Sanity Challenge

View Entries

Please sign in to follow this challenge

Build an AI agent on structured content, or vibe-code an app with Sanity behind it.

Challenge Status: Live Ended

We're excited to announce our newest challenge with Sanity!

The Sanity Challenge runs September 18 to October 4. Build an AI agent on structured content, or vibe-code an app with Sanity behind it. $2,500 in prizes.

New to Sanity? Sanity is the AI Content Operating System. Your content lives in the Content Lake as JSON documents, with schemas you define in TypeScript and query with GROQ. You can use Sanity to build anything that you can imagine with structured content as your starting point.

Read on to learn more.

Challenge Prompts

Path One: Ship an Agent That Queries Real Content

Build an agent, then point it at a Sanity Context MCP endpoint backed by a Knowledge Base. Any agent framework, hosted anywhere.

Build anything that needs an answer it can't afford to get wrong. A board game companion that knows the errata contradicts the rulebook. A better interface to your favorite open-source docs. A eurorack planner that knows what actually fits in your case. An award-travel agent that untangles which transfer partner story is current. A car repair agent? A camera gear-head compendium? The sky is the limit.

Point Sanity Context at a website, a set of files, or your own Sanity content, and it distills a navigable Knowledge Base your agent reads through MCP. Every entry stays linked to the source it came from. When two sources contradict each other, both claims surface side by side with their sources, and the decision you make carries across future builds. It all lives in your Sanity Dashboard.

The strongest submissions will show an agent that only works because the content was structured. If a keyword search would have gotten you the same answer, aim higher.

Submission Template

Path Two: Vibe-Code Something Strange

Prompt your way to a working app. Any AI-native IDE, Next.js or Astro on the front, Sanity behind it.

This one is judged on the build as much as the result. How deep did you get into Sanity's features? Did you customize the interface? Build a new component to turn videos into gifs? Create a workflow that kicks off an external API call? A rough app with an honest writeup beats a polished one with three sentences.

Bonus points for reaching past the Studio. Two things we'd especially like to see prompted into existence:

App SDK: build a custom app on top of your content, with real-time data and your own interface, instead of another read-only frontend.
Workflows: model a process (content reviews, translations, and so on) as data next to the content, so an agent can move a draft forward and a person can approve it through the same transitions.

Neither is required. A submission that uses one well will stand out from a pile of blog templates.

Submission Template

How To Participate

Publish a post on DEV using the prompt submission templates above and be sure to include the required challenge tag #sanitychallenge. You may submit to both paths, but you must create a separate post for each.

If your app requires logging in, please provide testing credentials in your submission and/or instructions on how to best test your application for judges.

Every submission needs to include your Sanity project ID or a link to a public dataset URL so the Sanity team can see how you modeled and used your structured content. Submissions without it may be considered incomplete.

Optional but encouraged: embed your agent session. Upload a transcript from Claude Code, Gemini CLI, Codex, GitHub Copilot CLI, or Pi, curate or slice the parts worth showing, and drop it straight into your post via the Agent Sessions uploader. Uploads are unlisted by default, so use the Make Public button or judges won't be able to open your session — and check your transcript for keys and sensitive data before publishing.

Helpful Links & Resources

Sanity Context: required reading for the agent path
Day One with Sanity: the guided course, start here if you're new
Sanity docs: schemas, GROQ, Studio
Workflows: AI content pipelines, coordinated releases, and more
Knowledge Bases: getting started with Knowledge Bases
App SDK: for the bonus path
Framework quickstarts: Next.js, Astro, Nuxt, React Router
Sanity Discord: the Sanity team is in there, including a #mcp-server channel

Frequently Asked Questions

Participation

Can I submit to both paths?

Yes, you may submit to both Path One and Path Two, but you must publish a separate post for each.

Can I submit more than once to the same path?

No, only one submission per path is allowed. This is to encourage quality over quantity.

Can I work on a team?

Yes, you can work on teams of up to four people.

If you collaborate with anyone, you'll need to list their DEV handles in your submission post so we can award a badge to your entire team! Please only publish one submission per team.
DEV does not handle prize-splitting, so in the event that your submission wins, you will need to split the prize amongst yourselves. Thank you for understanding!

How old do I have to be to participate?

Participants need to be 18+ in order to participate.

If I live in X, am I eligible to participate?

For eligibility rules, see our official challenge rules.

Submission

Can my submission include open source code?

Riffing on open source code and borrowing and improving on previous work/ideas is encouraged but it's important your changes are significant enough to ensure your submission is valid.

What happens if my submission is considered plagiarized or invalid?

Anything deemed to be plagiarism will not be eligible for prizes. Incidental plagiarism may simply result in your disqualification from the challenge (regardless of the number of other valid submissions you have published). Egregious plagiarism will result in your suspension from DEV entirely. Any non-generic, non-trivial usage of prior work, including open source code must be credited in your submission.

Do submissions have to be in English?

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! We hope to evolve this in the future to be more accommodating.

Can I use AI?

Use of AI is allowed as long as all other rules are followed. We want to give you a chance to show off your skills in realistic scenarios. If you use AI tools to help you achieve your submission, all the power to you.

Judging and Prizing

Can there be ties?

In the event of a tie in scoring between judges, the judges will select the entry that received the highest number of positive reactions on their DEV post to determine the winner.

How will I know if I won?

Winners will be announced in a DEV post on the winner announcement date noted in our key dates section.

When will I receive my DEV badge?

Both participation and winner badges will be awarded, in most cases, the same day as the winner announcement.

When will I receive my prizes?

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.

What steps do I need to take to receive my cash prize?

The winner (including each member of a team) may be required to sign and return an affidavit of eligibility and publicity/liability release, and provide any additional tax filing information (such as a W-9, social security number or Federal tax ID number) within seven (7) business days following the date of your first email notification.