diff --git a/examples/repository_file/README.md b/examples/repository_file/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..4b6f8b588e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/repository_file/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+# Repository File
+
+This provides a template for managing [repository files](https://docs.github.com/en/repositories/working-with-files/managing-files).
+
+This example will also create or update a file in the specified `repository`. See https://www.terraform.io/docs/providers/github/index.html for details on configuring [`providers.tf`](./providers.tf) accordingly.
+
+Alternatively, you may use variables passed via the command line or `auto.tfvars`:
+
+```tfvars
+organization = ""
+github_token = ""
+
+repository     = ""
+file           = ""
+content        = ""
+branch         = ""
+commit_author  = ""
+commit_message = ""
+commit_email   = ""
+```
+
+```console
+terraform apply
+```
diff --git a/examples/repository_file/main.tf b/examples/repository_file/main.tf
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..bab860326a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/repository_file/main.tf
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+resource "github_repository_file" "this" {
+  repository = var.repository
+  file       = var.file
+  content    = var.content
+
+  branch = var.branch
+
+  commit_author  = var.commit_author
+  commit_message = var.commit_message
+  commit_email   = var.commit_email
+}
diff --git a/examples/repository_file/outputs.tf b/examples/repository_file/outputs.tf
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e69de29bb2
diff --git a/examples/repository_file/providers.tf b/examples/repository_file/providers.tf
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..43f79f6456
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/repository_file/providers.tf
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+terraform {
+  required_providers {
+    github = {
+      source = "integrations/github"
+    }
+  }
+}
+
+provider "github" {
+  owner = var.organization
+  token = var.github_token
+}
diff --git a/examples/repository_file/variables.tf b/examples/repository_file/variables.tf
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..cd5ed6272e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/repository_file/variables.tf
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+variable "organization" {
+  description = "GitHub organization used to configure the provider"
+  type        = string
+}
+
+variable "github_token" {
+  description = "GitHub access token used to configure the provider"
+  type        = string
+}
+
+variable "repository" {
+  description = "The name of the repository"
+  type        = string
+}
+
+variable "file" {
+  description = "The name of the file to create"
+  type        = string
+}
+variable "content" {
+  description = "The content of the file to create"
+  type        = string
+}
+variable "branch" {
+  description = "The branch to create the file in"
+  type        = string
+  default     = "main"
+}
+variable "commit_author" {
+  description = "The name of the author of the commit"
+  type        = string
+  default     = ""
+}
+variable "commit_message" {
+  description = "The message of the commit"
+  type        = string
+  default     = ""
+}
+variable "commit_email" {
+  description = "The email of the author of the commit"
+  type        = string
+  default     = ""
+}
diff --git a/github/resource_github_repository_file.go b/github/resource_github_repository_file.go
index c84a8a1953..a9ee9440bb 100644
--- a/github/resource_github_repository_file.go
+++ b/github/resource_github_repository_file.go
@@ -3,13 +3,13 @@ package github
 import (
 	"context"
 	"errors"
+	"fmt"
 	"log"
 	"net/http"
 	"net/url"
+	"slices"
 	"strings"
 
-	"fmt"
-
 	"github.com/google/go-github/v66/github"
 	"github.com/hashicorp/terraform-plugin-sdk/v2/helper/schema"
 )
@@ -367,23 +367,34 @@ func resourceGithubRepositoryFileRead(d *schema.ResourceData, meta interface{})
 		return err
 	}
 
-	commit_author := commit.Commit.GetCommitter().GetName()
-	commit_email := commit.Commit.GetCommitter().GetEmail()
-
-	_, hasCommitAuthor := d.GetOk("commit_author")
-	_, hasCommitEmail := d.GetOk("commit_email")
+	if commit_author_st, hasCommitAuthor := d.GetOk("commit_author"); hasCommitAuthor {
+		if err = d.Set("commit_author", commit_author_st.(string)); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+	} else {
+		if err = d.Set("commit_author", nil); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+	}
 
-	//read from state if author+email is set explicitly, and if it was not github signing it for you previously
-	if commit_author != "GitHub" && commit_email != "noreply@github.com" && hasCommitAuthor && hasCommitEmail {
-		if err = d.Set("commit_author", commit_author); err != nil {
+	if commit_email_st, hasCommitEmail := d.GetOk("commit_email"); hasCommitEmail {
+		if err = d.Set("commit_email", commit_email_st.(string)); err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
-		if err = d.Set("commit_email", commit_email); err != nil {
+	} else {
+		if err = d.Set("commit_email", nil); err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
 	}
-	if err = d.Set("commit_message", commit.GetCommit().GetMessage()); err != nil {
-		return err
+
+	if commit_message_st, hasCommitMessage := d.GetOk("commit_message"); hasCommitMessage {
+		if err = d.Set("commit_message", commit_message_st.(string)); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+	} else {
+		if err = d.Set("commit_message", nil); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
 	}
 
 	return nil
@@ -437,20 +448,30 @@ func resourceGithubRepositoryFileUpdate(d *schema.ResourceData, meta interface{}
 		opts.Message = &m
 	}
 
-	create, _, err := client.Repositories.CreateFile(ctx, owner, repo, file, opts)
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
+	schema := resourceGithubRepositoryFile()
+	allSchemaKeys := make([]string, 0, len(schema.Schema))
+	for k := range schema.Schema {
+		allSchemaKeys = append(allSchemaKeys, k)
 	}
+	allSchemaKeysButCommitDetails := slices.DeleteFunc(allSchemaKeys, func(v string) bool {
+		return slices.Contains([]string{"commit_sha", "commit_author", "commit_email", "commit_message"}, v)
+	})
 
-	if err = d.Set("commit_sha", create.GetSHA()); err != nil {
-		return err
+	if d.HasChanges(allSchemaKeysButCommitDetails...) {
+		create, _, err := client.Repositories.CreateFile(ctx, owner, repo, file, opts)
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		if err = d.Set("commit_sha", create.GetSHA()); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+	} else {
+		log.Printf("[DEBUG] No changes to commit, skipping commit")
 	}
-
 	return resourceGithubRepositoryFileRead(d, meta)
 }
 
 func resourceGithubRepositoryFileDelete(d *schema.ResourceData, meta interface{}) error {
-
 	client := meta.(*Owner).v3client
 	owner := meta.(*Owner).name
 	ctx := context.Background()