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Hosted by  Gradio · Hugging Face Sponsored by  [ TBD ]
May 29 – June 8, 2026
✦ The Build Small Hackathon ✦

Making AI Fun
Again.

❋ Chapter Zero — Why this exists

The pace of AI over the last year has been anxiety-inducing. Labs release larger and larger models that do more of the things that make us feel human — writing, drawing, speaking, coding. No wonder more than half of us think the risks of AI outweigh the benefits.

We're sponsoring a hackathon to take things back to how they felt in 2021 — when models were small enough to tinker with, and the vibe was fun and hopeful about how this technology could improve our lives.

This hackathon is different. Rather than using a giant LLM to ship yet another B2B SaaS, we want you to think small. Armed with only 32 billion parameters, solve a problem someone you know is facing — or build something whimsical.

❋ Two Tracks · Pick your trail

Choose your own adventure.

Chapter One
🏡

Backyard AI

Solve a real problem for someone you actually know. Pick a person — a neighbor, a parent, a small-business owner on your street — and build something that makes their day measurably better.

Judged on
  • Problem is specific and real
  • The person actually used it
  • Honest fit between problem and the small-model constraint
  • Polish of the Gradio app
Chapter Two
🍄

An Adventure in Thousand Token Wood

Build something delightful that wouldn't exist without AI. Wander somewhere weirder. A toy, a tiny game, a strange interactive story, an art experiment that surprises you. The AI should be doing the fun thing — not just helping you build it. Strange is good. Joyful is the bar.

Judged on
  • Genuinely delightful (would you show a friend?)
  • AI is load-bearing for the experience
  • Originality of concept
  • Polish of the Gradio app
❋ The Constraints — Three rules of the trail

Pack light.

1

Small Models Only

Total parameters must be ≤ 32 billion. The model fits on a laptop. So should your ambition.

2

Built on Gradio

Your app must be a Gradio app, hosted as a Hugging Face Space. That's the canvas.

3

Show, Don't Tell

A short demo video and a social-media post are part of the submission. Make it sing.

❋ Bonus Quests · Six earnable merit badges

Stack 'em on your sash.

None required. Each one grants extra points for your submission. Hover a patch to see it lift.

🔌
Off the Grid
No cloud APIs. The whole thing runs on the model in front of you.
Local-first
🎯
Well-Tuned
Your app uses a fine-tuned model you've published on Hugging Face.
Fine-tuned
🎨
Off-Brand
A custom frontend that pushes past the default Gradio look.
Custom UI
🦙
Llama Champion
Your model runs through the llama.cpp runtime.
llama.cpp
📡
Sharing is Caring
You shared your agent trace on the Hub for everyone to learn from.
Open trace
📓
Field Notes
You wrote a blog post or report about what you built and what you learned.
Tentative
❋ How to Participate

Four steps. No application. No waitlist.

I
Register
Join this org on Hugging Face. No application, no waitlist — just walk in.
II
Find your people
Hop into the Gradio Discord. Office hours, AMAs, and teammates live there.
III
Build & ship
Build your Gradio app and host it as a Space under this org.
IV
Submit
Drop your Space link, a short demo video, and a social post by the deadline.
❋ How to Get Started · Tools for the trail

Useful trailheads.

📓  ML Intern Agent Guide — fine-tune without code→ 📚  Gradio Guides→ 🛠  Gradio's gr.Server — fully custom UIs→ 🦙  Getting Started with Llama.cpp on Spaces→
❋ Timeline · A hand-drawn map

Two weekends in the woods.

Trail map
I
Week of [date TBD]
Registration opens.Sign up, join Discord, start sketching.
II
[date TBD]
Hack window begins.Two weekends to build, ship, and demo.
III
Mid-window
Live AMA + office hours.Ask the Gradio team anything.
IV
[date TBD]
Submissions close.Space, demo video, social post locked in.
V
[date TBD]
Winners announced.Per track, plus bonus-quest leaderboard.

Build something small.

Two weekends. Two tracks. The model on your laptop. The neighbor next door.

→   Register on Hugging Face   ← Placeholder link for now
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