Markdown Emoji Cheat Sheet

578 GitHub emoji :shortcodes: grouped by category. Search by name or keyword, then click to copy the shortcode or the emoji itself.

Copy:

578 emoji โ€” click any card to copy the shortcode

How Emoji Shortcodes Work in Markdown

Emoji shortcodes are colon-delimited names like :rocket: that some platforms replace with the matching emoji (๐Ÿš€) when rendering. They are not part of any Markdown specification โ€” GitHub, GitLab, Slack, and Discord each layer the conversion on top of their Markdown renderer, with their own list of recognized names. This cheat sheet uses the GitHub (gemoji) names, which also cover GitLab and most developer tools.

A pasted Unicode emoji, on the other hand, is just a character: it renders everywhere text renders, with no conversion step that can fail. That is why this page lets you copy either form โ€” use the :shortcode: mode for GitHub READMEs, issues, and commit messages, and the emoji mode for documents that need to travel between platforms. If a shortcode shows up as literal colon text, the platform either does not support conversion (Obsidian, most static site generators) or the name is misspelled.

Want the full story on platform support, emoji in heading anchors, and shortcode vs Unicode trade-offs? Read the Markdown emoji syntax guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where do :shortcodes: work?

GitHub, GitLab, Slack, Discord, and many chat apps replace :shortcode: text with emoji. Standard Markdown does not โ€” for portable documents, copy the Unicode emoji instead.

Should I use shortcodes or real emoji?

Shortcodes are easier to type and consistent on GitHub. Pasted Unicode emoji work everywhere, including rendered Markdown files and websites, so they are the safer choice for portability.

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