diff --git a/lib/workers/repository/onboarding/branch/index.ts b/lib/workers/repository/onboarding/branch/index.ts
index 5af0f6f74b75040f4ed5ca5ccc23653d60d9e391..370e668069f38ef5e38065a4cce6eea46a70b514 100644
--- a/lib/workers/repository/onboarding/branch/index.ts
+++ b/lib/workers/repository/onboarding/branch/index.ts
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ import {
 } from '../../../../constants/error-messages';
 import { logger } from '../../../../logger';
 import { platform } from '../../../../platform';
-import { checkoutBranch } from '../../../../util/git';
+import { checkoutBranch, setGitAuthor } from '../../../../util/git';
 import { extractAllDependencies } from '../../extract';
 import { mergeRenovateConfig } from '../../init/merge';
 import { isOnboarded, onboardingPrExists } from './check';
@@ -30,6 +30,8 @@ export async function checkOnboardingBranch(
     throw new Error(REPOSITORY_FORKED);
   }
   logger.debug('Repo is not onboarded');
+  // global gitAuthor will need to be used
+  setGitAuthor(config.gitAuthor);
   if (await onboardingPrExists(config)) {
     logger.debug('Onboarding PR already exists');
     const commit = await rebaseOnboardingBranch(config);