Join the Hacktoberfest Weekend Challenge: Build for a Friend! $2,450 in Prizes Across 17 Winners. Submissions Due October 5 at 6:59 AM UTC.

#devchallenge #weekendchallenge #hf26challenge #hacktoberfest

Hacktoberfest is here, and so is the first of our five Hacktoberfest DEV Challenges: a Weekend Challenge sized to fit into your weekend. We've set the timing so that wherever you are in the world, you'll have most of your Saturday and Sunday to build.

This year's Hacktoberfest is not about open source pull requests. There's no PR count to hit and no repos to hunt for. Instead, you build a brand-new project with open-source AI at its core, and write about it on DEV. Here's everything you need to know about Hacktoberfest 2026.

We'll select one overall winner and a winner in each of our 16 partner categories. See all five challenges and every partner category on the HF26 DEV Challenge Hub.

Let's get to it!

Our Prompt: Build for a Friend

Build something with open-source AI at its core that solves a real problem for a friend or someone you love.

That can mean running an open-weight model, building on an open-source agent harness or framework, running inference locally, or all three. Whatever you pick, the open pieces should be what makes your project work.

Pick one real person and build something for them. It doesn't have to be big. It has to matter to them. A few ideas to get you going:

A meal planner that knows your roommate's allergies
A patient practice partner for a friend learning a new language
A tool that turns your grandpa's voice memos into a family recipe book

In your post, tell us why open innovation matters for what you built. Does it run on a laptop with no internet? Keep someone's data off a server they don't control? Let you fine-tune, swap models, or change how your agent behaves? Cost nothing to run? Tell us where your open-based approach worked better than a closed one.

Bonus points if you actually hand it over and tell us what they said.

Prize Categories

Alongside our overall winner, we have 16 prize categories for projects that use a specific partner's technology. You don't need to use any of these to win the overall prize, but if you've been curious about any of this tech, this is a great excuse to give one a try. Full descriptions are on the hub.

Featured categories:

Partner categories:

Pro Tip: Partner category winners come from a smaller pool of submissions, so your odds are meaningfully higher.

Note: One project can enter every category it genuinely uses, but you can win once per challenge, and we'll aim to celebrate as many different builders as possible across the month.

Free credits: several partners are giving participants credits and promo codes, including Tinker, Render, Backboard, and ElevenLabs. Claim yours at hacktoberfest.com/my.

A huge thank you to our partners for making these prizes possible!

Judging Criteria

This is DEV, so your write-up matters most.

Writing Quality (weighted most heavily): Is the post clear and engaging? Does it explain what you built, who it's for, and why open innovation matters?
Relevance to the Prompt and Theme: Is open-source AI at the core of the project? Does it fit this challenge's theme?
Creativity: Is it an original idea, or a fresh take on a familiar problem?
Technical Execution: Does it work, and is it well built?
Use of Partner Technology (optional): If you're entering a partner category, does the project use that technology in a meaningful way?

Show your work. We'd love to see how you built it. Save your agent session with DevRelay and embed it in your post, or link to it. It's optional, but it helps the judges understand your process.

Prizes

Overall winner (1): $250 USD, a DEV++ membership, and an exclusive DEV badge
Featured category winners (6): $200 USD and an exclusive DEV badge each
Partner category winners (10): $100 USD and an exclusive DEV badge each

All participants with a valid submission will receive a completion badge.

How To Participate

Publish a post on DEV using the submission template below. Tell us what you built and who it's for, show us a demo, and explain why open innovation matters for what you built.

Submission Template

Please review our judging criteria, rules, guidelines, and FAQ page before submitting so you understand our participation guidelines and official contest rules, such as eligibility requirements.

Need Help?

New to Hacktoberfest this year? Start with Everything You Need To Know About Hacktoberfest 2026.
Come hang out and ask questions in the MLH Discord.
The challenge page has resources from our partners to help you get started.

Important Dates

Launch: October 2, 2026, 2:00 AM UTC
Submissions due: October 5, 2026, 6:59 AM UTC
Winners announced: week of October 5

Timezone	Launch	Submissions Due
PDT	Thu Oct 1, 7:00 PM	Sun Oct 4, 11:59 PM
EDT	Thu Oct 1, 10:00 PM	Mon Oct 5, 2:59 AM
GMT	Fri Oct 2, 2:00 AM	Mon Oct 5, 6:59 AM
CEST	Fri Oct 2, 4:00 AM	Mon Oct 5, 8:59 AM
IST	Fri Oct 2, 7:30 AM	Mon Oct 5, 12:29 PM
JST	Fri Oct 2, 11:00 AM	Mon Oct 5, 3:59 PM
AEST	Fri Oct 2, 12:00 PM	Mon Oct 5, 4:59 PM