Agent-Native Hackathon

Official Rules

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Overview and Sponsor

The Agent-Native Hackathon is a free, skill-based development competition. No purchase is necessary. Registration, purchases, live event attendance, and social sharing do not improve an entry’s score or eligibility.

Sponsor: Builder.io.

Eligibility

Eligible individuals and teams worldwide may participate, subject to applicable laws and restrictions. Every participant must be at least 18 years old, or the age of legal majority in their jurisdiction if higher, when entering.

Void where prohibited by law. Individuals and jurisdictions are excluded where participation or payment would violate applicable trade sanctions or other legal restrictions. International participants may win cash prizes subject to eligibility, legal verification, payment availability, and tax requirements.

Sponsor employees and individuals involved in judging cannot win. Each team member must satisfy these eligibility requirements. Team members must authorize the submission and agree to any prize allocation.

Schedule

October 19, 2026: Hackathon begins; building can start immediately.
October 22, 2026 at 8:30 AM PT: Optional kickoff webinar.
October 27, 2026 at 8:30 AM PT: Optional office hours.
October 29, 2026 at 8:30 AM PT: Optional office hours.
October 30 – November 1, 2026: Final Hackathon Weekend.
Monday, November 2, 2026 at 11:59 PM PT: Final submission deadline.
November 6, 2026: Target winner announcement, subject to verification.

All dates are in 2026. Pacific Time (America/Los_Angeles) controls all deadlines, regardless of the participant’s location. The final submission timestamp is November 2, 2026, at 11:59 PM PT (November 3, 2026, at 07:59 UTC). The final weekend is not the entire building period.

How to Enter

Build a functional application using Agent-Native.
Submit original work or meaningful new development completed during the Hackathon, beginning October 19, 2026. Identify pre-existing work, templates, libraries, third-party assets, and what changed during the event.
Provide a project description, creator or team details, contact information, and an accessible demonstration of the working application.
Record a public Clips demonstration showing the actual application in use. The recording must be viewable without a login or access request. A public repository or live deployment is encouraged but not required.
Submit the required information and public Clips link through the project submission form by Monday, November 2, 2026 at 11:59 PM PT, and confirm receipt. Recording a clip alone does not submit an entry.
Agree to the approved Official Rules and confirm eligibility when submitting an entry.

Registration and attendance at webinars, office hours, or the winners showcase are optional. No agreement is required merely to browse this site or read the documentation.

Judging

Usefulness and Execution: 40%. A clear problem and a complete working flow. Does the project deliver a useful outcome, reduce manual effort, and make that outcome usable?
Creativity and Design: 20%. An imaginative idea or interaction. What makes the experience distinctive and enjoyable to use?
Innovation: 20%. A thoughtful people-and-agent workflow that improves how something gets done, rather than adding AI without a clear purpose.
Cleverness and Use of Agent-Native: 20%. Resourceful use of Agent-Native to bring the interface, agent behavior, and application capabilities together.

Judges score each criterion from 0 to 10. Each judge’s weighted total is the sum of each criterion score multiplied by its percentage weight. The mean weighted total across judges determines an entry’s score, and eligible entries are ranked from highest to lowest.

compare the tied entries’ mean Usefulness and Execution scores, then Creativity and Design, then Innovation, then Cleverness and Use of Agent-Native. If still tied, the panel reassesses the tied entries against the same rubric and records a reasoned ranking. No random drawing is used.

Rankings are provisional until eligibility, originality, framework use, demo accessibility, and compliance are verified. A noncompliant or unverifiable entry may be disqualified, with the next highest-ranked eligible entry considered for the vacated place. Conflicted judges must not score an entry in which they have an interest.

Best Overall App, Best Productivity App, Most Creative App, and Best Use of Agent-Native are recognition categories only. They do not create additional cash prizes or change the weighted scoring rubric.

Prizes

Grand Prize: $5,000 USD.
2nd Place: $2,500 USD.
3rd Place: $1,500 USD.
4th Place: $750 USD.
5th Place: $250 USD.

Total: $10,000 USD across five ranked cash prizes. Each winning entry may receive at most one ranked cash prize. Prizes are awarded per winning entry, not per individual team member. Recognition categories do not add to the cash total.

