diff --git a/app/routers/users.py b/app/routers/users.py
index 872e297..60ee4e3 100644
--- a/app/routers/users.py
+++ b/app/routers/users.py
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 """User lookup endpoints.
 
 Two surfaces with intentionally different shapes:
-- ``/users/search`` — substring picker for type-ahead UI; omits email.
+- ``/users/search`` — substring picker for type-ahead UI; includes email as
+  a readable fallback when ``display_name`` is null (issue #42).
 - ``/users/lookup`` — bulk by-id resolver for privileged consumers; includes
   email. Trusts the caller to enforce authority over the looked-up users.
 """
@@ -68,8 +69,9 @@ async def search_users(
     """Type-ahead user picker for consumer apps.
 
     Matches `q` (case-insensitive substring) against display_name AND email.
-    Email is accepted as an input match-key for admin convenience but is
-    never returned — that's why the response schema has no email field.
+    Both are included in the response so consumer pickers can render
+    ``display_name ?? email`` and never fall back to raw UUID for users
+    who haven't customized their profile.
     """
     q = q.strip()
     if not q:
@@ -107,6 +109,7 @@ async def search_users(
             id=user.id,
             display_name=user.display_name,
             avatar_url=user.avatar_url,
+            email=user.email,
         )
         for user in users
     ]
diff --git a/app/schemas/user.py b/app/schemas/user.py
index f5abb0c..ee00c82 100644
--- a/app/schemas/user.py
+++ b/app/schemas/user.py
@@ -42,13 +42,27 @@ class UserUpdate(schemas.BaseUserUpdate):
 class UserSearchResult(BaseModel):
     """Public projection returned by /users/search.
 
-    Deliberately omits email — the endpoint accepts email as a match-key but
-    never surfaces it. PII stays server-side.
+    Includes ``email`` so consumer-side type-ahead pickers have a readable
+    label fallback for users with no ``display_name`` set (especially
+    Steam-OAuth users who haven't customized their profile). Without
+    this, those rows render as the raw UUID, which makes admin pickers
+    in downstream apps functionally unusable for that population.
+
+    ``email`` is ``None`` for Steam-OAuth users who haven't yet passed
+    through the accept-tos email-collection gate — same nullability as
+    ``UserRead``.
+
+    The endpoint is authenticated, and the search query is matched
+    against both ``display_name`` and ``email``, so returning ``email``
+    doesn't expand the caller's existing knowledge surface — they
+    already had to know (or guess) the email to find the user via
+    email-match.
     """
 
     id: UUID
     display_name: str | None = None
     avatar_url: str | None = None
+    email: str | None = None
 
 
 class UserLookupResult(BaseModel):
diff --git a/tests/test_users_search.py b/tests/test_users_search.py
index 12c033f..8e2746e 100644
--- a/tests/test_users_search.py
+++ b/tests/test_users_search.py
@@ -133,31 +133,40 @@ async def test_match_is_case_insensitive(auth_client: AsyncClient, seeded: list[
     assert any(row["display_name"] == "Alice" for row in body)
 
 
-# --- response shape: never includes email ----------------------------------
+# --- response shape: includes email (issue #42) ----------------------------
 
 
-async def test_email_is_never_in_response(auth_client: AsyncClient, seeded: list[User]) -> None:
+async def test_email_is_included_for_users_who_have_one(
+    auth_client: AsyncClient, seeded: list[User]
+) -> None:
+    """Issue #42: email is now returned so consumer pickers can fall back
+    to a readable label (``display_name ?? email``) instead of rendering
+    raw UUIDs for users without a custom display_name."""
     resp = await auth_client.get("/users/search?q=alice")
     body = resp.json()
     assert resp.status_code == 200
     assert body, "expected matches"
     for row in body:
-        assert "email" not in row, f"email leaked into response: {row}"
-        assert set(row.keys()) <= {"id", "display_name", "avatar_url"}
+        assert set(row.keys()) == {"id", "display_name", "avatar_url", "email"}
+    # Alice has both fields populated; confirm the email actually rides
+    # through.
+    alice = next(r for r in body if r["display_name"] == "Alice")
+    assert alice["email"] == "alice@example.com"
 
 
-async def test_null_email_user_is_matchable_via_display_name(
+async def test_null_email_user_is_matchable_via_display_name_and_email_is_null(
     auth_client: AsyncClient, seeded: list[User]
 ) -> None:
-    # Post-#36, Steam users have email=NULL. Search's email-substring
-    # branch can't match them — but display_name still can.
+    """Steam-OAuth users (no email until accept-tos gate) still match via
+    display_name. Their row in the response carries ``email: null`` so
+    consumers can detect the no-email state explicitly rather than
+    treating a missing key as a failure."""
     resp = await auth_client.get("/users/search?q=GabeStreams")
     body = resp.json()
     assert resp.status_code == 200
-    assert any(row["display_name"] == "GabeStreams" for row in body)
-    # Email is never in the response payload regardless.
-    for row in body:
-        assert "email" not in row
+    gabe = next((row for row in body if row["display_name"] == "GabeStreams"), None)
+    assert gabe is not None
+    assert gabe["email"] is None
 
 
 # --- limit -----------------------------------------------------------------