Unfollowing Accounts After Enterprise SSO: A GitHub `git tool` Challenge

Unfollowing Accounts After Enterprise SSO: A GitHub `git tool` Challenge

Navigating GitHub can sometimes present unexpected hurdles, especially when your professional life intersects with enterprise-managed accounts. A recent discussion on the GitHub Community forum highlighted a common, yet frustrating, scenario: being unable to unfollow accounts due to lingering enterprise Single Sign-On (SSO) associations. This insight delves into the problem and offers community-driven solutions to help you regain control over your GitHub following list, enhancing your overall developer productivity and `engineering performance`.

The Enterprise SSO Link: Why You Get Stuck

The original poster, dwmcallister, encountered this issue after leaving their previous company, F5. Despite no longer having access to their F5.com enterprise account, GitHub continued to prompt for an F5 login when attempting to unfollow accounts like nginx and nginxinc. This happens because when you authenticate with an enterprise account, your personal GitHub profile can become linked to that enterprise's SSO. Even after leaving the company, certain relationships (like following organizations) may remain tied to that enterprise identity. GitHub, trying to verify your permissions, redirects you to an SSO portal you can no longer access.

Community-Driven Solutions: Regaining Control

The community offered several practical workarounds and direct solutions:

1. Initial Self-Service Checks

• Your Following Page: The simplest first step is to navigate directly to github.com/settings/following while logged into your personal account. Many users reported being able to unfollow accounts directly from this page without triggering an SSO redirect.
• Incognito/Private Window: Sometimes, opening the target organization's page (e.g., github.com/nginx) in a private browsing window can bypass cached SSO redirects.
• Verify Account Type: Ensure your GitHub account isn't still mistakenly identified as an enterprise-managed user. Check your Settings → Account to confirm it's a personal account.

2. Revoking Authorized Applications

A crucial step suggested by the community is to review and revoke any lingering SSO authorizations:

• Go to Settings → Applications → Authorized GitHub Apps.
• Look for and revoke access for any entries related to your former company (F5), nginx, or general enterprise SSO authorizations. This can sometimes break the unwanted link.

3. Leveraging the `git tool`: GitHub CLI

For those comfortable with the command line, the GitHub CLI (gh) can often bypass browser-based SSO redirects for API calls. This powerful `git tool` provides a direct interface to GitHub's API:

gh api -X DELETE /user/following/nginx
gh api -X DELETE /user/following/nginxinc

Run these commands in your terminal while logged into your personal GitHub account via the CLI. This is a highly effective method for direct account management.

4. The Mobile App Bypass

The GitHub mobile app (available on iOS and Android) sometimes handles follow states or SSO redirects differently. Try searching for the accounts within the app and toggling the "Following" button there. This can occasionally provide a path around browser-specific SSO enforcement.

5. When All Else Fails: Contact GitHub Support

If the above workarounds don't resolve the issue, it likely means the SSO requirement is deeply enforced at the API level due to a persistent backend linkage. In such cases, GitHub Support is the most reliable "nuclear option."

• Open a support ticket at https://support.github.com/contact.
• Clearly explain that you were an admin under a former enterprise (F5), no longer have SSO access, and are unable to unfollow specific accounts (nginx, nginxinc) due to forced enterprise authentication.
• Include screenshots or a short recording of the issue if possible.

GitHub Support can manually remove the follow relationship from their backend, detaching the SSO association from your personal account.

Enhancing Your `Engineering Performance`

While frustrating, this scenario highlights the complexities of identity management in modern development platforms. Understanding these community-vetted solutions not only helps resolve immediate issues but also contributes to smoother developer workflows and overall `engineering performance` by preventing such blockers from derailing your focus. By knowing when to leverage built-in tools like the GitHub CLI or escalate to support, developers can maintain efficient control over their digital workspaces.