Tesseract Hackathon 2026

Overview

The Tesseract Hackathon 2026 is a four week online event organized by Pasteur Labs that invites participants to build a cohesive, end-to-end differentiable workflow using multiple Tesseracts. Teams of up to four collaborators can compete from anywhere, with a substantial prize pool and a focus on real scientific or engineering problems that require cross-boundary collaboration. The event runs throughout August 2026, providing a structured build period, office hours, a dedicated discussion forum, and a clear judging rubric that emphasizes integration, gradient flow, and the value of using Tesseract as infrastructure rather than a novelty.

Challenge

The central challenge is to create a pipeline where gradients flow across two or more Tesseracts that operate at a boundary, such as different languages, frameworks, or hardware. Submissions should comprise end-to-end differentiable solutions that address a real problem in design, inference, or training. The jury looks for two or more Tesseracts composing a single differentiable function, gradients actively improving an objective, and a strong rationale for why Tesseract is essential to the workflow. The competition encourages innovative boundaries, whether through composition across CAD to solver, multi-physics couplings, or hybrid ML with mechanistic models.

Timeline

The timeline spans four weeks in August 2026. Key milestones include:

• Aug 3: Challenge goes live and registrations open. Build period begins.
• Aug 3 to Aug 31: Continuous build with weekly office hours and a forum for questions and collaboration.
• Aug 31, 11:59 PM Anywhere on Earth: Submissions close.
• Sep 21: Winners announced after judging and feedback sessions.

Tracks

Participants may select from five tracks that describe the primary result of their submission: 1) Inverse design and shape optimization 2) Multi-physics and coupled systems 3) Hybrid ML plus mechanistic models 4) Differentiable inference and uncertainty quantification 5) Differentiable graphics and rendering Cross-track submissions are allowed if the result showcases a clear and strong end-to-end differentiable workflow.

Prizes

The competition features a total prize pool of $20,000. Prizes include a grand prize for the strongest overall submission, runner-up prizes, and track-specific awards. Additional recognition includes best engineering, best visual demonstration, and opportunities for collaboration with Pasteur Labs or related groups. Prize eligibility details and tax information are provided in the Terms and Conditions.

Participation

Open to hobbyists, PhD students, postdocs, research engineers, and industry researchers. Solo entrants or teams of up to four can participate. Registration is free and required to be eligible for prizes. Submissions should include a public GitHub repository, a short technical writeup detailing the track alignment and design decisions, and optional demo media. The judging rubric emphasizes composition across the boundary, real gradient-driven progress, the rationale for using Tesseract, and reproducibility.

Resources

A starter template, documentation links, and demos are provided to help teams accelerate development. Community forums, example galleries, and a mosaic benchmark suite are available to guide exploration and showcase results. The event aims to push practical boundaries of what differentiable pipelines can achieve when cross-cutting technologies are orchestrated through Tesseract.

FAQ

Common questions cover eligibility, submission requirements, and how to participate in the forum. Attendees are encouraged to engage with the Hackathon channel on the Tesseract forum for collaboration and updates.