diff --git a/crates/collab/k8s/collab.template.yml b/crates/collab/k8s/collab.template.yml
index 6d0cafc0acecdfb4c1d38e27ad8b8e99c97498da..3e0304c8be62b41ddc51bee5ec46ff2a0668745e 100644
--- a/crates/collab/k8s/collab.template.yml
+++ b/crates/collab/k8s/collab.template.yml
@@ -216,6 +216,11 @@ spec:
                 secretKeyRef:
                   name: supermaven
                   key: api_key
+            - name: USER_BACKFILLER_GITHUB_ACCESS_TOKEN
+              valueFrom:
+                secretKeyRef:
+                  name: user-backfiller
+                  key: github_access_token
             - name: INVITE_LINK_PREFIX
               value: ${INVITE_LINK_PREFIX}
             - name: RUST_BACKTRACE
diff --git a/crates/collab/src/db/queries/users.rs b/crates/collab/src/db/queries/users.rs
index 251f5bec685d9266261549ef8e1bc537725efaa5..2aa5857560d8693a0ec642582fff6ff14e0dad8e 100644
--- a/crates/collab/src/db/queries/users.rs
+++ b/crates/collab/src/db/queries/users.rs
@@ -377,4 +377,14 @@ impl Database {
         })
         .await
     }
+
+    pub async fn get_users_missing_github_user_created_at(&self) -> Result<Vec<user::Model>> {
+        self.transaction(|tx| async move {
+            Ok(user::Entity::find()
+                .filter(user::Column::GithubUserCreatedAt.is_null())
+                .all(&*tx)
+                .await?)
+        })
+        .await
+    }
 }
diff --git a/crates/collab/src/lib.rs b/crates/collab/src/lib.rs
index 06d741e2cab9ae4c3d068846eda1f35286d98d80..11e93db66865eb8d2033090d006cd2d059878fa9 100644
--- a/crates/collab/src/lib.rs
+++ b/crates/collab/src/lib.rs
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ pub mod migrations;
 mod rate_limiter;
 pub mod rpc;
 pub mod seed;
+pub mod user_backfiller;
 
 #[cfg(test)]
 mod tests;
@@ -177,6 +178,7 @@ pub struct Config {
     pub stripe_api_key: Option<String>,
     pub stripe_price_id: Option<Arc<str>>,
     pub supermaven_admin_api_key: Option<Arc<str>>,
+    pub user_backfiller_github_access_token: Option<Arc<str>>,
 }
 
 impl Config {
@@ -235,6 +237,7 @@ impl Config {
             supermaven_admin_api_key: None,
             qwen2_7b_api_key: None,
             qwen2_7b_api_url: None,
+            user_backfiller_github_access_token: None,
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/crates/collab/src/main.rs b/crates/collab/src/main.rs
index a946d1662019b70198ca62ef019a36eb2857431b..50cb81934e11b4a0708cea73e880d3b739690a86 100644
--- a/crates/collab/src/main.rs
+++ b/crates/collab/src/main.rs
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ use axum::{
 };
 use collab::llm::{db::LlmDatabase, log_usage_periodically};
 use collab::migrations::run_database_migrations;
+use collab::user_backfiller::spawn_user_backfiller;
 use collab::{api::billing::poll_stripe_events_periodically, llm::LlmState, ServiceMode};
 use collab::{
     api::fetch_extensions_from_blob_store_periodically, db, env, executor::Executor,
@@ -131,6 +132,7 @@ async fn main() -> Result<()> {
                 if mode.is_api() {
                     poll_stripe_events_periodically(state.clone());
                     fetch_extensions_from_blob_store_periodically(state.clone());
+                    spawn_user_backfiller(state.clone());
 
