I built a 4-week hackathon focused entirely on real-world debugging instead of Leetcode problems

Most coding platforms train engineers to solve isolated algorithm problems.

But in real engineering, you rarely reverse linked lists.

• You debug production systems.
• You trace issues across files.
• You deal with incomplete logs, unexpected states, and systems you didn’t write.

so I built something around that.

Introducing Recticode

Recticode is a platform focused on real-world debugging challenges.

Instead of algorithm puzzles, engineers work with realistic multi-file codebases that contain subtle production-style bugs.

The 4-week system

Instead of a single hackathon, I split it into two connected phases:

Phase 1: Challenge Sprint (May 4 – May 31)

Engineers submit real debugging challenges.

Each submission is:

• multi-file (real code structure)
• contains a subtle production-style bug
• includes expected behaviour + context
• written like a real engineering system

The goal is to build a library of realistic debugging problems.

Phase 2: Debugging Championship (June 1 – June 14)

Engineers then compete to solve these challenges.

A public leaderboard tracks:

• correctness
• consistency
• difficulty-weighted performance

This turns submitted challenges into a live competition system.

Why I built this

I kept noticing a gap between:

what coding platforms teach
and
what real engineering actually looks like

Most practice focuses on:

• algorithms in isolation
• clean inputs
• nno system complexity

But real work is:

• debugging distributed systems
• reading unfamiliar codebases
• tracing state across multiple layers

So I wanted a format that reflects that.

What i’m hoping to learn

This is still early, but i’m mainly trying to answer:

• do engineers prefer debugging-based practice?
• can a "challenge library" become a real learning system?
• will people actually engage with this over time?

If you want to try it:

Challenge Sprint is live now: https://recticode.com
Recticode is also fully open source on GitHub.

recticode · GitHub

recticode has 7 repositories available. Follow their code on GitHub.

github.com

Recticode / python-cli

Recticode

Practice real-world coding by fixing bugs in actual codebases, not solving toy problems.

What is this?

Recticode is a cli-based platform where you:

• pull a coding challenge (a real mini codebase)
• identify and fix a bug or implement a feature
• run your own tests to verify your solution
• submit your fix

Instead of writing isolated functions, you work with realistic systems.

Why?

Most platforms train you to:

• solve algorithm problems from scratch

But real dev work is more like:

• reading existing code
• debugging issues
• making safe changes without breaking things

Recticode is built to train that skill.

How it works

1. install the CLI
2. fetch a challenge
3. work locally in your editor
4. run your own tests
5. submit your solution

Installation

pip install recticode

Check it works:

recticode --help

Example Flow

# login
recticode login
# get a challenge
recticode start <challenge-name>

# work on the code locally...

# submit

…

View on GitHub

Submissions are open until may 31.

Feedback Welcome

Especially interested in:

• whether this feels closer to real engineering than leetcode-style platforms
• what would make debugging challenges more useful for learning or hiring