# Code Owners and Routing

Escape extracts code-owner email addresses from connected repositories. Owners are shown on Assets and their issues, so you can contact the people responsible for the code.

## Where Ownership Comes From

Escape extracts owners for a code project in this order:

1. **`CODEOWNERS` files** at the repository root, `.github/`, `.gitlab/`, or `docs/`. Only email addresses are kept; handles such as `@org/team` are ignored. Owners from all matching patterns are combined.
2. **Git history** when no matching email owners are found: Escape uses committer email addresses, excluding bot and no-reply addresses.

You can also edit owner email addresses on an Asset through the UI or [Public API](</documentation/automate/public-api/>).

## Contacting Owners

The issue's owners panel lets you edit owner email addresses and use **Notify owners** to send an email notification. This action requires the Admin permission.

See [Asset Management](<https://docs.escape.tech/documentation/asm/asset-management/index.md>) for the Asset lifecycle and bulk editing options.