Zeal and Jolt
The platform keeps two kinds of points. Zeal measures what you have achieved; Jolt is what you spend.
| Zeal | Jolt | |
|---|---|---|
| Shown as | Your Mastery Score | Your Energy Points |
| What it is for | Your rank, league level and what you are allowed to do | Paying for hints, AI tools, renewals and extras |
| Can you spend it? | No — it only goes up | Yes |
Your balances are in the Codex in the top header, on the Dashboard, and on your profile page.
Your platform may use different names or icons for these two currencies, or may have the points system switched off entirely.
How you earn
| Activity | Zeal | Jolt |
|---|---|---|
| Your first sign-in — a welcome credit | 1 | 1,000 |
| Being active each day — see Streaks | Yes | At milestones |
| Capturing a flag in a challenge lab — once per mission | Yes | |
| Challenge lab achievements | Yes | Yes |
| A perfect Spot Quiz run, and quiz game modes | Yes | Yes |
| Solving a Code Arena problem — once per language family | Yes | |
| Quiz and Code Arena achievements, collected in the Mastery Hall | Yes | Yes |
| Achievements awarded by staff or faculty | Varies | Varies |
| A community theme you made being approved | Up to 1,000 |
On some platforms, Pro subscribers also receive a monthly Jolt credit.
Every credit and debit arrives as a Score notification, so your notifications are your running record.
Quiz and Code Arena achievements are not paid out automatically. When one is Ready, open that area's Mastery Hall and collect it — Collect All does them in one go.
What Jolt buys
Prices marked shown vary by item and are displayed on the button before you confirm.
| Item | Jolt |
|---|---|
| Generate a lesson in Learn AI | 25 |
| Regenerate one chapter of a lesson (refunded if it fails) | 10 |
| Unlock AI Assist on a lesson | 25 |
| Reveal the prompt a lesson was generated from | 1 |
| Generate a roadmap | 25 |
| Unlock AI Assist on a roadmap | 25 |
| A paid AI tool in Discussions — cached after first use | 1 |
| Create a club (you also need enough Zeal — see below) | 100 |
| A hint in a challenge lab | shown |
| Renewing a lab before it expires | shown |
| Generating a Spot Quiz, and quiz game-mode entry | shown |
| Code Arena extras — Surprise Me, hints, test-case unlocks, Code AI, more time | shown |
| An extra slot for your own backgrounds | shown, rising with each slot |
Streaks
Do something every day — a quiz, a lab, a lesson, some code, a discussion or a roadmap step — and you build a streak. Open the Streak card on the Dashboard and click ? (How streaks work) to see the full reward table for your current cycle.
The rules, as the dialog states them:
| Rule | What happens |
|---|---|
| Daily | +25 Zeal for every active day |
| Milestones | Bonus Zeal and Jolt on days 5, 10, 15 and 21. Full reward the first time; 15% less for a milestone you have reached before |
| Misses | You may skip up to 3 days per cycle. Each miss costs 10%; a 4th miss breaks the streak |
| Cycles | After 21 days the cycle starts again. Consecutive cycles earn a 10% bonus; restarting after a break gives 15% less at milestones |
Rank and privileges
Your Zeal sets your league level — see Leaderboards for the League of Ronin — and unlocks things you can do. Open the avatar menu → Rank & Privileges to see every unlock, grouped By rank or By module, with the ones you have already earned marked.
The unlocks in effect by default:
| Unlock | Needs |
|---|---|
| Report a question | 90 Zeal |
| Downvote a comment | 160 Zeal |
| Downvote a question or an answer | 360 Zeal |
| Create a club | The Zeal shown on Rank & Privileges, plus 100 Jolt |
| Always-on labs | 5,000 Zeal, or a paid plan |
| Extra raw TCP ports on a lab | 5,000 Zeal, or a paid plan |
| Share labs and templates | 7,500 Zeal, or a paid plan |
Voting on quizzes, lessons and roadmaps, and joining or leaving clubs, need no Zeal at all. Administrators can change any threshold, so the page — not this table — is the final word.
Feeling Lucky
Feeling Lucky in the sidebar is not a game of chance and costs nothing. It is a page of recommendations picked from your activity and skills. See Recommendations.
Next steps
- Notifications — where every credit and debit shows up
- Leaderboards — ranks and leagues
- Plans and limits — what Pro unlocks without Zeal