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996icu/996.icu

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TLDR

A public campaign against the 996 work schedule (9am–9pm, 6 days/week) common in Chinese tech companies, with a labor-protective open-source license and company accountability list.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((repo))
    What it does
      Labor advocacy
      Company tracking
      License alternative
    The 996 schedule
      9am to 9pm
      6 days per week
      Health impact
    How to participate
      Add company evidence
      Use Anti-996 License
      Display solidarity badge
    Community efforts
      Work-life balance lists
      Petitions and surveys
      Press coverage

Things people build with this

USE CASE 1

Learn about 996 working culture and its prevalence in Chinese tech companies.

USE CASE 2

License your open-source project to prevent labor-law violators from using it.

USE CASE 3

Report companies that enforce 996 schedules and contribute evidence to the public list.

USE CASE 4

Show solidarity with workers fighting for reasonable work hours by adding the 996.ICU badge to your project.

The Anti-996 License is based on MIT but prohibits companies that violate labor laws from using software released under it.

In plain English

This repository is a protest project, not a piece of software. The name 996.ICU comes from an ironic saying among Chinese developers: "Work by '996', sick in ICU" — meaning that following a 996 schedule (9 a.m. to 9 p.m., 6 days a week, at least 60 hours per week) puts your health at risk of sending you to the Intensive Care Unit. The README explains the practice has been gaining popularity at certain Chinese tech companies, and the project exists to push back on it.

The way it works is that the repository is essentially a public campaign. The README invites readers to update a list of companies (with evidence) that follow the 996 schedule, to add a 996.ICU badge to their own projects to show solidarity, to release their open source projects under the project's "Anti-996 License" — a license adapted from MIT whose stated purpose is to prevent companies that violate labor law from using software released under it — and to "go home at 6 pm without feeling sorry." The README quotes supportive voices (such as Guido van Rossum, called the founder of Python, quoted saying "the '996' working schedule is inhumane") and opposing voices from tech executives. It also lists related community projects covering work-life balance whitelists, petitions, surveys, and more. The GitHub issues tab was disabled because traffic was overwhelming.

Someone would visit this when they want to learn about 996 working culture, publicly support the cause, license their open source project to discourage labor-law violators, or see press coverage and related community efforts. The project welcomes contributors from other fields and countries and frames itself as advocacy, not a political movement.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
I want to license my open-source project under the Anti-996 License to discourage companies with poor labor practices from using it. How do I do that?
Prompt 2
What is the 996 work schedule and why is it considered harmful? Show me the evidence from the 996.ICU repository.
Prompt 3
I work at a company that enforces 996 hours. How can I contribute evidence to the 996.ICU project to hold them accountable?
Prompt 4
How can I add the 996.ICU solidarity badge to my GitHub project to show support for work-life balance?
Prompt 5
What related community projects exist around work-life balance and labor advocacy in tech?
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Generated 2026-05-18 · Model: sonnet-4-6 · Verify against the repo before relying on details.