Teams must provide an agreed prize allocation and all necessary payment information before funds are distributed. International winners are eligible subject to legal verification, applicable restrictions, tax requirements, and legally available payment arrangements. Advertised amounts are gross prizes before any mandatory withholding, not guaranteed net payments.

International Tax Requirements

All prizes are awarded in U.S. dollars. Winners are responsible for taxes imposed by their country, state, province, or jurisdiction of residence.

Before receiving a prize, winners may be required to provide identity verification, payment information, and applicable tax documentation, including IRS Form W-9 for U.S. persons or Form W-8BEN or another applicable form for non-U.S. persons.

Builder.io will report prize payments and withhold taxes where required by applicable law. Any mandatory withholding will be deducted from the stated prize amount.

Non-U.S. winners may be subject to U.S. withholding, potentially at a rate of 30%, unless an applicable exemption or reduced treaty rate is established. The actual tax treatment depends on the recipient, payment classification, source, and applicable law.

Winners are responsible for any additional tax obligations in their home jurisdiction.

Intellectual Property

Participants retain ownership of their applications and original code, subject to third-party rights. Participants are responsible for complying with all applicable third-party licenses, intellectual property rights, privacy rights, and permissions.

By submitting an entry, participants grant the Sponsor a nonexclusive license to display, reproduce, and promote the submitted project description, demonstration, and project materials for Hackathon-related judging, announcements, showcases, and promotion. This does not transfer ownership or require releasing private source code.

Winner Verification and Payments

Potential winners will be contacted using their entry contact information. Before payment, the Sponsor will verify identity, age, location, eligibility, compliance, and team prize allocation where applicable, and collect necessary payment information and tax documents through secure channels. Do not upload tax forms, identity documents, or payment credentials to the public demo or general submission form.

A potential winner may be disqualified if verification fails, required documents or team agreement cannot be provided, payment would be unlawful, or the approved response deadline is missed. Prize payments are subject to required reporting and withholding. No particular net payout is promised.

Fair Participation and Disqualification

Entries must be truthful, lawful, and submitted with the necessary permissions. Plagiarism, fabricated demonstrations, fraud, interference with other participants, harassment, exploitation of the submission process, or violation of these rules may result in disqualification. Decisions must be based on documented compliance and the published skill-based rubric, subject to applicable law.

Privacy and Personal Information

Information provided for entry administration, judging, winner verification, payment, and legally required reporting will be handled under the Builder.io Privacy Policy. Provide only information needed for those purposes. Optional event updates are separate from entry submission. Winner verification documents must be collected through secure channels, not public recordings.

Liability Limitations

To the extent permitted by applicable law, the Sponsor is not responsible for losses caused by third-party services, participant equipment, or events outside its reasonable control. Participants are responsible for safely developing and demonstrating their projects. Nothing in these rules excludes or limits liability or rights that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited, including mandatory protections in a participant’s jurisdiction.

Technical Issues and Permitted Changes

Participants should submit early and verify receipt. Technical problems do not automatically extend a deadline. If a material technical issue or legal requirement affects fair administration, the Sponsor may make only lawful, necessary changes and communicate them on this site with their effective timing. Changes must not arbitrarily disadvantage eligible participants or replace skill-based judging with chance. Mandatory legal rights remain unaffected.

Governing Law and Disputes

California law governs these rules and Hackathon-related disputes, except where mandatory protections or other applicable law in a participant’s home jurisdiction require otherwise. Nothing in these rules waives nonwaivable rights or restricts access to a court or remedy required by applicable law.

Winner Announcements and Information Requests

The target winner announcement is November 6, 2026, subject to verification. Verified winning project names, creator or team names, and demonstrations may be announced on the Hackathon site and Sponsor channels. Winner information requests may be sent to the confirmed Sponsor contact below after winners are announced. Personal tax, identity, and payment information will not be included in public winner announcements.

Acceptance of Official Rules

Submitting an entry requires affirmative agreement to the approved version of these Official Rules and confirmation that all team members meet the eligibility requirements and authorize the entry. Agreement is not required to browse the website, read the rules or documentation, or start learning the framework.

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