What happens to repositories when changing account email address?

[dev4Kushal]

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Hi everyone,
I have a GitHub account with the email xyz@gmail.com and I've created several repositories with it. Now I want to change my account's primary email to abc@gmail.com.

I have a few questions about what will happen:

1. My existing repositories under which email account and creation name of repos will be on which name?

2. What will be the impact on repositories?

3. What if xyz@gmail.com is account deleted will the repos also deleted or no impact will be there?

I want to make sure I understand the implications before making this change. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks in advance! 🙏

[Ashfaqbs]

Hi there,

This is a really common situation. I’ve seen this before—here is exactly what happens when you switch emails:

1. Impact on Repository Ownership

No impact. Your repositories are tied to your username, not your email address.

Changing your primary email to abc@gmail.com will not change your repository URLs or delete anything. They will stay exactly where they are.

2. Impact on Commit History (The Important Part)

This is where you need to be careful. Git links your past commits to your GitHub profile by matching the email address in the commit log to the emails listed in your account settings.

If you remove xyz@gmail.com from your GitHub account entirely, your old commits (which were made with that email) will stop showing your profile picture. They will essentially become "unclaimed" and might not show up on your contribution graph (the green squares).

The Fix: You should add abc@gmail.com as your new Primary email, but keep xyz@gmail.com listed as a secondary email on your GitHub account. Do not delete it from GitHub settings even if you stop using the inbox. This ensures your past history stays linked to you.

3. What if the xyz@gmail.com Google account is deleted?

If you delete the Gmail account: Nothing happens to your GitHub repos. GitHub doesn't check if the inbox still exists; it just uses the email string as an ID.

If you delete your GitHub account: Then yes, all your repositories will be deleted.

Summary:

Add abc and make it Primary.

Keep xyz on the list so you don't lose your "green squares" history.

Your repos are safe as long as you don't delete the GitHub account itself.

Hope this helps you make the switch safely!

[dev4Kushal]

My question is after changing the mail and set to primary email and now if i delete the xyz github account will the repos will also delete even if the primary address is abc?

[senseofomar]

[queenofcorgis]

@Ashfaqbs @senseofomar

We’ve clarified our stance on using generative AI tools like ChatGPT within our Community via this announcement. Please review the guidelines to ensure your post meets them as failure to adhere to those rules can result in action taken by our moderator team.  You can read our updated Code of Conduct and the announcement for more details. Thank you for helping us maintain an authentic and beneficial space for everyone.

[senseofomar]

@queenofcorgis Cool, I didn't know about it, I will comply in the future.
Thank you

[Ashfaqbs]

sure, will comply in the future.
Thank you

[VannetNang]

If you only want to switch email, your repos are safe. I'm already done this once, hope this helps 🙏.
Note: if you delete your github account, your repos will be gone.

[queenofcorgis]

Hey there! 👋

Thanks for posting in the GitHub Community, @dev4Kushal ! We're happy you're here. You are more likely to get a useful response if you are posting in the applicable category. The Accessibility category is a place for our community to discuss and provide feedback on the digital accessibility of GitHub products. Digital accessibility means that GitHub tools, and technologies, are designed and developed so that people with disabilities can use them.

I've gone ahead and moved this to the correct category for you, Repositories. Good luck!

[rinas21]

Repositories are tied to your GitHub account, not your email. Changing your primary email from xyz@gmail.com to abc@gmail.com has no impact on repository ownership or URLs. They remain fully intact.

Commits are tied to emails in the commit metadata.

Commits made with xyz@gmail.com will still be associated with that email.

If you remove xyz@gmail.com from your GitHub account, those commits will no longer link to your profile, and your contribution graph won’t show them.

To prevent this, keep xyz@gmail.com listed as a secondary email even after switching primary to abc@gmail.com.

Deleting the Gmail account xyz@gmail.com itself does not delete anything on GitHub. GitHub only cares about the email string as it relates to commit attribution, not whether the email inbox still exists.

Deleting your GitHub account deletes your repositories. Changing emails does not affect this. If you delete your GitHub account, all your repos go with it, regardless of which email is primary.

✅ Safe approach:

Add abc@gmail.com as your primary email.

Keep xyz@gmail.com as a secondary email for commit history.

Don’t delete your GitHub account.

[queenofcorgis]

Hi @rinas21 ,

If you look above, you'll see my note: we’ve clarified our stance on using generative AI tools like ChatGPT within our Community via this announcement. Please review the guidelines to ensure your post meets them as failure to adhere to those rules can result in action taken by our moderator team.  You can read our updated Code of Conduct and the announcement for more details. Thank you for helping us maintain an authentic and beneficial space for everyone.

[utkarshcs18]

Hey @dev4Kushal , hope you get it !

Here is a breakdown of what will happen:
a. Ownership and "Creation Name"
Ownership: Your repositories are tied to your GitHub Username, not your email address.
Changing your email does not change who owns the repositories.
Creation Name: The "created by" or "owner" name shown on the repository page is your GitHub profile name and username. Since these are not changing, the repository metadata will remain exactly as it is today.
Repository URLs: Your repository URLs will remain the same and will not break.

b. Impact on Repositories
This is the most important part to understand. GitHub links your past commits to your profile by matching the email address inside the commit data to the email addresses listed in your GitHub Account Settings.
If you add the new email and keep the old one: If you set abc@gmail.com as primary but keep xyz@gmail.com as a secondary email in your settings, nothing changes.
All your old "green squares" (contributions) and profile picture on old commits will stay.
If you remove the old email from GitHub: If you completely delete xyz@gmail.com from your GitHub account settings, your old commits will become "unclaimed." They won't disappear from the repository, but they will no longer show your profile picture or link to your account.
They will also disappear from your contribution graph (the green squares).

c. If the Gmail Account (xyz@gmail.com) is Deleted
If you delete your actual Google/Gmail account, it has zero impact on your GitHub repositories.
GitHub stores your repositories on its own servers.
Even if the xyz@gmail.com inbox no longer exists, as long as that email address is still listed in your GitHub "Email Settings," GitHub will continue to recognize those old commits as yours.
Crucial Step: Make sure you have successfully verified abc@gmail.com and can log into GitHub with it before you lose access to or delete the old Gmail account.

[LuizAlbar]

[queenofcorgis]

@LuizAlbar @utkarshcs18 please see my message above.

We’ve clarified our stance on using generative AI tools like ChatGPT within our Community via this announcement. Please review the guidelines to ensure your post meets them as failure to adhere to those rules can result in action taken by our moderator team.  You can read our updated Code of Conduct and the announcement for more details. Thank you for helping us maintain an authentic and beneficial space for everyone.