Emoji shortcode cheat sheet
Shortcodes are the :colon-wrapped: names for emoji that Slack, GitHub, and Discord made second nature. Here are the ones people actually use. On a Mac, Mojito makes all of them work in every app.
:wave and pick 👋 without leaving the keyboard.Smileys
| Emoji | Shortcode | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| 😂 | :joy: | the classic laugh-cry |
| 🤣 | :rofl: | when :joy: isn't enough |
| 😭 | :sob: | despair, or laughing too hard |
| 😅 | :sweat_smile: | that was close |
| 🤔 | :thinking: | hmm |
| 😍 | :heart_eyes: | love it |
| 🥳 | :partying_face: | celebration mode |
| 🫠 | :melting_face: | modern despair |
| 💀 | :skull: | "I'm dead" (figuratively) |
| 🙃 | :upside_down_face: | everything is fine |
Hands & gestures
| Emoji | Shortcode | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| 👍 | :thumbsup: | the universal ack |
| 👋 | :wave: | hello and goodbye |
| 🙏 | :pray: | thanks / please |
| 👏 | :clap: | applause |
| 🙌 | :raised_hands: | it shipped |
| 💪 | :muscle: | we've got this |
| 🤞 | :crossed_fingers: | hoping the build passes |
| 👀 | :eyes: | looking into it |
Hearts & celebration
| Emoji | Shortcode | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| ❤️ | :heart: | the original |
| 🎉 | :tada: | the shortcode that started this site |
| ✨ | :sparkles: | a little polish |
| 🔥 | :fire: | excellent, or on fire |
| 💯 | :100: | full agreement |
| 🚀 | :rocket: | launches and deploys |
| ⚡ | :zap: | fast |
| 🎂 | :birthday: | cake, obviously |
Work & everything else
| Emoji | Shortcode | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| 🐛 | :bug: | commit messages |
| ☕ | :coffee: | the fuel |
| 🍕 | :pizza: | team lunch |
| 🍻 | :beers: | Friday |
| 🤷 | :shrug: | who knows |
| 🎁 | :gift: | presents |
| 🦄 | :unicorn: | rare and magical things |
| 💡 | :bulb: | ideas |
Exact names vary a little between platforms — Slack says :thumbsup:, some sets say :+1: or :thumbs_up:. Good tools accept the common aliases, and Mojito also matches by keyword, so :happy, :zen, or :celebrate find the right emoji even when you don't remember the code.
Using these outside Slack
Shortcodes are a convention, not part of macOS: type :tada: in Mail or Notes and you get… :tada:. Mojito is a free menu-bar app that watches for the colon and pops an autocomplete at your cursor in any app, so the muscle memory you built in Slack works everywhere. It also does symbols (::pi → π) and GIF search (:::).
More guides: Emoji shortcuts on Mac · How to type emoji on a Mac · A better Mac emoji picker · All guides