Pull Shark bronze tier not showing after 17+ merged PRs

[Harshit-codes04]

Discussion Type

Question

Discussion Content

Hi GitHub Community,

My username is Harshit-codes04. My Pull Shark achievement still shows the basic tier, although GitHub’s pull request search lists 17+
merged PRs authored by me using:

is:pr author:@me is:merged

I’ve attached screenshots of the search results and my current badge. Is there an achievement processing delay, or could someone help check why the bronze tier has not appeared?

[somuai]

Hi @Harshit-codes04,

Here is an explanation of why your Pull Shark badge has not yet upgraded to the Bronze tier, along with the criteria GitHub uses to calculate achievement tiers.

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1. Pull Shark Tier Thresholds

The GitHub Pull Shark achievement follows these specific thresholds:

• Default (Base Tier / x1): 2 merged PRs
• Bronze (Tier 2 / x2): 16 merged PRs
• Silver (Tier 3 / x3): 128 merged PRs
• Gold (Tier 4 / x4): 1,024 merged PRs

Because your search shows 17 merged PRs, you are right at the 16 threshold. However, GitHub's achievement calculation engine filters merged PRs against several strict qualification checks.

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2. Why Some Merged PRs May Not Count Toward the 16 Threshold

The standard search is:pr author:@me is:merged displays all PRs merged across all repositories and branches, but GitHub's achievement processor excludes PRs under the following conditions:

1. Merged into Non-Default Branches:
   • Only PRs merged into the target repository's default branch (typically main or master) qualify. PRs merged into feature branches, dev, staging, or sandbox branches are excluded.
2. Private Repositories:
   • If any of those 17 PRs were merged into private repositories, they will not count toward your public profile achievements unless you enable "Show private contributions & achievements" in your GitHub Settings > Public profile.
3. Deleted or Made-Private Repositories:
   • If a repository or fork where you merged a PR was subsequently deleted, renamed, or converted to private, GitHub removes those merged PRs from your live achievement tally.
4. Unlinked Commit Email:
   • In repositories that use squash-merging or rebase-merging, if the Git commit author email does not match a verified email address on your GitHub account (under Settings > Emails), GitHub cannot attribute the merge to your achievement profile.

To verify your exact eligible public PR count, run:

is:pr author:Harshit-codes04 is:merged is:public

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3. Background Sync & Calculation Delay (24 to 48 Hours)

GitHub does not recalculate achievement tier badges synchronously in real time upon a PR being merged. Achievement recalculations are queued in background batch jobs that typically take 24 to 48 hours to propagate to the profile card. If your 16th or 17th PR was merged within the last 1–2 days, the background worker may simply still be processing.

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4. How to Force a Cache Refresh

If you have verified that at least 16 PRs meet all the criteria above, you can force the profile cache to refresh using the profile visibility toggle:

1. Navigate to Settings > Public profile.
2. Scroll to the Achievements section.
3. Uncheck "Show Achievements on my profile" and click Update profile.
4. Wait 1 to 2 minutes.
5. Re-check "Show Achievements on my profile" and click Update profile.

This invalidates the static edge cache on your profile page and forces GitHub to fetch the latest computed tier state.

[Harshit-codes04]

I have private contributions enabled and saved. GitHub’s setting says private contributions count toward achievements. Are you aware of a specific Pull Shark rule that excludes private PRs? @somuai

[somuai]

Hi @Harshit-codes04,

Yes, here is the exact architectural reason and rule governing why private repository PRs do not qualify for the Pull Shark badge, despite the private contributions setting:

1. The Scope of "Include private contributions on my profile"

The profile setting "Include private contributions on my profile" applies strictly to your Contribution Activity Graph (the green contribution calendar) and aggregated numeric activity counters. It generates anonymized activity events so that private work is reflected in your overall activity volume without disclosing repository names or commit metadata.

2. The Public Provenance Requirement for GitHub Achievements

GitHub Achievements (such as Pull Shark, Pair Extraordinaire, Galaxy Brain, and Quickdraw) operate under a different mechanism: Public Provenance.

Every achievement badge tier links directly to public audit records:

• When a visitor clicks on an achievement badge on your profile (for example, clicking on a Pull Shark card), GitHub displays the public pull request reference and repository provenance that earned that achievement.
• Because achievement inspection cards are publicly viewable by anyone, awarding badges based on private pull requests would either:
  1. Leak private repository names, PR titles, or internal PR numbers to external visitors, or
  2. Result in broken, inaccessible links for visitors.

To prevent private repository metadata leakage while maintaining verifiable public achievements, GitHub's achievement daemon explicitly queries pull requests that satisfy:

1. repository.isPrivate == false (the repository must be public)
2. pullRequest.merged == true
3. pullRequest.baseRefName == repository.defaultBranch (merged into the repository's default branch, such as main or master)
4. The merge commit author email matches a verified email on your GitHub account.

3. How to Verify Your Qualified Count

You can check your exact count of qualified PRs by searching:

is:pr author:Harshit-codes04 is:merged is:public

Check how many of those were merged into the repository's default branch (main or master) rather than secondary or feature branches.

Once your total count of public, default-branch merged PRs reaches 16, GitHub's achievement worker will automatically award the Pull Shark (Bronze / x2) tier to your profile within 24 to 48 hours.

[mayo-byte07]

Hey Harshit! Just to clear up the private repo thing—somuai is actually slightly off there. Private PRs do count toward achievements as long as you have the "Include private contributions" setting toggled on. GitHub simply hides the specific repository details when someone clicks your badge to protect your privacy.

The most common reason for missing the badge at this stage is the default branch rule. Pull Shark only counts PRs that are merged into the repository's default branch (usually main or master). If even two of your 17 PRs were merged into a dev or staging branch, your eligible count is actually under 16.

Try running this search:
is:pr author:@me is:merged base:main (and check for base:master too)

If that number drops below 16, that's your culprit. If it's still 16 or higher, double-check that your local git commit email perfectly matches your GitHub verified email. If everything lines up, it's likely just the standard 48-hour background processing delay catching up!