Remove GitHub actions bot from contributers list

[Jones8683]

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I recently used the GitHub actions bot in a reposoitory, but I deleted its commits as i no longer wanted them, but it remained in the contributers list as shown below.

Anyone know how to remove it? I have used git log --all --author="github-actions[bot]" and it shows up as having no commits, but it still appears in the list.

[olyadboka]

You cannot manually remove a contributor from that list. The list is automatically generated by GitHub's backend based on commit authorship metadata, not the current state of the branch.
Why It's Still There & The Only Fix:

Even though you deleted the commits from the current branch, the github-actions[bot] user is still listed because:

GitHub's Cache: The contributor list is cached and not updated in real-time.

Other References: The commits might still exist in other branches, forks, or the repository's git history.

The only way to update the list is to wait. GitHub's systems periodically recalculate contributor statistics based on the current default branch's history. This can take anywhere from a few hours to a few days.

There is no user-controlled setting to force a removal. Once the backend process runs and detects that the user has no commits on the default branch, it will automatically be removed from the list.

[Jones8683]

Yep,
have checked this and theres nothing. I guess I'll just wait a few days.

[Jones8683]

Sure,
I'll keep everyone updated whether it works or not.

[Jones8683]

@raunak0400
While waiting for it to update may have work, I have discovered that switching the default branch to a different one and back does remove the bot.

[Jones8683]

Switching the default branch to a different one and back will force an update and remove the bot.

[decoded-cipher]

This trick works.. 🔥