What URL format do these badges use?

They use the shields.io static badge endpoint, https://img.shields.io/badge/LABEL-MESSAGE-COLOR. The label, message, and color are URL-encoded into the path. Shields.io renders an SVG image at that URL.

How do I show special characters like dashes or spaces?

Shields.io treats a single dash as the label/message separator, so a literal dash must be doubled to --, and an underscore renders as a space. This tool applies those escapes automatically when you type spaces or dashes.

Can I use custom hex colors?

Yes. Besides named colors like green and blue you can enter a 6-digit hex code such as 4c1. Shields.io accepts both named colors and hex values in the color slot of the URL.

Do these badges show live build status?

No. These are static badges with text you type. For live status use the dynamic endpoints shields.io provides per service (GitHub Actions, npm, Codecov). This tool builds the static label-message-color form.

Markdown or HTML — which should I use?

Use Markdown in a README.md file; it is shorter and renders everywhere GitHub-flavored Markdown is supported. Use the HTML snippet when you need to control sizing or place badges in raw HTML documentation.

README Badge Generator

Badges at the top of a README communicate project health at a glance — build passing, MIT licensed, version 2.1.0. This generator builds the shields.io static-badge URL for you and wraps it in ready-to-paste Markdown or HTML, handling the tricky character escaping that trips people up.

How it works

Shields.io exposes a static badge at a predictable URL:

https://img.shields.io/badge/<label>-<message>-<color>

The single dash between the three parts is a separator, so the label and message themselves have to escape any literal dashes by doubling them (- becomes --) and represent spaces with underscores (_). Color can be a named value such as brightgreen or a hex code like 4c1. An optional ?style= query selects the visual style. The Markdown wrapper is ![alt](url); the HTML wrapper is an <img> tag.

Example and tips

A badge labeled build with message passing in brightgreen produces https://img.shields.io/badge/build-passing-brightgreen. If your message is v2.1.0 stable, the space becomes an underscore so it renders correctly. Keep badges to three or four — coverage, build, license, and version are the most useful — and place them on a single line directly under the project title.