Kudos

Kudos is a peer-to-peer recognition system. Members can give a shoutout to another member, with both the giver and receiver earning points in the process.

What Kudos Is

Kudos lets members publicly recognize each other for helpful contributions, great content, or community support. A kudos can include a short optional message. Both members earn points when kudos is given — the receiver earns more than the giver, reflecting the value of being recognized.

Default Point Values

Role	Default Points
Receiver (member getting kudos)	5 points
Giver (member sending kudos)	2 points

These values are configurable in Gamification > Settings > Kudos.

Daily Points Limit

Members can always send kudos. What is limited is the points: by default the first 5 kudos a member sends each day award points to both people. After that, kudos still go through - the recipient still gets the message and the notification - they just earn no points. The count resets at midnight (site timezone).

A second kudos to the same member within an hour also earns no points. This is what stops two friends trading kudos to farm points, without ever telling a member they cannot thank someone.

Members are never shown a “limit reached” message. The only hard stop is a spam ceiling of 50 kudos a day, far above normal use; once a member reaches it, the kudos form is simply not shown until the next day. Developers can change it with the wb_gam_kudos_daily_ceiling filter.

Change the points limit in Gamification > Settings > Kudos > Kudos per day that earn points.

Rules and Restrictions

• Members cannot give kudos to themselves
• Kudos can include an optional message of up to 255 characters
• Both point awards (giver and receiver) flow through the full gamification pipeline — they count toward badge conditions, level thresholds, streaks, and challenges

The Kudos Feed

The Kudos Feed block and shortcode display a public stream of recent kudos activity. Each entry shows the giver’s avatar, the receiver’s avatar, and the optional message.

This creates a visible culture of recognition. When members see others being recognized, they are more likely to send kudos themselves.

Shortcode:

[wb_gam_kudos_feed limit="10"]
[wb_gam_kudos_feed limit="5" show_messages="0"]

Attribute	Default	Description
limit	10	How many recent kudos to show (max 50)
show_messages	1	Whether to display the kudos message

Sending Kudos (Give Kudos Shortcode)

New in 1.4.0.

Members can send kudos directly from the frontend via the [wb_gam_give_kudos] shortcode. Drop it into any page, template part, or BuddyPress profile section.

Shortcode:

[wb_gam_give_kudos]
[wb_gam_give_kudos to="username"]
[wb_gam_give_kudos label="Cheer this member"]

Attribute	Default	Description
to	—	Lock the form to a specific recipient by user_login or user_id. When set, the recipient field is hidden.
label	“Send Kudos”	Custom submit button label.

The shortcode wraps an underlying server-side block (wb-gamification/give-kudos) so theme builders and template-builder plugins that consume blocks via render_block() can use the same render path. The block is not yet wired into the WordPress block inserter — use the shortcode for now.

Behavior:

• Logged-out visitors see a sign-in prompt instead of the form.
• Logged-in members see a recipient input (or the locked recipient if to= is set), a message field (max 255 characters), and a Send button.
• Typing two or more letters of a name shows matching members (avatar, name, @handle); pick one with the mouse or the arrow keys and Enter. Typing an exact username also works.
• Submitting POSTs to POST /wb-gamification/v1/kudos with recipient_login (the server resolves the username or profile slug to a user ID).
• Status feedback appears below the submit button: sent, recipient not found, or a network error. There is no “limit reached” message: past the daily points limit kudos still send, and at the spam ceiling the form is not shown.
• Responsive: stacks vertically with a full-width submit button on screens ≤640 px.

A common placement is the BuddyPress member profile page (with to="{{member_login}}") so visitors can send kudos directly to the profile they are viewing.

BuddyPress Integration

When BuddyPress is active:

• Giving kudos creates a BuddyPress activity post so the community can see it
• The receiver gets a BuddyPress notification
• The Kudos Feed block pulls from the same data source, so activity appears in both places

Viewing All Kudos

Admins can see all kudos activity in Gamification > Analytics. The kudos table shows the giver, receiver, message, date, and points awarded for each transaction.

Tips

• Add the Kudos Feed block to your community homepage or sidebar to make recognition visible
• Consider adding kudos sending directly to member profile pages where it is easy to reach
• The giver earning points (even just 2) encourages members to actively give recognition rather than passively receive it
• Pair kudos with a “Most Recognized” challenge (based on kudos received) to make recognition a community event