diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yaml b/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
index af4ae03e..0fd99f53 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@ concurrency:
 jobs:
   validate-contributors:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    env:
+      actor: ${{ github.actor }}
     steps:
       - name: Check out code
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
diff --git a/cmd/github/githubactions.go b/cmd/github/githubactions.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..5d97ab40
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/github/githubactions.go
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+// Package github provides utilities to make it easier to deal with various
+// GitHub APIs
+package github
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
+)
+
+const envActorUsernameKey = "actor"
+
+// ActionsActor returns the username of the GitHub user who triggered the
+// current CI run as part of GitHub Actions.The value must be loaded into the
+// env as part of the Github Actions script file, or else the function fails.
+func ActionsActor() (string, error) {
+	username := os.Getenv(envActorUsernameKey)
+	if username == "" {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("value for %q is not in env. Please update the CI script to load the value in during CI", envActorUsernameKey)
+	}
+	return username, nil
+}
diff --git a/cmd/readmevalidation/main.go b/cmd/readmevalidation/main.go
index 789797ef..c9fe4e9e 100644
--- a/cmd/readmevalidation/main.go
+++ b/cmd/readmevalidation/main.go
@@ -8,9 +8,17 @@ package main
 
 import (
 	"log"
+
+	"coder.com/coder-registry/cmd/github"
 )
 
 func main() {
+	username, err := github.ActionsActor()
+	if err != nil {
+		log.Panic(err)
+	}
+	log.Println("running as %q", username)
+
 	log.Println("Starting README validation")
 	allReadmeFiles, err := aggregateContributorReadmeFiles()
 	if err != nil {