A tiny Linux tool for clearing Steam achievements

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When I (re)play some games, I like to clear the Steam achievements so I can earn them again and have a fuller, more complete experience when playing. Examples include The Witcher 3 and Subnautica. In the past I used to do that using Steam Achievement Manager (SAM), but since then I have switched to using Linux. I couldn't get SAM to work on Linux, so I looked inside to see how it works and decided to make my own small tool to do what I needed. I first tried some things with C, C++, and Go but while I achieved a little progress I couldn't get the whole thing right. In the end with some help from Claude I was able to make this tiny C application which does exactly what I need. It loads the libsteam_api.so library and executes some calls, pretending to be the actual game from the Steam perspective. Funny thing is that your friends will even see that you are in-game while the application is running. While there does not seem to be any security or checks around this "hack", and I've used Steam Achievement Manager for many years now, there are claims and warnings online that you might get VAC (Valve Anti-Cheat) banned when you use tools like this with on-line games. While possible, I currently don't have any intention to build a complete Steam Achievement Manager clone for Linux. Any feedback is welcome.

Visit product View on Hacker NewsJul 28, 2025

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Product HuntOn track for Day 1 leaderboard · Strong signals: claude, tiny, using · Missing: mac, agents, macos

67%67% predicted probability of success on Product Hunt, based on ML models trained on real launch data.

AppSumoStrong fit for a featured deal · Strong signals: calls · Missing: plus, platform, intuitive

55%55% predicted probability of success on AppSumo, based on ML models trained on real launch data.

Hacker NewsMay not resonate with HN audience · Strong signals: ide, io · Missing: https docs, excited, just released

45%45% predicted probability of success on Hacker News, based on ML models trained on real launch data.

nativeThis product was originally launched on this platform.

TrustMRRLess likely to generate early MRR · Missing: mobile apps, ios, personal

43%43% predicted probability of success on TrustMRR, based on ML models trained on real launch data.

Acquire.comPre-revenue stage for this audience · Missing: arr, mrr, revenue

14%14% predicted probability of success on Acquire.com, based on ML models trained on real launch data.

BetaListMay not resonate with beta-testers · Missing: web3, chat, crypto

0%0% predicted probability of success on BetaList, based on ML models trained on real launch data.

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