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README Badge Generator

Generate shields.io-style SVG badges for GitHub READMEs — pick a preset (version, license, build, coverage...) or fully customize the label, message, colors and style, and get SVG, Markdown, HTML and a data-URL to copy.

Input

Badge Content

Left side of the badge.

Right side of the badge.

Colors

Style

Output

Markdown
HTML
SVG Source
 
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Guides

What are README badges?

Those small "build: passing", "license: MIT", "coverage: 95%" pills you see at the top of GitHub READMEs are SVG badges — a colored label/message pair rendered as a tiny image. They're a compact, scannable way to surface a project's status, version, or key metrics right where visitors look first.

How this tool works

  1. Pick a preset (version, license, build, coverage, downloads, stars, or "made with love") to prefill common badge text and colors, or leave it on Custom to set everything yourself.
  2. Set the label (left side) and message (right side) text.
  3. Choose a label color and a message color — pick from common shields.io palette presets or set a custom hex color.
  4. Pick a style: Flat, Flat Square, Plastic, or For The Badge (larger, uppercase, letter-spaced).

The output gives you four ready-to-use formats: a data URL you can paste directly into an <img src>, a Markdown snippet (![alt](url)), an HTML <img> tag, and the raw SVG source to copy or download.

Powered by the same library as shields.io

This tool uses badge-maker — the exact open-source library that renders badges for shields.io — so the SVGs it produces use the same precise text-width tables and layout rules as the badges you already see on GitHub. There's no external network request: the badge is generated entirely from the text and colors you provide, right in your browser.

Common uses

  • Adding build status, license, or version badges to a GitHub README
  • Building a custom badge for a metric shields.io doesn't have a preset for
  • Generating badges to embed in documentation sites or project wikis
  • Creating a consistent badge style across multiple repositories

Privacy

This tool runs entirely in your browser. Your badge text and colors are never uploaded to a server.

readmebadgeshields.iogithubsvgmarkdown

Use it from code

From 3 credits per call

REST API

curl -X POST https://api.iotools.cloud/v1/tool/readme-badge-generator \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "badgeTemplate": "custom",
    "badgeLabel": "build",
    "badgeMessage": "passing",
    "labelColor": "#555555",
    "messageColorPreset": "#4c1",
    "messageColor": "#4c1",
    "badgeStyle": "flat"
  }'

Swap in your own key from your account. The tool's fields are the body — no wrapper.

Ask an AI agent

Use the IOTools `readme-badge-generator` tool (README Badge Generator) on this input:

YOUR_INPUT_HERE

Paste this at any agent connected to the IOTools MCP server, then add your input.

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