KendorOfficial rules: Kendor Build Day
1. Organiser. Kendor ("we") runs Kendor Build Day (the "Hackathon"). Contact: hello@kendor.io. Entry is free, and no purchase is needed to enter or win.
2. Who can enter.
- You must be at least 18 and enter as an individual. There are no teams.
- Void where prohibited or restricted by law. Residents of countries under comprehensive EU, UK, UN or US sanctions can't enter or receive prizes.
- Kendor's founders and contractors, the judges, and their immediate families can take part but can't win prizes.
- One application per person. Duplicate or fake applications are removed.
3. How to enter. Apply on this page by Saturday, October 31, 2026 at 16:37 UTC and confirm your email. Applications are reviewed, not first-come-first-served. Decisions are emailed by Monday, November 2, 2026 at 16:40 UTC. We may keep a waitlist and offer places that open up.
4. The build.
- Accepted builders can start any time between Saturday, November 7, 2026 at 00:00 UTC and Sunday, November 8, 2026 at 23:59 UTC. You get 8 h on the clock. It starts when you click Start and can't be paused.
- There are two challenges: Rescue and ship and Showcase. The Showcase theme is emailed to accepted builders with their acceptance. You split your time between the challenges as you like.
- All code is written in the Kendor sandbox during your build time. Planning beforehand is fine; code written beforehand is not.
5. What's allowed.
- AI tools: any AI agent that runs in the Kendor sandbox, signed in with your own account. You can use chat assistants in another tab for questions and planning, but code must be written in the sandbox. Desktop AI editors that run outside the sandbox (such as Cursor or the Antigravity desktop app) can't be used to write your submission. Using AI well is part of the score.
- Open-source libraries, frameworks, public APIs and documentation.
- Not allowed: code you wrote before your clock started, pasting in an existing project, someone else working on your submission, or getting around the sandbox or Kendor's security. Large pastes are visible to judges and will be checked.
6. What to submit.
- Your workspaces are saved automatically when your time runs out, even if you don't press Submit.
- Showcase also needs:
- a README covering what it is, who it's for, and how to run it in 3 steps;
- a demo video of 2 minutes or less, as a link in the README.
- It must run in the sandbox without paid keys. If it needs an external service, include a demo mode with sample data.
7. Judging.
Judges are engineers and engineering leaders from companies that are hiring, and members of the Kendor team. They're named on this page before the build starts.
Eligibility check: Kendor removes entries that weren't submitted, don't have enough work to judge, or break these rules. AI-generated summaries help us check every entry, but people make every decision.
Scoring: judges score every remaining submission on these criteria:
Criterion Weight Usefulness 25% Working software 25% Technical depth 20% AI craft (how well you worked with the agent) 15% Presentation 15% Each submission is scored by at least two judges, and the scores are averaged.
Conflicts of interest: a judge doesn't score a builder they know personally, work with, or have worked with. Their score is replaced by another judge's.
Confidentiality: judges see submissions only to judge them. They don't share, copy or reuse your code or ideas. Judging companies see your profile only if you opted in when you applied.
Ties are broken by the Working software score, then by a vote of the judges.
Judging ends Friday, November 13, 2026 at 23:59 UTC. Results are published by Sunday, November 15, 2026 at 12:00 UTC. The judges' decisions are final.
8. Prizes. $500 in total, split as listed in the Prizes section of the hackathon page.
One person can win more than one prize.
We may withhold a prize if no submission meets a reasonable standard.
Prizes are paid by Wise or PayPal within 30 days of results. Winners must reply with payment details within 14 days, or the prize goes to the next-ranked builder.
Winners are responsible for any taxes. Prizes can't be transferred.
Prizes are paid by Wise or Bank Transfer within 30 days of results. Winners must reply with payment details within 14 days, or the prize goes to the next-ranked builder.
Anyone can win. If sanctions or payment-provider rules stop us from paying a winner, they keep their title, ranking and certificate, but we can't pay the cash prize. It isn't passed on to anyone else.
Extras: the top 10 builders by final score are offered a CV and LinkedIn review and a mock technical interview, held online within 60 days of results. Times are agreed by email. They can't be exchanged for cash or transferred.
Builders who opted in when they applied may have their project and profile shared with hiring companies after the event. You can withdraw that consent at any time by writing to hello@kendor.io.
9. Your code and your data.
- You own what you build. You can download it at the end.
- You allow Kendor and the judges to view and run your submission for judging.
- Winners' names and projects may be featured on Kendor and its social channels. Anything beyond that, such as quotes, photos or anonymised build statistics, is only used with your separate consent.
- During the build, Kendor records your code history, terminal and agent sessions, test runs, and activity signals (tab switches, pastes and the typing timeline). These are used for judging and integrity checks.
- Data is handled under Kendor's Privacy Policy. Applications that aren't accepted are deleted after the event under our retention policy.
10. Disqualification. We may disqualify anyone who breaks these rules, gives false information, or behaves abusively toward other participants, judges or Kendor. Disqualified builders forfeit any prize.
11. Changes and liability.
- We may change the schedule or these rules if something outside our control requires it, such as an outage or legal reasons, and we'll email accepted builders.
- If the platform has an outage that costs you time, we'll extend or restore your clock where we can.
- Kendor isn't liable for losses from taking part beyond the prize amounts stated here.
- Sponsors: sponsors may join until build day. They can add prizes, side prizes or an extra challenge. We won't reduce or remove a prize already announced. We'll post any change on this page and email accepted builders before build day.
12. Contact. Questions: hello@kendor.io.