Overview
Build With AI: Basics is an online, beginner-friendly Devpost hackathon focused on learning practical AI-assisted coding habits. Participants create a small, working proof of concept: an app that runs and performs one useful task from beginning to end. The challenge is designed for people who want to build something relevant to their work or personal life while learning to plan and develop projects with an AI coding agent.
The event runs from September 22 through October 26, 2026. It is open to people aged 18 and older in most countries and territories, with exclusions including Brazil, Crimea, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Quebec, and Russia. Devpost describes this as part of a shorter, learning-focused hackathon format that is open to join every month.
What participants will learn and build
Participants use the Devpost Learn Skill Pack, a collection of reusable, step-by-step guides that work inside coding agents such as Claude Code, Codex, and Cursor, as well as other agents that support skills. The skills interview participants about their idea, help define and plan its scope before coding begins, guide implementation, and help prepare the project for submission. The goal is to practice planning before building and to produce a process that participants can reuse on future projects.
Projects must be new and started from an empty folder during the submission period. They must be built using the skills, and the public project repository must contain the generated scope.md, prd.md, and spec.md planning documents. Participants need Node.js, Git, a compatible coding agent, and an empty project folder. The listed setup starts by installing the skills with npx skills add challengepost/learn-ai-basics --all -y, then opening the coding agent and asking it to run 1-start.
Schedule and support
The program includes a live build session, Discord community support, office hours, and a project review. The live build session is scheduled for Thursday, October 1 at 1:00 pm ET. It walks through the process from start to finish, and a recording is available for people who cannot attend live.
Cup of Joe office hours take place in Discord voice on Tuesday, October 6 and Tuesday, October 13 at 3:00 pm ET. Participants can drop in with their projects and questions for feedback from Joe and other builders; no Zoom meeting is needed. On Thursday, October 22 at 3:00 pm ET, the “Will It Ship” session reviews about five submissions against the judging criteria before the deadline, allowing participants time to act on the feedback. To be considered for that review, participants are encouraged to submit early to the Build with AI Basics forum in the Devpost Discord. The Discord is also the place to ask questions and see other builders’ projects.
Submissions, judging, and prizes
A submission must include a one-to-three-minute demo video showing the project working, a public GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket repository URL, and a short description of what the app does, whom it is for, and what the participant learned. Reviewers will not clone or run submitted code, so the video should demonstrate the app end to end.
Judging considers design and the completeness of the product experience, the creativity and novelty of the idea, and the clarity of the video and presentation. The total cash prize pool is $2,500: $1,250 for first place, $750 for second place, and $500 for third place. The first-place project is also featured in the Devpost newsletter and on Devpost social channels. Eligible project submissions receive a Devpost Learn badge.
