Digital badges show up across the open-source ecosystem, in contributor programs, community events, and project governance. New to the topic? Start with how developer recognition is evolving.
Here are ten examples of how open-source projects and communities use them, from large foundations to local groups.
1. Hacktoberfest: Levels That Unlock as You Contribute
DigitalOcean's annual Hacktoberfest uses Holopin badges to mark progress through October. In the 2025 edition, participants received a badge when they registered, unlocked more at 1 to 4 accepted pull requests, and earned a Supercontributor badge at 6.
The pattern: a visible progression from the moment someone signs up.
2. Fedora: Badges for Community Tasks
The Fedora Project awards badges for community activity, including small moments like joining a release party. Fedora Badges gives each contributor a profile and activity timeline, and adds rarity tiers and leaderboards.
The pattern: treating a badge collection as part of a contributor's community identity.
3. Apache Software Foundation: Recognition Without Authority
Badges at the ASF are issued by the ASF Training Project or participating projects for activities such as documentation, releases, mentoring, and sustained participation. They use the Open Badges standard, and the FAQ describes them as "a form of recognition, not a form of authority."
The pattern: being explicit about what a badge does and doesn't mean.
4. WordPress: Contributor and Team Badges
WordPress.org shows profile badges organized by team. Core contributor badges are assigned automatically based on props, while team badges are assigned manually by each team.
The pattern: automating what can be counted and leaving the rest to human judgment.
5. OpenSSF: Badges for Projects, Not People
The OpenSSF Best Practices Badge takes a different approach. Free and open-source projects can self-certify at no cost, documenting how they meet a set of recommended development practices.
The pattern: using a badge as a quality signal for a whole project.
6. zopen Community: Two Tiers of Verified Contribution
The zopen community, part of the Open Mainframe Project, runs a badge program with two levels. A contributor badge covers a substantive accepted contribution. A significant contributor badge covers sustained work, such as 10 or more accepted pull requests or maintaining a foundational tool. Badges are issued through Credly after a nomination.
The pattern: written criteria that make each level mean something specific.
7. Ansible: Recognition Beyond Pull Requests
The Ansible community's badges follow the Open Badge standard and cover patches, reviews, and maintainer roles, along with speaking at meetups, organizing events, publishing technical content, and helping users. Anyone can propose a new badge by filing an issue.
The pattern: recognizing the full range of work a community depends on.
8. EdgeX Foundry: Making Volunteer Work Visible
EdgeX Foundry's Developer Badge program aims to highlight volunteer open-source work on professional social media.
The pattern: helping contributors carry open-source work into their professional profile.
9. Open Code Chicago: Local Community Badges
Smaller groups use digital badges too. Open Code Chicago issued a Holopin badge for making at least one meaningful pull request to its repositories during Hacktoberfest 2025, while following its community guidelines.
The pattern: a local community building its own identity alongside a global event.
10. Microsoft 365 & Power Platform Community: Volunteer-Run Recognition
The Sharing Is Caring recognition program has contributors register once with their GitHub handle. Community volunteers then process badges as contributions meet each badge's criteria, with special editions tied to events like hackathons.
The pattern: a light registration step that keeps a volunteer-run program manageable.
Common Patterns
A few themes run through these examples:
- Many programs recognize more than code. Ansible, Apache, and WordPress all have routes for work such as documentation, mentoring, translation, or community organizing.
- Levels give people something to work toward. Hacktoberfest and zopen both define a clear next step.
- Clear criteria give a badge its meaning. The better-documented programs say exactly what earns each badge.
- Badges can describe people or projects. OpenSSF badges a project, while most others recognize an individual.
Getting Started
If you run an open-source project and want to add digital badges, you don't need to build a system from scratch. Platforms like Holopin handle badge design, issuing, and display, so you can focus on what you want to recognize.
Two or three badge types are enough to begin. First contribution, milestone, and community role are good defaults. Our guides to building a contributor recognition program and running badges at developer events go into more detail.
