Join the Hacktoberfest Open-Source AI Challenge: Slow and Steady! $2,850 in Prizes Across 21 Winners.

#devchallenge #hf26challenge #hacktoberfest #productivity

Week 3 of our five Hacktoberfest DEV Challenges starts today! Running through October 25, the Hacktoberfest Open-Source AI Challenge: Week 3 gives you a full week to build.

This year's Hacktoberfest is all about building brand-new projects with open-source AI and open-weight models. Here's everything you need to know about Hacktoberfest 2026.

Missed Week 2: Side Hustle? No problem. Every challenge is a fresh start, so you're competing on the same footing as everyone else.

This week, we'll select one overall winner and a winner in each of our 20 partner categories. See all five challenges and current partner categories on the HF26 DEV Challenge Hub.

Let's get to it (slowly)! 🦥

This week's theme: Slow and Steady

Build something with open-weight models or open-source AI that rewards laziness.

Tomorrow, October 20, is International Sloth Day, and we think sloths have it figured out. They move at their own pace, conserve their energy, and even help moderate our website. This week, we want you to channel your inner sloth and build something that does the work so you don't have to.

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.

Your build could help someone relax, automate a task they dread, or just make life a little easier. A few ideas to get you going:

A local agent that reads your group chats overnight and hands you a two-line summary in the morning
A wind-down companion that generates a calming bedtime story or ambient soundscape, running entirely offline
A fridge photo to grocery list tool, so you never have to stand there with the door open again
A file and inbox tidier that automatically sorts, renames, and archives the clutter you keep putting off

In your post, tell us why open innovation matters for what you built. Does running your own model mean your automation works without an internet connection? Keep your personal messages and files on your own machine? Let you set it up once and never pay for it again? Tell us where your open-based approach worked better than a closed one.

Slow and Steady Submission Template

Prize Categories

Alongside our overall winner, we have 20 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:

Best Use of Auth0 for AI Agents 🆕
Best Use of Backboard
Best Use of Browserbase 🆕
Best Use of ElevenLabs
Best Use of Entire
Best Use of GitHub Copilot
Best Use of Mastra
Best Use of MongoDB Atlas
Best Use of Sentry Agent Tracing
Best Use of SerpApi
Best Use of Temporal
Best Use of Tiger Data
Best Use of Ultramarine (Paper Instruments) 🆕
Best Use of a .tech Domain

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 only 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. 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 or open-weight models at the core of the project? Does it genuinely save effort, help someone relax, or make life easier?
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 (14): $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 above. Tell us what you built and what effort it saves, show us a demo, and explain why open innovation matters for what you built. If you can show us how much time or effort your project saves, even better!

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

October 19: Hacktoberfest Open-Source AI Challenge: Week 3 begins!
October 20: International Sloth Day 🦥
October 25: Submissions due at 11:59 PM PDT
Week of October 26: Winners announced

Looking Ahead

Week 4, our final Hacktoberfest challenge, launches Monday, October 26 with a brand-new theme. Be sure to register so you don't miss the announcement.