JacHacks 2026 — Participant Guide

// Schedule

24 Hours.

Here's exactly how the weekend runs. Come ready, stay focused, and use every minute.

DAY_01

Saturday, April 4

8:30 – 9:30 AM

Check-In

Pick up your badge, meet your team, get settled

9:30 – 10:00 AM

Team Formation

Find your crew and lock in your project idea

10:00 – 11:00 AM

Opening Ceremony

Welcome from Jaseci, sponsor intros, track deep-dives

11:00 AM

Hacking Begins

Clocks start. Build. Collaborate. Iterate.

12:00 – 12:30 PM

JAC Intro Workshop

Zero to JAC in 30 minutes. All levels welcome. Don't skip this.

12:30 – 1:00 PM

Agentic AI Workshop

Led by Jayanaka from the Jaseci Labs team. Agentic AI on JAC.

1:00 – 2:00 PM

Lunch

Refuel and keep the momentum going

3:00 – 3:30 PM

How to Get Into YC

Vatsal Shah, ex-YC founder (Fall 2025) shares what it actually takes to get in

6:00 – 7:00 PM

Dinner

Hot food to power through the night

11:30 PM – 12:00 AM

Midnight Refuel

Late night snacks. Keep building.

DAY_02

Sunday, April 5

11:00 AM

Submissions Close

Submit to Devpost. No late entries. No exceptions.

11:00 AM – 12:00 PM

Brunch

Fuel up for the final push

12:00 – 1:30 PM

Project Demos

3-minute pitches to judges and sponsors. Make it count.

3:00 – 4:00 PM

Awards & Closing Ceremony

Winners. Prizes. Memories. Glory.

// Competitive Tracks

Pick Your Arena.

Each team competes in one primary track. Teams of up to 4 people. Choose what you're best at, and go all in. All tracks require JAC as the core stack.

Agentic AI Track

Build a real, working agentic AI application using the JAC stack. We're not looking for demos or toy prototypes. We want agents that actually do things: reasoning, tool use, multi-step workflows, real-world impact. This is the main event.

1st — $750

2nd — $400

Build something like

Autonomous research agents

Multi-agent pipelines

AI-powered workflow tools

Real-time decision systems

Agentic customer support

Fintech Track

Build something in the financial technology space — payments, fraud prevention, personal finance, DeFi, or intelligent money workflows. We want real fintech built on JAC.

1st — $400

2nd — $250

Build something like

AI-powered budgeting

Fraud detection tools

DeFi dashboards

Smart invoice processing

Social Impact Track

Build something that actually matters. Projects that tackle real-world problems in healthcare, mental health, sustainability, education, accessibility, or climate. Tech that does good.

1st — $400

2nd — $250

Build something like

AI health diagnostics

Carbon footprint trackers

Mental health support tools

Accessible education platforms

// Special Awards

Bonus Prizes.

These awards are open to any team regardless of which track you're in. Stack multiple wins.

Best JAC Builder

The team that most creatively and effectively pushes what JAC can do. Think of this as the award for the most polished JAC-native product. Deep backend integration, clean architecture, real use case.

$400 Cash

Best Use of Base44

Incorporate Base44 meaningfully into your project. The team that integrates it most creatively and effectively takes this one.

Credits (from Base44)

Best Claude Code + JAC Dev Tool

Use Claude Code to build tooling FOR the JAC ecosystem itself. Not an agent built with JAC, but something that makes JAC better: a VS Code extension, a linter, a debugger, a playground, a JAC-to-Python transpiler. Infrastructure builders, this one's yours.

$500 Claude Credits

Best Use of Lovable

Use Lovable as a core part of your build. Best integration wins 3 months of Lovable free — that's real runway for your project post-hackathon.

3 Months Free

Best Use of Insforge (YC P26)

Insforge is a YC-backed dev tool. Integrate it in a meaningful way and you're in the running for their prize package.

Credits + Merch Box

Best Use of Backboard

Use Backboard as a core part of your product. Judged on how central and creative the integration is.

1-Year Subscription

Best Startup Idea

Judged on market potential, clarity of the problem, and uniqueness of the solution. This isn't about code quality. It's about the idea. Winner gets a fast-track interview to SH1P.

Fast-Track SH1P Interview

// Content & Viral Track

Build in Public.

These prizes are judged within one week of the event. Document what you built, how you built it, and why it matters. $100 per category, anyone can enter.

Best Instagram Post

Most engaging, creative post about your JacHacks experience or project. Reels count. Carousels count. Make it shareable.

$100

Best LinkedIn / X Post

Best thought-leadership post, technical breakdown, or story about what you built. Engagement and quality both matter.

$100

Best Technical Blog

Deep-dive writeup on what you built, the tech decisions you made, and what you learned. Published anywhere (Medium, Substack, personal site).

$100

Best YouTube Video

Demo video, build vlog, or explainer about your project. Judged on clarity, production, and how viral it goes within the week.

$100

// Judging Criteria

How We Judge.

Every project is evaluated across these four dimensions. You have 3 minutes to present. Make them count.

35%

Technical Depth

How well does the code work? How creative is the architecture?

30%

JAC Integration

How deeply and effectively is JAC used as the backbone?

20%

Real-World Impact

Does this solve a real problem? Would anyone actually use it?

15%

Presentation

Can you clearly explain what you built and why it matters?

Pro tip

A polished demo beats a verbose explanation every time. Show, don't tell. Have something live and working before you get on stage.

// Rules

Keep It Fair.

Simple rules. Follow them.

Teams can have up to 4 members. Solo and duo entries are welcome.

All code must be written during the hackathon. No pre-built projects. Starting from a blank slate is the point.

Open source libraries, APIs, and frameworks are all fair game. Use every tool available to you.

Your project must use JAC in a meaningful, non-trivial way. Bolting it on at the end doesn't count.

Submit to Devpost before 11:00 AM on Sunday. No extensions. No exceptions.

Be kind. Be collaborative. This event is a community. Act like it.

ParticipantGuide.

Participant
Guide.