Walrus Sessions 8: a challenge to build chatbots that actually remember you

Osaze Idemudia — Thu, 24 Sep 2026 23:04:48 +0000

Quick one for anyone into AI or chatbots there's a challenge running right now that's worth checking out if you like building this kind of stuff.

Most chatbots forget everything the moment you close the tab. You explain your problem today, come back tomorrow, and it's like talking to a stranger again. Walrus Sessions 8 is a 3-week challenge built around fixing that — getting a chatbot to actually remember things across sessions, across different users, even across devices, using something called Walrus Memory.

It doesn't have to be a customer support bot either. Could be:

a tutoring bot that remembers what you struggled with last time
a community bot that remembers regulars and doesn't repeat the same FAQ answer
a game character that remembers what you did the last time you played
basically anything where "remembering the user" would actually change the experience

What you'd actually do:

Build or tweak a chatbot to use Walrus Memory
Deploy it somewhere real and use it for a few days (not just a local demo)
Write a short article about how it went — what changed before vs after
Post about it on X, tag @WalrusProtocol, #WalrusMemory
Submit with your repo, the model you used, one bug you found, and one improvement idea

Prizes: $2,500 total, paid in WAL

Best Chatbot
A separate category for chatbots not built on Claude or GPT
Best Article
A promo prize just for spreading the word (what I'm doing right now, actually)
A bug bounty for anyone who finds and reports bugs, no chatbot required

That last part is worth knowing you don't have to build anything to enter. Writing about it, or just finding a bug, counts too.

Runs until Oct 9, 2026.
Details: https://www.deepsurge.xyz/hackathons/c0141a4a-21be-4009-bc63-7c168608c849

Sharing this because I think it's a genuinely interesting problem (an AI that remembers you properly), and the barrier to enter is lower than most hackathons. Happy to answer questions if anyone's curious.

DEV Community: Osaze Idemudia

Walrus Sessions 8: a challenge to build chatbots that actually remember you