWith('/repos/test-owner/test-repo/commits?per_page=100&sha=main')) {
       return Response.json([
         {
           commit: {
@@ -1540,7 +1540,7 @@ test('importGithubMetadata includes co-authored contributor names when a release
       });
     }
 
-    if (value.endsWith('/repos/test-owner/test-repo/commits?per_page=10&sha=main')) {
+    if (value.endsWith('/repos/test-owner/test-repo/commits?per_page=100&sha=main')) {
       return Response.json([
         {
           commit: {