Check Gravatar Availability

Check if a Gravatar avatar exists for an email address.

Script Execution (Preferred)

npx tsx scripts/check.ts <email> [options]

Options:

• --no-cache - Bypass cache and fetch fresh data

Run from the gravatar plugin directory: ~/.claude/plugins/cache/gravatar/

How It Works

Uses a HEAD request with d=404 parameter to check if a Gravatar exists:

• If Gravatar exists: Returns 200 OK
• If no Gravatar: Returns 404 Not Found

Results are cached for 24 hours to avoid redundant API calls.

Usage

npx tsx scripts/check.ts <email> [options]

Arguments

Argument	Required	Description
email	Yes	Email address to check for Gravatar

Options

Option	Description
--no-cache	Bypass cache and fetch fresh data from Gravatar

Output

When Gravatar exists:

Checking: user@example.com

✓ Gravatar exists
  Hash: b48bf4373d7b7374351c0544f36f7fc3
  URL: https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/b48bf4373d7b7374351c0544f36f7fc3
  Profile: https://www.gravatar.com/b48bf4373d7b7374351c0544f36f7fc3

When no Gravatar found:

Checking: nonexistent@example.com

✗ No Gravatar found
  Hash: abc123def456789...
  This email does not have a Gravatar image.
  A default image will be shown.

Examples

Check if developer has Gravatar:

npx tsx scripts/check.ts beau@dentedreality.com.au

Bypass cache for fresh check:

npx tsx scripts/check.ts user@example.com --no-cache

Use Cases

Validate Email Addresses

Check if an email is associated with a Gravatar profile:

npx tsx scripts/check.ts contact@company.com

Bulk User Verification

Check multiple team members:

for email in dev1@company.com dev2@company.com; do
  npx tsx scripts/check.ts "$email"
done

Conditional Avatar Display

Verify Gravatar exists before displaying avatar in UI:

npx tsx scripts/check.ts user@example.com && echo "Show Gravatar" || echo "Show default"

Caching

Results are cached for 24 hours. Since Gravatars change infrequently, caching improves performance while maintaining accuracy.

Use --no-cache when you need real-time verification.

Exit Codes

• 0 - Success (Gravatar exists or check completed)
• 1 - Error (invalid usage or network error)

Note: A "No Gravatar found" result is still exit code 0 - it's a successful check that returned no avatar.

Related

• Use gravatar-url skill to generate Gravatar URLs
• Use gravatar-download skill to download Gravatar images
• Combine with GitHub/npm user lookups to check developer avatars