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stfc / People

384 human committers, 5 bots, and what the commit timestamps reveal about how GDS works.

Every commit carries an author name and email. Collapsing 8,004 per-repository author records by email gives 389 distinct identities - 384 people and 5 machines. Identity is keyed on email because it is the only stable key git offers; one person using both a work and a personal address will appear twice.

People

384
human committers
resolved by GitHub id, address or full name
5
automated identities
2% of all commits
17%
committed exactly once
64 people, one commit each
30
committed over 5+ years
the institutional memory

What stands out

The top 1% of committers wrote 34% of the human commits.

3 people out of 384 account for 19.4k commits. The top ten alone wrote 58%. This is the usual open-source power law, but it is worth noting in a government context: institutional knowledge is concentrated in very few hands.

17% of people committed exactly once.

64 of 384 committers made a single commit and never returned. 67% touched only one repository. A public organisation attracts drive-by contributors, and the numbers show GDS accepted them.

7.2% of commits land at the weekend.

Weekday work dominates, as you would expect from a civil-service delivery organisation with a strong stated position on sustainable pace. The residual weekend activity is concentrated in incident response and personal-time open-source work.

2% of all commits were made by machines.

1.1k commits come from 5 automated identities - overwhelmingly Dependabot. GOV.UK's documented policy is to auto-merge dependency upgrades where possible, and the commit history shows that policy working at scale.

45% of live repositories rest on a single person.

In 44 of the 98 live repositories with meaningful history, one individual wrote more than half of all commits. That is the ordinary shape of a large estate with many small tools, but it is worth knowing which ones - they are listed below.

Who writes the code

Top 25 committers by commit count

Humans only. Bots are charted separately below.

Andrew PorterAndrew Porter: 9k9kSergi SisoSergi Siso: 5.4k5.4kJoerg HenrichsJoerg Henrichs: 5k5krupertfordrupertford: 3.5k3.5kElliottKasoarElliottKasoar: 2.1k2.1kTeranIvyTeranIvy: 2.1k2.1kAidan ChalkAidan Chalk: 1.7k1.7kKalibh HalfordKalibh Halford: 1.6k1.6kanish-mudaraddianish-mudaraddi: 1.5k1.5kAndy PorterAndy Porter: 1.4k1.4karp28arp28: 1.3k1.3kJames AdamsJames Adams: 1.1k1.1kDavid FairbrotherDavid Fairbrother: 1.1k1.1kLonelyCat124LonelyCat124: 1k1kAnish MudaraddiAnish Mudaraddi: 627627Benjamin T. SpeakeBenjamin T. Speake: 614614andrewporterandrewporter: 606606Nuno NobreNuno Nobre: 588588Alin Marin ElenaAlin Marin Elena: 527527Alexander DibboAlexander Dibbo: 462462George MatthewsGeorge Matthews: 458458Will FurnellWill Furnell: 414414Louise DaviesLouise Davies: 410410rupertfordrupertford: 397397You LuYou Lu: 356356

Who they work for

Committers by email domain

A rough proxy for employment. GDS staff use gov.uk addresses; GitHub's privacy setting hides the rest, and a long tail commit from personal accounts.

Other organisationOther organisation: 184184GitHub private emailGitHub private email: 118118Personal email (gmail etc)Personal email (gmail etc): 6565gov.uk addressgov.uk address: 1515Misconfigured (.local etc)Misconfigured (.local etc): 22

Churn and tenure

Distinct people committing each year

Counting anyone whose active span covers that year. The shape tracks GDS headcount and the delivery peaks of the mid-2010s.

1.4k1k687.5343.8011: 1571112: 2451213: 3021314: 4091415: 5751516: 7111617: 8821718: 9271819: 1k1920: 1.3k2021: 1.4k2122: 1.1k2223: 9592324: 8782425: 7642526: 48926

How long people stay

Span from first to last commit anywhere in the org.

9369.846.523.20same day: 93same day< 1 mth: 59< 1 mth1-3 mth: 321-3 mth3-12 mth: 703-12 mth1-2 yr: 591-2 yr2-4 yr: 302-4 yr4-7 yr: 244-7 yr7 yr +: 177 yr +

When the work happens

Commits by hour of day

Author local time as recorded in the commit. A clean single-peak working day.

33.3k25k16.7k8.3k000: 6.3k0001: 4.5k02: 3.2k0203: 2.7k04: 2.2k0405: 2.2k06: 2.8k0607: 4.6k08: 11.3k0809: 20.7k10: 27.1k1011: 30.3k12: 23.3k1213: 27.6k14: 33.3k1415: 33.2k16: 32.1k1617: 23.4k18: 14.2k1819: 10.7k20: 10.1k2021: 10.8k22: 9.6k2223: 7.8k

Commits by day of week

68.8k51.6k34.4k17.2k0Sun: 12kSunMon: 61.9kMonTue: 68.8kTueWed: 68.1kWedThu: 67.8kThuFri: 61.8kFriSat: 13.6kSat

Reading the pattern

Weekend commits account for 7.2% of all activity. The working day peaks between 10:00 and 16:00 with a visible lunch dip, and tails off sharply after 18:00 - the signature of an organisation that does not run on overtime.

