diff --git a/src/cli/tasks.ts b/src/cli/tasks.ts
index e5e89c6..c77de38 100644
--- a/src/cli/tasks.ts
+++ b/src/cli/tasks.ts
@@ -15,10 +15,10 @@ export interface Tasks {
   readonly cloneRepo: (
     dir: string
   ) => Promise<{ readonly commitHash: string; readonly gitHistoryDir: string }>;
-  readonly getGithubUsername: (email: string) => Promise<string>;
+  readonly getGithubUsername: (email: string | undefined) => Promise<string>;
   readonly getUserInfo: () => Promise<{
-    readonly gitEmail: string;
-    readonly gitName: string;
+    readonly gitEmail: string | undefined;
+    readonly gitName: string | undefined;
   }>;
   readonly initialCommit: (hash: string, projectDir: string) => Promise<void>;
   readonly install: (
@@ -65,23 +65,37 @@ export const cloneRepo = (spawner: ExecaStatic) => async (dir: string) => {
   }
 };
 
-export const getGithubUsername = (fetcher: any) => async (email: string) =>
-  fetcher(email).catch(() => {
+export const getGithubUsername = (fetcher: any) => async (
+  email: string | undefined
+) => {
+  const placeholder = 'YOUR_USER_NAME';
+  if (email === undefined) {
+    return placeholder;
+  }
+  return fetcher(email).catch(() => {
     // if username isn't found, just return a placeholder
-    return 'YOUR_USER_NAME';
+    return placeholder;
   });
+};
 
 export const getUserInfo = (spawner: ExecaStatic) => async () => {
   const opts: Options = {
     encoding: 'utf8',
     stdio: ['pipe', 'pipe', inherit]
   };
-  const nameResult = await spawner('git', ['config', 'user.name'], opts);
-  const emailResult = await spawner('git', ['config', 'user.email'], opts);
-  return {
-    gitEmail: emailResult.stdout,
-    gitName: nameResult.stdout
-  };
+  try {
+    const nameResult = await spawner('git', ['config', 'user.name'], opts);
+    const emailResult = await spawner('git', ['config', 'user.email'], opts);
+    return {
+      gitEmail: emailResult.stdout,
+      gitName: nameResult.stdout
+    };
+  } catch (err) {
+    return {
+      gitEmail: undefined,
+      gitName: undefined
+    };
+  }
 };
 
 export const initialCommit = (spawner: ExecaStatic) => async (
diff --git a/src/cli/tests/cli.integration.spec.ts b/src/cli/tests/cli.integration.spec.ts
index 7ce930a..f372846 100644
--- a/src/cli/tests/cli.integration.spec.ts
+++ b/src/cli/tests/cli.integration.spec.ts
@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ async function testInteractive(
   const lastCheck = entry[3] !== undefined;
   t.plan(lastCheck ? 6 : 5);
 
-  const proc = execa(`../bin/typescript-starter`, ['--noinstall'], {
+  const proc = execa(`../bin/typescript-starter`, {
     cwd: join(process.cwd(), 'build'),
     env: {
       TYPESCRIPT_STARTER_REPO_URL: process.cwd()
@@ -157,7 +157,6 @@ async function testInteractive(
   clearBuffer();
   type(`${entry[2][0]}${enter}`);
   await ms(200);
-
   const search = `${entry[2][1]}.|s*global type definitions`;
   const exp = lastCheck
     ? new RegExp(`${search}`) // should match
@@ -170,8 +169,6 @@ async function testInteractive(
     await ms(200);
     checkBuffer(new RegExp(`${entry[3][1]}`));
   }
-
-  // TODO: validate contents?
 }
 
 test('integration test 3: interactive mode, javascript library', async t => {
diff --git a/src/cli/tests/cli.unit.spec.ts b/src/cli/tests/cli.unit.spec.ts
index b6af6fa..3bd1939 100644
--- a/src/cli/tests/cli.unit.spec.ts
+++ b/src/cli/tests/cli.unit.spec.ts
@@ -110,9 +110,12 @@ test('getGithubUsername: returns placeholder if not found', async t => {
   t.is(username, 'YOUR_USER_NAME');
 });
 
-test('getUserInfo: throws generated errors', async t => {
-  const error = await t.throws(getUserInfo(mockErr(1))());
-  t.is(error.code, 1);
+test('getUserInfo: suppresses errors and returns undefined', async t => {
+  const result = await getUserInfo(mockErr(1))();
+  t.deepEqual(result, {
+    gitEmail: undefined,
+    gitName: undefined
+  });
 });
 
 test('initialCommit: throws generated errors', async t => {