Micro-credentials are the latest shiny new thing attracting the attention of politicians, policy-makers and educational leaders. This paper endeavours to ‘unbox’ the micro-credential by peeling away inherent tensions in competing definitions and underlying drivers. It reports the tripartite methodology adopted for a state-of -the-art literature review which offers an inside, upside and downside view on the micro-credential. Selected findings illustrate how the growth of the micro-credential needs to be understood in a wider socio-cultural context. The micro-credential movement is part of a complex credential ecology steeped in history, politics and cultural norms. In response to major societal and technological change forces, the paper invites debate on what counts as valued skill and knowledge in today’s rapidly changing digital society. It challenges existing business models for higher and further education and the traditional status of the university degree. Therefore, the micro-credential is not just another passing educational fad, as it brings into question much bigger issues concerning employability, the changing nature of work and new models of life-long learning.