diff --git a/backend/druks/core/apis/github.py b/backend/druks/core/apis/github.py
index 7903b63a..22672565 100644
--- a/backend/druks/core/apis/github.py
+++ b/backend/druks/core/apis/github.py
@@ -220,12 +220,20 @@ async def get_mention_handle(self) -> str:
     async def get_bot_git_author(self) -> tuple[str, str]:
         """Name and email for commits made as the App's bot user — the
         ``<id>+<slug>[bot]@users.noreply.github.com`` convention, the same
-        identity a squash-merge advertises. The id comes from the public users
-        endpoint, no auth needed."""
+        identity a squash-merge advertises. The id comes from the users endpoint
+        with an installation token: GitHub limits anonymous requests to 60 an hour per IP."""
         bot_name = f"{await self.get_mention_handle()}[bot]"
         user_id = _BOT_USER_ID_CACHE.get(self._app_id)
         if not user_id:
-            async with GitHub(base_url=GITHUB_API_URL) as github:
+            response = await self._app.rest.apps.async_list_installations(per_page=100)
+            installations = []
+            for installation in response.parsed_data:
+                if not installation.suspended_at:
+                    installations.append(installation)
+            if not installations:
+                raise GitHubAppNotInstalledError(bot_name)
+            github = await self._get_for_installation(installations[0].id)
+            async with github:
                 response = await github.rest.users.async_get_by_username(bot_name)
             user_id = response.parsed_data.id
             _BOT_USER_ID_CACHE[self._app_id] = user_id
diff --git a/backend/tests/test_github.py b/backend/tests/test_github.py
index 8d17fc55..9b6e29e4 100644
--- a/backend/tests/test_github.py
+++ b/backend/tests/test_github.py
@@ -564,37 +564,48 @@ async def _for_repo(self, repo: str) -> Any:
     assert await client.get_file_content("clawhaven/.druks", "prompts/x.md") is None
 
 
-async def test_get_bot_git_author_composes_the_public_bot_identity(
+async def test_get_bot_git_author_looks_up_the_bot_with_a_live_installation(
     monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch,
 ) -> None:
     # The author is the App's bot user with GitHub's <id>+<login> noreply
-    # address; the id comes from one unauthenticated lookup, cached for the
-    # life of the process.
-    requested: list[str] = []
+    # address; the id comes from one lookup with a live installation's token,
+    # cached for the life of the process.
+    requested: list[tuple[str, int]] = []
 
     class _Users:
+        def __init__(self, installation_id: int) -> None:
+            self.installation_id = installation_id
+
         async def async_get_by_username(self, username: str) -> SimpleNamespace:
-            requested.append(username)
+            requested.append((username, self.installation_id))
             return SimpleNamespace(parsed_data=SimpleNamespace(id=123456789))
 
-    class _PublicGitHub:
-        def __init__(self, *, base_url: str) -> None:
-            assert base_url == github_api.GITHUB_API_URL
-            self.rest = SimpleNamespace(users=_Users())
+    class _InstallationGitHub:
+        def __init__(self, installation_id: int) -> None:
+            self.rest = SimpleNamespace(users=_Users(installation_id))
 
-        async def __aenter__(self) -> "_PublicGitHub":
+        async def __aenter__(self) -> "_InstallationGitHub":
             return self
 
         async def __aexit__(self, *_args: Any) -> None:
             pass
 
-    monkeypatch.setattr(github_api, "GitHub", _PublicGitHub)
+    class _Apps:
+        async def async_list_installations(self, per_page: int) -> SimpleNamespace:
+            suspended = SimpleNamespace(id=11, suspended_at=datetime(2026, 10, 1, tzinfo=UTC))
+            live = SimpleNamespace(id=22, suspended_at=None)
+            return SimpleNamespace(parsed_data=[suspended, live])
+
     monkeypatch.setattr(github_api, "_BOT_USER_ID_CACHE", {})
 
     class _SluggedClient(GitHubClient):
         def __init__(self) -> None:  # skip real auth
             self._app_id = "12345"
             self._slug = "example-app"
+            self._app = SimpleNamespace(rest=SimpleNamespace(apps=_Apps()))
+
+        async def _get_for_installation(self, installation_id: int) -> _InstallationGitHub:
+            return _InstallationGitHub(installation_id)
 
     client = _SluggedClient()
     author = await client.get_bot_git_author()
@@ -604,7 +615,7 @@ def __init__(self) -> None:  # skip real auth
         "123456789+example-app[bot]@users.noreply.github.com",
     )
     assert await client.get_bot_git_author() == author
-    assert requested == ["example-app[bot]"]
+    assert requested == [("example-app[bot]", 22)]
 
 
 def _template_generating_client(