git: Please tell me who you are

*** Please tell me who you are.

Run

  git config --global user.email "you@example.com"
  git config --global user.name "Your Name"

to set your account's default identity.
Omit --global to set the identity only in this repository.

This is Git asking for your name and email. It needs them to write a commit. It does not know them yet.

What it means

Every Git commit records who made it. Git takes that from two settings, user.name and user.email. If they are missing and Git cannot work them out, it stops with this message. Often a second line follows, for example fatal: unable to auto-detect email address.

Why it happens

• A new PC, a new Windows user or a fresh Git install. Nothing is set yet.
• You set the name and email in one repository, and now you are in a different one.

How Devpit fixes or avoids it

Open Git & SSH Setup:

• Show git identity prints the name and email Git will commit as.
• Set git identity asks for a name and email and saves them as your global Git settings, the same as the commands below.

The manual fix

1. Set your name and email for your whole Windows account:

git config --global user.name "Your Name"
git config --global user.email "you@example.com"

2. Check what Git now has:

git config --global --list

3. Try your commit again.

To use a different identity in one repository only, run the same two commands inside that repository without --global.

If you push to GitHub over SSH and see a different error, read Permission denied (publickey).

Sources

• Git source: ident.c (the message text)
• Git documentation: git-config (–global, –list)