GitLab Achievements is a new feature designed to formally recognize valuable contributions within teams and communities. These achievements are custom badges that can be created and awarded to individuals for specific behaviors or milestones. They appear on a recipient's profile, showcasing their contributions beyond standard activity logs. Achievements consist of a reusable badge template and a separate awarding action, which can include a personalized Markdown-formatted message. Recipients have full control, as awards are only displayed after they are accepted via email notification. This feature is available across all GitLab tiers and platforms, aiming to enhance retention, motivation, and a sense of belonging. Internal teams can use it to highlight engineers, reviewers, and those completing certifications. Open source communities can celebrate contributors, making their efforts visibly acknowledged. Achievements can be used to identify core team members, reward quick turnaround times, and recognize learning and adoption of new features. They are also useful for marking milestones like first contributions and can be awarded once or repeatedly. The feature can also be leveraged for time-boxed events such as hackathons or contribution drives. The development of GitLab Achievements itself was a community effort, demonstrating the platform's "everyone can contribute" philosophy. AI tools significantly accelerated the development process, lowering the barrier for both new hires and first-time contributors. The goal is to make recognition a regular habit, encouraging teams to create and award their first achievements promptly.