What is steamachievementmanager?

gibbed/steamachievementmanager — explained in plain English

Analysis updated 2026-06-24

★ 8,316C#Audience · generalComplexity · 2/5Setup · easy

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((SAM))
    What it does
      Achievement viewing
      Achievement editing
      Stats modification
    Tech Stack
      C#
      Steam API
      Windows
    Use Cases
      Unlock achievements
      Reset progress
      Steam API exploration
    Notes
      Portable tool
      Open-sourced 2008
      Terms of service risk

mindmap root((SAM)) What it does Achievement viewing Achievement editing Stats modification Tech Stack C# Steam API Windows Use Cases Unlock achievements Reset progress Steam API exploration Notes Portable tool Open-sourced 2008 Terms of service risk

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What do people build with it?

USE CASE 1

View and unlock or reset Steam achievements for any game on your account without launching the game.

USE CASE 2

Modify game statistics stored on Steam to reset or adjust progress tracking for a specific title.

USE CASE 3

Build on the open-source C# codebase to add features or integrate Steam achievement access into your own tool.

What is it built with?

C#.NET

How does it compare?

	gibbed/steamachievementmanager	librehardwaremonitor/librehardwaremonitor	borntoberoot/networkmanager
Stars	8,316	8,337	8,284
Language	C#	C#	C#
Setup difficulty	easy	easy	easy
Complexity	2/5	2/5	2/5
Audience	general	developer	ops devops

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you get it running?

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 5min

Requires the Steam client running and a network connection, no installation needed, portable executable runs directly.

No license information stated in the explanation, check the repository directly for terms before reusing the code.

So what is it?

Steam Achievement Manager, often called SAM, is a small Windows tool for viewing and modifying game achievements and statistics on the Steam gaming platform. Steam is a PC gaming storefront where many games award achievements for completing certain tasks, and this tool provides direct access to those records tied to your account. The application is lightweight and portable, meaning you do not need to install it. You do need to have the Steam client running and be logged into a Steam account while using it. A network connection is also required. The tool was originally released in a closed-source form in 2008, received its last major update in 2011, and had a final hotfix in 2013. The code was later released publicly so that anyone interested could use or build on it. Since opening the source, the maintainer has updated the code to a more modern state and replaced some icons. This open-source release is labeled version 7.0. The README is brief and does not go into detail about exactly which operations are supported beyond the description of managing achievements and statistics. The repository includes a download link for the latest compiled release for those who want to run it rather than build it from source. The project is written in C# and targets the Windows platform. Because it interacts directly with Steam's internal achievement records, tools like this exist in a gray area regarding Steam's terms of service, and using them to unlock achievements in games you have not actually played may violate those terms. The README does not address that topic directly, but it is worth being aware of before using it.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1

How do I build Steam Achievement Manager from source in C# on Windows and run it without installing anything?

Prompt 2

Show me how the SAM C# codebase connects to the Steam client to read and write achievement data for a given game.

Prompt 3

Explain how Steam Achievement Manager accesses per-game statistics and what Steam Steamworks API calls it likely uses under the hood.

Prompt 4

Walk me through the Steam Achievement Manager codebase, where does the main achievement read and write logic live?

Frequently asked questions