Where do these emoji shortcodes work?

The colon-wrapped shortcode form such as :rocket: is used by GitHub (issues, pull requests, comments and markdown), Slack and Discord, plus many static-site and chat tools. The exact set supported varies slightly between platforms.

Why use a shortcode instead of pasting the emoji directly?

Shortcodes are plain ASCII text, so they are easy to type, search and review in code or markdown, and they render consistently across platforms that support them rather than depending on your keyboard or device's emoji picker.

What is the shortcode for the thumbs-up emoji?

It is :thumbsup: (some platforms also accept :+1:). Type it in a GitHub comment, Slack message or Discord chat and it renders as 👍.

Do GitHub, Slack and Discord use the same shortcodes?

They overlap heavily — :rocket:, :fire: and :tada: work everywhere — but each platform maintains its own list, so some codes and custom aliases differ. This reference covers the common, widely supported set.

Can I use these shortcodes in Markdown files?

On GitHub, yes — issues, pull requests, comments and README files render shortcodes. Plain Markdown rendered by other tools may not, in which case paste the actual emoji character instead.

Why do my shortcodes show as plain text instead of emoji?

The platform you pasted into does not support shortcode parsing, or the specific code is not in its list. Confirm the platform supports the colon syntax, or copy the rendered emoji character directly.

Emoji Shortcodes Reference

Q: Is anything I type or copy sent to a server?

No. The full list, the search and the copy-to-clipboard all run entirely in your browser — nothing you type is uploaded anywhere.

Emoji shortcodes — searchable, click to copy

On GitHub, Slack and Discord you don’t paste an emoji — you type its name wrapped in colons, like :rocket:, and the platform renders 🚀. These shortcodes are plain ASCII, so they’re easy to type on any keyboard, searchable in code review, and render consistently regardless of your device’s emoji picker. This page is a searchable cheat sheet of the common set, with click-to-copy.

How it works

The reference holds a curated list spanning smileys, hand gestures, hearts and symbols, tech objects and celebration emoji. Each entry stores the emoji character, its :shortcode: form and a set of related keywords. As you type in the search box, the list filters live against both the shortcode and those keywords, so searching “fire”, “party” or “thumbs” surfaces the right row. Click any row and its :shortcode: is copied to your clipboard, ready to paste.

Example

Searching thumbs finds the 👍 row; clicking it copies :thumbsup:. Paste that into a GitHub pull-request comment and it renders as the emoji.

Emoji	Shortcode	Common use
🚀	`:rocket:`	shipping / deploying
🔥	`:fire:`	great / hot
🎉	`:tada:`	celebration / release
👍	`:thumbsup:`	approval
😄	`:smile:`	friendly tone

The full list, the search and the copy-to-clipboard all run entirely in your browser; nothing you type is uploaded.