Key Dates
Challenge Starts
July 14, 2026
Submissions Due
August 23, 2026
Winners Announced
September 17, 2026
Every app has its share of rockstar bugs — those loud, dramatic, spotlight-stealing glitches that love to hog the main stage and disrupt the show.
It's time to give those notorious performers their grand finale.
All you need to do is publish a post on DEV with the #bugsmash tag. Pick a prompt below, do the work, then use one of the submission templates below to write it up.
Some bugs love the spotlight. Clear them off the stage by submitting a definitive bug fix or performance optimization in an existing codebase. We want to see the exact code changes you made so be sure to include your PR or code snippets. No new features, typos, or documentation fixes allowed!
Share the legendary tale of a chaotic bug you caught or a clever performance optimization you previously pulled off. Dive into the technical details of how you made the software more resilient, and celebrate the wins that brought harmony back to your codebase.
Awarded to the most impactful and well executed bug fix or optimization in an existing codebase.
Awarded to the best write-ups of a chaotic bug you caught or a clever performance optimization you pulled off.
Show us how Google AI helped you track down a tricky bug or optimize your application.
Note: Only submissions for Clear the Lineup are eligible for this prize category.
Awarded to 5 outstanding submissions across all submissions that demonstrate exceptional impact and quality.
Every valid submission earns a completion badge — no matter which track you enter or how the judging shakes out.
You'll have a smashing time!
Choose between Clear the Lineup (submit a real bug fix or performance PR) or Smash Stories (write up a legendary debugging win). You're welcome to participate in both — each submission is judged independently.
Each prompt has a dedicated submission template prefilled with the required #bugsmash challenge tag — we recommend reviewing it before you start so you know exactly what to include. If you're participating in a prize category, be sure to fill out the additional information required.
Our judges are looking for:
Be sure to fill out each submission template thoroughly for your best chance of winning.
We're excited to welcome Sergiy Dybskiy, Developer Experience Engineer at Sentry, as a guest judge for our challenge alongside The DEV Team.
July 30, 2026 at 11am PT
Need help getting started? Check out our resources below.
Not sure where to start? If you don't have any personal or work projects to contribute to, consider contributing to an open source project.
Fork the repository and start hacking. You can safely reproduce bugs, run test suites, or generate performance profiles locally using mock data without needing real production traffic.
Projects tagged Sentry already use Sentry — a head start on the Best Use of Sentry category.
Open source projects are most often maintained by unpaid volunteers, so let's be mindful of their workload and not add to the all-too-common problem of maintainer burnout.
For a deeper dive, read @vladh's guide to respectful open source contribution →
Yes! You can submit as many entries as you like during the challenge period. However, you'll need to create a separate post for each submission.
No, this is an individual challenge. Each submission must be your own work.
Participants need to be 18+ in order to participate.
For eligibility rules, see our official challenge rules.
Use the submission template provided in the challenge prompts. It includes all the sections judges will be looking for.
Yes, your submission can count for multiple prize categories so long as you include the information asked for each prize category in your post.
If you contributed to an OSS project, you can merge your change on a fork. It's okay if your PR doesn't get merged on the main project.
Non-English submissions are eligible for a completion badge but not eligible for prizes due to the current limitations of our judges. We will not be judging on mastery of the English language, so please don't let this deter you from submitting if you are not a native English speaker!
Winners will be announced on September 17th, 2026 in a dedicated winner announcement post.
The DEV Team will contact you via the email associated with your DEV profile within, at most, 10 business days of the announcement date to share the details of claiming your prizes.
All participants with valid submissions receive a participation badge. Winners receive an exclusive winner badge.
NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Open only to 18+. Contest entry period ends August 24, 2026 at 6:59 AM UTC. Contest is void where prohibited or restricted by law or regulation. All entries must be submitted during the contest period. For Official Rules, see General Contest Official Rules.
