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ikatyang/emoji-cheat-sheet

13,713TypeScriptAudience · developerComplexity · 1/5Setup · easy

TLDR

Auto-generated reference sheet listing every emoji shortcode supported in GitHub Markdown, organized by category so you can find the right shortcode to paste into any comment or README file.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((repo))
    What it does
      Emoji shortcode list
      GitHub Markdown support
      Auto-generated
    Categories
      Smileys and Emotion
      People and Body
      Animals and Nature
      Symbols and Flags
    Special Section
      GitHub custom emoji
      Shortcode aliases
    Use Cases
      Find shortcodes fast
      README decoration
      Commit message icons
    Audience
      GitHub users
      Developers
Click or tap to explore — scroll the page freely

Code map

Detail Auto

An interactive map of this repo's files and how they connect — its source is parsed live in your browser. Click Visualize to build it.

filefunction / class

Things people build with this

USE CASE 1

Look up the exact shortcode to type in a GitHub README or comment to produce a specific emoji.

USE CASE 2

Browse GitHub-specific custom emoji that are not part of the standard Unicode emoji set.

USE CASE 3

Find flag emojis or symbol emojis by category without guessing their shortcode names.

USE CASE 4

Use the navigation links to jump between emoji categories when decorating a long README file.

Tech stack

TypeScriptJavaScript

Getting it running

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 5min
License information is not mentioned in the explanation.

In plain English

This repository is a reference sheet listing every emoji you can use in GitHub Markdown and similar platforms, along with the text shortcodes that produce each one. When you type something like :grinning: or :thumbsup: in a GitHub comment or README file, the platform replaces that text with the corresponding emoji image. This cheat sheet tells you what to type to get any specific emoji. The list is automatically generated from two sources: the GitHub Emoji API and the official Unicode emoji catalog. This means it stays current as new emoji are added to either source, rather than being a manually maintained document that can fall behind. The content is organized by category. The main groups are Smileys and Emotion, People and Body, Animals and Nature, Food and Drink, Travel and Places, Activities, Objects, Symbols, Flags, and a final section for GitHub-specific custom emoji that are not part of the standard Unicode set. Within each main group there are sub-sections covering specific themes, such as different kinds of faces, hand gestures, or types of food. Each entry shows the rendered emoji, its shortcode in backtick notation showing exactly what to type, and sometimes a second shortcode that produces the same emoji, since some emoji have aliases. Navigation links in the tables let you jump back to the top of a section or to the main table of contents. This is a pure reference document, not a software library. There is no code to install or run. You use it by browsing the page and copying the shortcode you need into your Markdown file. The README for this project is very long because it lists thousands of individual emoji in table format. The full README is longer than what was shown.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
What shortcode do I type in a GitHub README to get a thumbs-up emoji and a checkmark emoji?
Prompt 2
Give me a list of emoji shortcodes from the emoji-cheat-sheet I can use to add visual section headers and status indicators to my GitHub README.
Prompt 3
I want to add country flag emojis for the US, UK, and Germany in a GitHub comment, what are the exact shortcodes from the emoji-cheat-sheet?
Prompt 4
Show me the GitHub-specific custom emoji shortcodes that are not available in standard Unicode so I can use them in issue comments.
Prompt 5
What are the best emoji shortcodes from the emoji-cheat-sheet to use in Git commit messages to indicate bug fixes, new features, and documentation changes?
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