diff --git a/internal/gitlab/commit_mapping_test.go b/internal/gitlab/commit_mapping_test.go
index a5fdf9417..26299681e 100644
--- a/internal/gitlab/commit_mapping_test.go
+++ b/internal/gitlab/commit_mapping_test.go
@@ -135,3 +135,14 @@ func TestGitlabMRRefs(t *testing.T) {
 	require.Equal(t, "feature-branch", head)
 	require.Equal(t, "main", base)
 }
+
+// A commit with no author is recorded with an empty author, not " <>". One
+// part is enough to keep the format.
+func TestCommitFromGitlabCommit_MissingAuthorIsEmpty(t *testing.T) {
+	c := commitFromGitlabCommit(&gitlab.Commit{ID: "abc1230000000000000000000000000000000000"}, "my-branch")
+	require.Equal(t, "", c.Author)
+	c = commitFromGitlabCommit(&gitlab.Commit{ID: "abc1230000000000000000000000000000000000", AuthorName: "Steve Tooke"}, "my-branch")
+	require.Equal(t, "Steve Tooke <>", c.Author)
+	c = commitFromGitlabCommit(&gitlab.Commit{ID: "abc1230000000000000000000000000000000000", AuthorEmail: "tooky@kosli.com"}, "my-branch")
+	require.Equal(t, " <tooky@kosli.com>", c.Author)
+}
diff --git a/internal/gitlab/gitlab.go b/internal/gitlab/gitlab.go
index 48af5c52f..7a725158b 100644
--- a/internal/gitlab/gitlab.go
+++ b/internal/gitlab/gitlab.go
@@ -344,10 +344,15 @@ func commitFromGitlabCommit(commit *gitlab.Commit, branch string) types.Commit {
 	if commit.AuthoredDate != nil {
 		timestamp = commit.AuthoredDate.Unix()
 	}
+	// A commit with no author is recorded as "", not " <>".
+	author := ""
+	if commit.AuthorName != "" || commit.AuthorEmail != "" {
+		author = fmt.Sprintf("%s <%s>", commit.AuthorName, commit.AuthorEmail)
+	}
 	return types.Commit{
 		SHA:       commit.ID,
 		Message:   commit.Message,
-		Author:    fmt.Sprintf("%s <%s>", commit.AuthorName, commit.AuthorEmail),
+		Author:    author,
 		Timestamp: timestamp,
 		Branch:    branch,
 		URL:       commit.WebURL,