Concentration of knowledge

For each live repository with more than fifty human commits, how many people it takes to account for over half of them. One is a genuine key-person risk; four or more is a healthily shared codebase. 98 repositories qualify for the measure.

Bus factor across live repositories

Fewest contributors accounting for more than half the commits.

4433221101 person: 441 person2 people: 302 people3 people: 113 people4 people: 64 people5 people: 25 people6 or more: 56 or more

Where a single person wrote most of it

Share of commits by the largest single contributor, for the most concentrated repositories.

ALC_SUTORALC_SUTOR: 100%100%PyTMCIPyTMCI: 100%100%dynafed-ldap-plugindynafed-ldap-plugin: 100%100%lldp-weathermaplldp-weathermap: 100%100%Self-Hosting-GuideSelf-Hosting-Guide: 99%99%HartreeParticleDSLHartreeParticleDSL: 98%98%histogramSketcherhistogramSketcher: 95%95%dl_timerdl_timer: 95%95%StylESStylES: 93%93%claw-compilerclaw-compiler: 92%92%aiidalab-chemshellaiidalab-chemshell: 91%91%docker-and-gh-actions-for-mldocker-and-gh-actions-for-ml: 90%90%

The machines

Top automated committers

Dependabot dominates. GOV.UK runs an in-house govuk-dependabot-merger service that auto-merges qualifying upgrade PRs, which is why bot commit volume is so high.

dependabot[bot]dependabot[bot]: 758758dependabot-preview[bot]dependabot-preview[bot]: 220220github-actions[bot]github-actions[bot]: 7878GitHubGitHub: 77stfc-cloud-ci[bot]stfc-cloud-ci[bot]: 44

Top 60 committers

CommitterEmail typeCommits ReposFirstLast Years
Andrew Porterother-org8,96962016-032026-0810.4
Sergi Sisopersonal5,41342018-112026-087.7
Joerg Henrichspersonal5,04532017-072026-089.1
rupertfordother-org3,49232017-012025-048.3
ElliottKasoarmisconfigured2,118102022-052026-084.2
TeranIvygithub-private2,05112017-052025-027.8
Aidan Chalkgithub-private1,66662020-032026-086.4
Kalibh Halfordother-org1,621132023-092026-082.9
anish-mudaraddiother-org1,476112021-042026-085.4
Andy Portergithub-private1,40362017-012026-089.5
arp28other-org1,29412014-032018-013.8
James Adamsother-org1,134272009-102026-0616.7
David Fairbrothergithub-private1,133162021-012026-085.6
LonelyCat124other-org1,03532025-012026-081.6
Anish Mudaraddigithub-private627142021-052026-085.3
Benjamin T. Speakeother-org61462025-062026-081.2
andrewporterother-org60612015-032017-022.0
Nuno Nobreother-org58832022-022026-084.5
Alin Marin Elenaother-org52772023-022026-073.4
Alexander Dibbogithub-private462122015-112026-0510.6
George Matthewsother-org458142023-042026-083.3
Will Furnellgithub-private414152020-012026-086.6
Louise Daviesother-org41022016-122018-081.7
rupertfordother-org39712012-072017-024.6
You Luother-org35622018-062026-078.1
Bryce Shirleygithub-private32812024-072026-041.7
Jony Castagnaother-org32412021-072025-074.0
azahmdother-org314102025-012026-081.6
Lottie Turnergov.uk31212023-022025-052.3
meoflynngithub-private302132020-072026-055.9
oakley.bruntgov.uk30212023-082024-121.3
Alistair Pirriegov.uk29412024-122026-081.7
gregother-org29342016-012019-073.5
Joel Daviesother-org29022022-032022-090.5
GooBallother-org28152015-042016-071.2
Jose Caballero Bejarpersonal272192020-052026-086.2
Elena Patyukovapersonal26142024-112026-031.4
Harvey Devereuxgithub-private25922024-042026-042.0
Muhammad Mohsinpersonal24212025-052026-071.2
Willow Sparkspersonal23712026-062026-080.2
[email protected]other-org219102015-112023-118.0
AlexCK-STFCgithub-private213102025-052026-071.2
federicapersonal20322024-022024-070.5
Tom Birkettgithub-private20172021-032026-085.4
SCHREIBER Martinother-org19712024-112026-061.6
anish-mudaraddigithub-private18112025-012026-081.6
Drew Silcockother-org16842019-082026-066.9
MRichards99other-org16242017-112019-091.9
Matthew Naylorpersonal14712025-062026-081.2
Jessieother-org13732025-102026-030.5
meoflynnother-org13292023-102026-052.6
jjensenralother-org13152016-102026-019.3
Kane Shentonpersonal12232025-082026-081.0
Chris Greengithub-private121112023-092026-032.5
Jack Harperother-org12122015-092016-010.3
Lizzie Salmongithub-private12042024-092025-030.4
Michal Knapikother-org11822013-072013-090.2
Michal Knapikother-org11512013-072013-080.1
Junwen Yingithub-private11362024-112026-081.7
Dmitry Popovichevother-org112112024-092026-051.7