diff --git a/swh/core/tests/test_utils.py b/swh/core/tests/test_utils.py
--- a/swh/core/tests/test_utils.py
+++ b/swh/core/tests/test_utils.py
@@ -167,3 +167,40 @@
 def test_basename_sotkey():
     assert utils.basename_sortkey("00-xxx.sql") == (0, "-xxx.sql")
     assert utils.basename_sortkey("path/to/00-xxx.sql") == (0, "-xxx.sql")
+
+
+KNOWN_GH_REPO = "https://github.com/user/repo"
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "user_repo, expected_url",
+    [
+        ("user/repo.git", KNOWN_GH_REPO),
+        ("user/repo.git/", KNOWN_GH_REPO),
+        ("user/repo/", KNOWN_GH_REPO),
+        ("user/repo", KNOWN_GH_REPO),
+        # edge cases
+        ("https://github.com/unknown-page", None),  # unknown gh origin returns None
+    ],
+)
+def test_get_canonical_github_origin_url(user_repo, expected_url, requests_mock):
+    """It should return a canonicalized github origin when it exists, None otherwise"""
+    html_url = utils._url_github_html(user_repo)
+    api_url = utils._url_github_api(utils._sanitize_github_url(user_repo))
+
+    if expected_url is not None:
+        status_code = 200
+        response = {"html_url": utils._sanitize_github_url(html_url)}
+    else:
+        status_code = 404
+        response = {}
+
+    requests_mock.get(api_url, [{"status_code": status_code, "json": response}])
+
+    assert utils.get_canonical_github_origin_url(html_url) == expected_url
+
+
+def test_get_canonical_github_origin_url_not_gh_origin():
+    """It should return the input url when not a github origin as input"""
+    url = "https://example.org"
+    assert utils.get_canonical_github_origin_url(url) == url
diff --git a/swh/core/utils.py b/swh/core/utils.py
--- a/swh/core/utils.py
+++ b/swh/core/utils.py
@@ -8,7 +8,9 @@
 import itertools
 import os
 import re
-from typing import Iterable, Tuple, TypeVar
+from typing import Iterable, Optional, Tuple, TypeVar
+
+import requests
 
 
 @contextmanager
@@ -187,3 +189,45 @@
 def basename_sortkey(fname: str) -> Tuple[int, str]:
     "like numfile_sortkey but on basenames"
     return numfile_sortkey(os.path.basename(fname))
+
+
+GITHUB_PATTERN = re.compile(r"https?://github.com/(?P<user_repo>.*)")
+
+
+def _url_github_html(user_repo: str) -> str:
+    """Given the user repo, returns the expected github html url."""
+    return f"https://github.com/{user_repo}"
+
+
+def _url_github_api(user_repo: str) -> str:
+    """Given the user_repo, returns the expected github api url."""
+    return f"https://api.github.com/repos/{user_repo}"
+
+
+def _sanitize_github_url(url: str) -> str:
+    """Simple github sanitization url."""
+    url_ = url.lower()
+    if url_.endswith("/"):
+        url_ = url_[:-1]
+
+    if url_.endswith(".git"):
+        url_ = url_[:-4]
+
+    return url_
+
+
+def get_canonical_github_origin_url(url: str) -> Optional[str]:
+    """Retrieve canonical github url out of an url."""
+
+    url_ = url.lower()
+
+    match = GITHUB_PATTERN.match(url_)
+    if not match:
+        return url
+
+    user_repo = _sanitize_github_url(match.groupdict()["user_repo"])
+    response = requests.get(_url_github_api(user_repo))
+    if response.status_code != 200:
+        return None
+    data = response.json()
+    return data["html_url"]