diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..c38fa4e0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+.idea
+*.iml
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index f1331bf6..67ad8243 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@ LABEL "repository"="https://github.com/EndBug/add-and-commit"
 LABEL "homepage"="https://github.com/EndBug/add-and-commit"
 LABEL "maintainer"="Federico Grandi <fgrandi30@gmail.com>"
 
+RUN apk add jq
+
 COPY entrypoint.sh /entrypoint.sh
 
 ENTRYPOINT ["sh", "/entrypoint.sh"]
diff --git a/action.yml b/action.yml
index 1d13a38c..50a1beb3 100644
--- a/action.yml
+++ b/action.yml
@@ -3,13 +3,11 @@ description: 'Add & commit files from a path directly from GitHub Actions'
 
 inputs:
   author_name:
-    description: 'The name of the user that will be displayed as the author of the commit'
-    required: true
-    default: 'Add & Commit GitHub Action'
+    description: 'The name of the user that will be displayed as the author of the commit, defaults to author name of head commit'
+    required: false
   author_email:
-    description: 'The email of the user that will be displayed as the author of the commit'
-    required: true
-    default: 'actions@github.com'
+    description: 'The email of the user that will be displayed as the author of the commit, defaults to author email of head commit'
+    required: false
   force:
     description: 'Whether to use the force option on git add, in order to bypass eventual gitignores'
     required: false
diff --git a/entrypoint.sh b/entrypoint.sh
index 4b1ea3ce..9c3402fb 100644
--- a/entrypoint.sh
+++ b/entrypoint.sh
@@ -1,6 +1,18 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 set -eu
 
+if [ -z "$INPUT_AUTHOR_NAME" ] # Check if the variable is empty
+then AUTHOR_NAME=$(cat "$GITHUB_EVENT_PATH" | jq '.head_commit.author.name' | sed 's/"//g') # If so, fetch the author from the event
+else AUTHOR_NAME=$INPUT_AUTHOR_NAME # If not, use that value
+fi
+
+if [ -z "$INPUT_AUTHOR_EMAIL" ]
+then AUTHOR_EMAIL=$(cat "$GITHUB_EVENT_PATH" | jq '.head_commit.author.email' | sed 's/"//g')
+else AUTHOR_EMAIL=$INPUT_AUTHOR_EMAIL
+fi
+
+echo "Using '$AUTHOR_NAME' and '$AUTHOR_EMAIL' as author information."
+
 # Set up .netrc file with GitHub credentials
 git_setup() {
   cat <<- EOF > $HOME/.netrc
@@ -14,8 +26,8 @@ git_setup() {
 EOF
     chmod 600 $HOME/.netrc
 
-    git config --global user.email "actions@github.com"
-    git config --global user.name "Add & Commit GitHub Action"
+    git config --global user.email "$AUTHOR_EMAIL"
+    git config --global user.name "$AUTHOR_NAME"
 }
 
 add() {
@@ -52,7 +64,7 @@ then
     add
 
     echo "Creating commit..."
-    git commit -m "$INPUT_MESSAGE" --author="$INPUT_AUTHOR_NAME <$INPUT_AUTHOR_EMAIL>"
+    git commit -m "$INPUT_MESSAGE" --author="$AUTHOR_NAME <$AUTHOR_EMAIL>"
 
     echo "Pushing to repo..."
     git push --set-upstream origin "${GITHUB_REF:11}"