                     app = app
                         .merge(collab::api::events::router())
diff --git a/crates/collab/src/tests/test_server.rs b/crates/collab/src/tests/test_server.rs
index 6fde54ff1c23d7ef5e08eee268d995ebaff63ee7..6522eed3037dd6fb963f5eea2efc8f57ddb3e28c 100644
--- a/crates/collab/src/tests/test_server.rs
+++ b/crates/collab/src/tests/test_server.rs
@@ -682,6 +682,7 @@ impl TestServer {
                 supermaven_admin_api_key: None,
                 qwen2_7b_api_key: None,
                 qwen2_7b_api_url: None,
+                user_backfiller_github_access_token: None,
             },
         })
     }
diff --git a/crates/collab/src/user_backfiller.rs b/crates/collab/src/user_backfiller.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..e56f53b831757ea47d1cd11683ec77acac8cb232
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/collab/src/user_backfiller.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,132 @@
+use std::sync::Arc;
+
+use anyhow::{anyhow, Context, Result};
+use util::ResultExt;
+
+use crate::db::Database;
+use crate::executor::Executor;
+use crate::{AppState, Config};
+
+pub fn spawn_user_backfiller(app_state: Arc<AppState>) {
+    let Some(user_backfiller_github_access_token) =
+        app_state.config.user_backfiller_github_access_token.clone()
+    else {
+        log::info!("no USER_BACKFILLER_GITHUB_ACCESS_TOKEN set; not spawning user backfiller");
+        return;
+    };
+
+    let executor = app_state.executor.clone();
+    executor.spawn_detached({
+        let executor = executor.clone();
+        async move {
+            let user_backfiller = UserBackfiller::new(
+                app_state.config.clone(),
+                user_backfiller_github_access_token,
+                app_state.db.clone(),
+                executor,
+            );
+
+            log::info!("backfilling users");
+
+            user_backfiller
+                .backfill_github_user_created_at()
+                .await
+                .log_err();
+        }
+    });
+}
+
+struct UserBackfiller {
+    config: Config,
+    github_access_token: Arc<str>,
+    db: Arc<Database>,
+    http_client: reqwest::Client,
+    executor: Executor,
+}
+
+impl UserBackfiller {
+    fn new(
+        config: Config,
+        github_access_token: Arc<str>,
+        db: Arc<Database>,
+        executor: Executor,
+    ) -> Self {
+        Self {
+            config,
+            github_access_token,
+            db,
+            http_client: reqwest::Client::new(),
+            executor,
+        }
+    }
+
+    async fn backfill_github_user_created_at(&self) -> Result<()> {
+        let initial_channel_id = self.config.auto_join_channel_id;
+
+        let users_missing_github_user_created_at =
+            self.db.get_users_missing_github_user_created_at().await?;
+
+        for user in users_missing_github_user_created_at {
+            match self
+                .fetch_github_user(&format!(
+                    "https://api.github.com/users/{}",
+                    user.github_login
+                ))
+                .await
+            {
+                Ok(github_user) => {
+                    self.db
+                        .get_or_create_user_by_github_account(
+                            &user.github_login,
+                            Some(github_user.id),
+                            user.email_address.as_deref(),
+                            Some(github_user.created_at),
+                            initial_channel_id,
+                        )
+                        .await?;
+
+                    log::info!("backfilled user: {}", user.github_login);
+                }
+                Err(err) => {
+                    log::error!("failed to fetch GitHub user {}: {err}", user.github_login);
+                }
+            }
+
+            self.executor
+                .sleep(std::time::Duration::from_millis(200))
+                .await;
+        }
+
+        Ok(())
+    }
+
+    async fn fetch_github_user(&self, url: &str) -> Result<GithubUser> {
+        let response = self
+            .http_client
+            .get(url)
+            .header(
+                "authorization",
+                format!("Bearer {}", self.github_access_token),
+            )
+            .header("user-agent", "zed")
+            .send()
+            .await
+            .with_context(|| format!("failed to fetch '{url}'"))?;
+
+        let response = match response.error_for_status() {
+            Ok(response) => response,
+            Err(err) => return Err(anyhow!("failed to fetch GitHub user: {err}")),
+        };
+
+        response
+            .json()
+            .await
+            .with_context(|| format!("failed to deserialize GitHub user from '{url}'"))
+    }
+}
+
+#[derive(serde::Deserialize)]
+struct GithubUser {
+    id: i32,
+    created_at: chrono::DateTime<chrono::Utc>,
+}