Skip to main content

GitHub Achievement Badges

What each badge asks for, the count for every tier, and a practice repo where your first merged PR counts. A community guide to levelling up your open source profile.

See certifications

14 badges covered, 7 earnable today, 6 certifications.

Badges you can earn today

Tick off the ones you already have. Multi-tier badges level up from Default to Gold as your count grows.

Your progress0 of 7 earned
  • Starstruck badge

    Starstruck

    Own a repository that earns stars from other users.

    Build something useful and document it well. Asking for star swaps can get flagged as spam.

    Example repoWatch the video tutorial

    • Starstruck, Default tier16Default
    • Starstruck, Bronze tier128Bronze
    • Starstruck, Silver tier512Silver
    • Starstruck, Gold tier4096Gold
  • Quickdraw badge

    Quickdraw

    Close an issue or pull request within 5 minutes of opening it.

    Open an issue in your own repo for a small to-do, fix it, and close it in the same sitting.

    • Quickdraw, Default tier1Default
  • Pair Extraordinaire badge

    Pair Extraordinaire

    Coauthor commits on a merged pull request.

    Add a Co-authored-by: Name <email> line at the end of the commit message. Works from any editor.

    TutorialWatch the video tutorial

    • Pair Extraordinaire, Default tier1Default
    • Pair Extraordinaire, Bronze tier10Bronze
    • Pair Extraordinaire, Silver tier24Silver
    • Pair Extraordinaire, Gold tier48Gold
  • Pull Shark badge

    Pull Shark

    Open pull requests that get merged.

    Start with a good first issue on recode hive. A reviewed, merged PR also counts toward your contribution graph.

    Practice repoWatch the video tutorial

    • Pull Shark, Default tier2Default
    • Pull Shark, Bronze tier16Bronze
    • Pull Shark, Silver tier128Silver
    • Pull Shark, Gold tier1024Gold
  • Galaxy Brain badge

    Galaxy Brain

    Answer a GitHub Discussion and have your answer marked as accepted.

    Answer questions in the recode hive Discussions tab. Clear, tested answers get accepted.

    Open discussionsWatch the video tutorial

    • Galaxy Brain, Default tier2Default
    • Galaxy Brain, Bronze tier8Bronze
    • Galaxy Brain, Silver tier16Silver
    • Galaxy Brain, Gold tier32Gold
  • YOLO badge

    YOLO

    Merge a pull request without a code review.

    Use a repository you own. On shared projects, always ask for a review instead.

    Watch the video tutorial

    • YOLO, Default tier1Default
  • Public Sponsor badge

    Public Sponsor

    Sponsor an open source maintainer through GitHub Sponsors.

    Any public sponsorship counts. Pick a maintainer whose project you actually use.

    GitHub SponsorsWatch the video tutorial

    • Public Sponsor, Default tier1Default

Skin tone variants

Some achievements change with your emoji skin tone preference. You can pick yours in GitHub appearance settings.

  • Starstruck badgeStarstruck
    Starstruck, skin tone 1Starstruck, skin tone 2Starstruck, skin tone 3Starstruck, skin tone 4Starstruck, skin tone 5Starstruck, skin tone 6
  • Quickdraw badgeQuickdraw
    Quickdraw, skin tone 1Quickdraw, skin tone 2Quickdraw, skin tone 3Quickdraw, skin tone 4Quickdraw, skin tone 5Quickdraw, skin tone 6

Highlight badges

These sit at the top of your profile and come from programs, not from activity counts.

  • ProSubscribe to GitHub Pro, or get it free with the GitHub Student Developer Pack.Student Pack ↗
  • Developer Program MemberRegister for the GitHub Developer Program.Join ↗
  • Security Bug Bounty HunterReport a valid vulnerability through the GitHub Security Bug Bounty.Bug bounty ↗
  • GitHub Campus ExpertGet accepted into and complete the GitHub Campus Expert program.Campus program ↗
  • Security advisory creditBe credited on a security advisory accepted into the GitHub Advisory Database.Advisory database ↗

Retired badges

GitHub has stopped awarding these, so they can no longer be earned.

GitHub certifications

Achievements show activity. Certifications prove skill: proctored exams you can add to LinkedIn and your resume.

GitHub Foundations certification badgeOur founder holds this

Foundations GH-900

The basics: repositories, pull requests, issues, collaboration and the GitHub product family. The best first exam.

Prepare for GH-900
GitHub Actions certification badge

Actions GH-200

Building, debugging and securing CI/CD workflows with GitHub Actions.

Prepare for GH-200
GH-500add official badge

Advanced Security GH-500

Code scanning, secret scanning and dependency review across a codebase.

Prepare for GH-500
GitHub Administration certification badge

Administration GH-100

Managing organizations, permissions, policies and enterprise settings.

Prepare for GH-100
GH-300add official badgeOur founder holds this

Copilot GH-300

Using GitHub Copilot responsibly across the development workflow, from prompting to review.

Prepare for GH-300
GitHub Agentic AI Developer certification badgeNew

Agentic AI Developer GH-600

Designing and shipping AI agents and agent-driven workflows on GitHub.

Prepare for GH-600

Badge names and requirements from GitHub Docs and the community-maintained GitHub-Achievements list. GitHub and the achievement artwork are trademarks of GitHub, Inc. Last checked October 2026.