Galaxy Brain
Summary
Galaxy Brain is an active, tiered GitHub profile achievement associated with helpful answers in GitHub Discussions.
Trigger
GitHub’s official achievement launch material says Galaxy Brain celebrates Discussion activity once another user has deemed an answer helpful. In the current Discussions interface, accepted-answer state is the strongest public signal, but the exact mapping between the launch wording and every present-day moderation state remains under controlled review.
Progression and tiers
GitHub does not publish the complete tier table in its maintained profile documentation. The following thresholds therefore remain community-reported:
| Level | Accepted answers | Evidence status |
|---|---|---|
| Base | 2 | Community-reported |
| Bronze | 8 | Community-reported |
| Silver | 16 | Community-reported |
| Gold | 32 | Community-reported |
Eligibility conditions
- The contribution must be an answer in GitHub Discussions rather than an issue reply or pull-request review.
- Another user must deem the answer helpful; accepted-answer state is the primary observable implementation signal.
- The response must remain attributed to the account seeking credit.
- Deleted or access-restricted content may prevent public verification.
Award timing
GitHub does not publish a guaranteed processing interval between the helpful-answer event and profile refresh.
Verification
- Record the public Discussion URL and answer author.
- Record the visible accepted/helpful state and timestamp.
- Distinguish accepted answers from verified answers, reactions, labels, and ordinary replies.
- Recheck the profile after allowing for processing delay.
- Record negative and revoked-state observations as carefully as successful cases.
Evidence status
- The broad helpful-answer trigger is Official, based on GitHub’s achievement launch publication.
- Current accepted-answer implementation details and processing behaviour remain Observed pending controlled reproduction.
- Numerical tiers remain Community-reported.
Known limitations and edge cases
- GitHub’s launch wording does not publish a complete event-state contract.
- Not every Discussion category supports accepted answers.
- Acceptance can be removed, and content can be deleted or made inaccessible.
- Screenshots establish visible state only, not the complete tier model.
Responsible participation
Answer real questions with accurate, useful information. Do not post superficial replies, pressure authors to accept answers, or coordinate artificial Discussions solely to obtain the achievement.
History
GitHub introduced Galaxy Brain with its profile-achievement system and described it as recognition for Discussion answers another user deemed helpful.
References
Last verified
19 July 2026. Scope: official trigger wording, current Discussion controls, accepted-answer implementation uncertainty, and community-reported tiers.