🏆 GitHub Profile Achievements — Full Guide

Every badge GitHub currently hands out for your profile, what it looks like, and exactly how to unlock it. Click each dropdown for the step-by-step.

💡 Achievements show up on your profile at github.com/<your-username>?tab=achievements. You can hide them anytime in Settings → Public profile → Achievements.

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⭐ Currently Earnable

	Pull Shark 🦈 How to earn it Get pull requests merged — on any repo, including your own. Tier Merged PRs Default 2 🥉 Bronze 16 🥈 Silver 128 🥇 Gold 1,024 Steps: Open a pull request (even a tiny doc fix or typo counts). Get it merged into the target branch. Repeat. Contributing to your own repos counts too, so if you're short on collaborators, merge PRs against your own projects.
	Pair Extraordinaire 👥 How to earn it Co-author a merged pull request with another person. Tier Co-authored merged PRs Default 1 🥉 Bronze 10 🥈 Silver 24 🥇 Gold 48 Steps: Pair up with another GitHub user on a commit. Add a co-author trailer to the commit message: Co-authored-by: Name <email@example.com> (GitHub Desktop and most IDEs can add this for you automatically when pairing.) Merge the pull request containing that commit.
	Quickdraw 🔫 How to earn it Close an issue or pull request within 5 minutes of opening it. No tiers — one-time badge. Steps: Open an issue or PR (yes, your own issues/PRs count). Close it within 5 minutes of creation. Badge unlocks almost instantly. Easiest achievement on this list.
	YOLO 🎲 How to earn it Merge your own pull request without requesting/getting a code review. No tiers — one-time badge. Steps: Open a pull request on a repo you have write/admin access to. Merge it yourself without any review being requested or given. Requires no branch protection rules forcing reviews on that repo.
	Starstruck ✨ How to earn it Create a repository that earns stars from other users. Tier Stars Default 16 🥉 Bronze 128 🥈 Silver 512 🥇 Gold 4,096 Steps: Create/own a public repository. Get real GitHub users to star it (starring your own repo doesn't count). Sharing genuinely useful projects, tools, or templates is the realistic way to climb the tiers.
	Galaxy Brain 🧠 How to earn it Get your answer accepted in GitHub Discussions' Q&A category. Tier Accepted answers Default 2 🥉 Bronze 8 🥈 Silver 16 🥇 Gold 32 Steps: Find a repository with Discussions enabled and a Q&A-style category. Answer an open question there. The question's author must mark your answer as the accepted answer. ⚠️ As of Feb 2024, this can no longer be earned in GitHub's own .github/community-wide Discussions (to stop spam), but it's still earnable in Discussions on individual open-source repos.
	Public Sponsor 💖 How to earn it Sponsor a developer or organization through GitHub Sponsors. No tiers — one-time badge. Steps: Go to github.com/sponsors. Find a user/org accepting sponsorships. Sponsor them (even the smallest tier qualifies) — publicly, not privately.

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🚫 No Longer Obtainable

These still display if you already have them, but new users can't unlock them anymore.

	Arctic Code Vault Contributor 🧊 What it was for Awarded to everyone who had code in a repository's default branch during GitHub's snapshot for the 2020 GitHub Archive Program — the actual codebase archive stored in the Arctic World Archive in Svalbard, Norway. This was a one-time historical snapshot event and can't be earned again.
	Mars 2020 Contributor 🚁 What it was for Awarded for contributing code to repositories used in the Mars 2020 Ingenuity Helicopter Mission (e.g. certain NASA/JPL open-source dependencies) before it flew on Mars in 2021. Tied to a specific historical mission — no longer earnable.

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🧪 Disabled / Being Tested

Not currently live on any profile, but were spotted in testing at some point. Included for completeness.

	Heart On Your Sleeve ❤️ What it's for React to something on GitHub (an issue, PR, comment, discussion) with a ❤️ emoji. Tier ❤️ Reactions given Default 1 🥉 Bronze 16 🥈 Silver 128 🥇 Gold Unknown
	Open Sourcerer 🌐 What it's for Get pull requests merged across multiple different public repositories (not just one project). Tier Open-source PRs merged (across repos) Default 1 🥉 Bronze 8 🥈 Silver 16 🥇 Gold 64

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🎖️ Tier Labels

Achievements with multiple levels show a small colored label:

Tier	Label	Hex
🥉 Bronze	x2	#F9BFA7
🥈 Silver	x3	#E1E4E4
🥇 Gold	x4	#FAE57E

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⚙️ Managing Achievements on Your Profile

How to show / hide achievements

1. Go to github.com/settings/profile.
2. Scroll to the Achievements section.
3. Toggle visibility on or off. This is entirely cosmetic and doesn't affect the underlying activity.

Note on emoji skin tone

Some achievement badges (and the Octocat) render with a skin tone matching your Emoji Skin Tone Preference, set in Appearance Settings.

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Sources & credit

Badge artwork and criteria compiled from GitHub's own achievement system and the community-maintained Schweinepriester/github-profile-achievements repository.