| Build Small |
| the idea |
| tracks |
| ## Build Small |
|
|
| the idea |
| tracks |
| rules |
| prizes |
| find your kit |
| partners |
| submit |
| faq |
|
|
| **Submit** |
| Hugging Face × Gradio |
| N 45.21 · W 122.6 |
|
|
| ## BUILD SMALL |
|
|
| Build something small, local, and yours. |
|
|
| Registration’s closed and the jam is underway — this is your field guide. Everything you need to enter cleanly: the rules, the 29 ways to win, and the right kit for what you’re building. |
|
|
| See the prizes |
| Resources |
|
|
| June 15, 2026 |
| final deadline |
|
|
| ≤ 32B |
| params, max |
|
|
| $48k+ |
| prize pool |
|
|
| 29 |
| ways to win |
|
|
| ## The big idea |
|
|
| The future of AI doesn’t have to live in someone else’s data center. |
|
|
| Build Small is a return to small, local, tinkerable models. Open weights you can read, run and reshape — everything under 32B parameters, humming away on hardware you actually own. Less API bill, more workshop. |
|
|
| ## 02 · Pick a trail |
|
|
| ### Two tracks, one campsite |
|
|
| Solve a real problem, or wander somewhere weird. Both are equally celebrated — and carry the same prize pool. |
|
|
| ### THE PRACTICAL TRACK |
|
|
| #### Backyard AI |
|
|
| Practical, problem-solving apps built to improve daily life — for you or someone close to you. Useful things that run on hardware you own. |
|
|
| - A custom storybook generator for a child |
| - A personal study tutor |
| - A receipt or bill parser |
| - An on-device document assistant |
|
|
| ### THE WHIMSICAL TRACK |
|
|
| #### Thousand Token Wood |
|
|
| Whimsical, delightful, AI-native apps that push the boundaries of fun. Wander somewhere stranger and show off what small models can dream up. |
|
|
| - Interactive AI games |
| - Out-of-the-box entertainment tools |
| - A desktop pet that lives on your machine |
| - A text-adventure dungeon master |
|
|
| ## 03 · Trail rules |
|
|
| ### Entry criteria at a glance |
|
|
| The things every submission needs. Tick them off and you’re on the board. |
|
|
| #### REQ-01 · Stay under 32B |
|
|
| Every model must be under 32B parameters. Combine several small models if you like — but each one’s total parameter count must stay below the cap. |
|
|
| #### REQ-02 · Ship a Gradio app |
|
|
| Deploy your project as a Gradio App inside the official Build Small org on Hugging Face. Docker is fine, as long as the interface is a Gradio Space. |
|
|
| #### REQ-03 · Record a demo |
|
|
| Submit a demo video showing your app working — so judges can evaluate it even if GPU or API limits stop a live run. |
|
|
| #### REQ-04 · Post it |
|
|
| Create one social-media post showcasing your app, and link to it from your Space README. |
|
|
| #### REQ-05 · Mind the GPU limit |
|
|
| Submit as many apps as you like. If you rely on the provided Zero GPU resources, you’re limited to 10 Zero GPU apps per user. |
|
|
| #### REQ-06 · Tag your README |
|
|
| Add tags for the tracks and badges you want to be considered for to the yaml block at the top of your README, plus a short write-up of the idea and tech. |
|
|
| ## 04 · The prize table |
|
|
| ### 29 ways to win |
|
|
| A $48k cash pool plus 20k Modal credits, two NVIDIA RTX GPUs and ChatGPT Pro — across track placements, sponsor challenges, and collectable bonus badges. |
|
|
| $48k |
| cash pool |
|
|
| +29 |
| ways to win |
|
|
| All prizes |
| General |
| Sponsor prizes |
| Bonus badges |
|
|
| ### GENERAL TRACK PRIZES · AWARDED PER TRACK |
|
|
| #### Backyard AI |
|
|
| - 1st — $4,000 |
| - 2nd — $2,500 |
| - 3rd — $1,500 |
| - 4th — $1,000 |
| - Community Choice — $2,000 |
|
|
| #### Thousand Token Wood |
|
|
| - 1st — $4,000 |
| - 2nd — $2,500 |
| - 3rd — $1,500 |
| - 4th — $1,000 |
| - Community Choice — $2,000 |
|
|
| ### SPONSOR PRIZES · OWN CRITERIA PER PRIZE |
|
|
| #### OpenBMB · Best MiniCPM Build |
|
|
| - 1st — $2,500 |
| - 2nd — $1,500 |
| - 3rd — $1,000 |
| - To qualify ·Build with MiniCPM models. |
| - Clarifications (3) |
|
|
| #### OpenAI · Best Use of Codex |
|
|
| - 1st — $5,000 |
| - 2nd — $3,000 |
| - 3rd — $1,000 |
| - To qualify ·Requires Codex-attributed commits in your connected GitHub repo or Space. |
| - Clarifications (2) |
|
|
| #### NVIDIA · Nemotron Hardware Prize |
|
|
| - Best space — RTX 5080 |
| - Community engagement — RTX 5080 |
| - To qualify ·Build with Nemotron models. |
| - Clarifications (2) |
|
|
| #### Modal · Best Use of Modal |
|
|
| - 1st — 10,000 credits |
| - 2nd — 7,000 credits |
| - 3rd — 3,000 credits |
| - To qualify ·Use Modal for the development or runtime of your app, and note it in your Space README. |
| - Clarifications (2) |
|
|
| ### BONUS BADGES · TAP FOR DETAILS |
|
|
| #### $1,500 · Off Brand |
|
|
| The best custom UI that pushes past the default Gradio look. |
|
|
| What counts |
|
|
| #### $1,500 · Tiny Titan |
|
|
| The best app built on a genuinely tiny model. |
|
|
| What counts |
|
|
| #### $1,000 · Best Demo |
|
|
| The full package: great app, great demo video, great social post. |
|
|
| What counts |
|
|
| #### $1,000 · Best Agent |
|
|
| The best agentic app. |
|
|
| What counts |
|
|
| #### $2,000 · Bonus Quest Champion |
|
|
| The most bonus criteria met across the board. |
|
|
| What counts |
|
|
| #### $1,000 · Judges’ Wildcard |
|
|
| For the entry that’s amazing but fits no category. |
|
|
| What counts |
|
|
| ## 05 · Choose your kit |
|
|
| ### What are you building? |
|
|
| Tell us the shape of your idea and we’ll point you at the partners and models worth reaching for. Then dig into their pages for the full guide. |
|
|
| 1. Image / OCR app |
| 2. Voice / audio app |
| 3. Tiny text assistant |
| 4. Coding agent |
| 5. Need compute / training |
|
|
| For a image / ocr app, reach for: |
| Read documents, understand photos, or generate & edit images. |
|
|
| #### OpenBMB · MiniCPM-V 4.6 |
|
|
| via OpenBMB |
| Vision-language at ~1.3B — strong OCR & document understanding. |
|
|
| Open |
|
|
| #### Black Forest Labs · FLUX.2 Klein |
|
|
| via Black Forest Labs |
| Generate and edit images locally at 4B / 9B. |
|
|
| Open |
|
|
| #### NVIDIA · Nemotron Parse |
|
|
| via NVIDIA |
| Sub-1B structured extraction from complex documents. |
|
|
| Open |
|
|
| ## 06 · The outfitters |
|
|
| ### Seven partners stocked the shed |
|
|
| Models, tools and compute from across the small-AI world. Tap any one for its full kit and support channels. |
|
|
| #### OpenBMB |
|
|
| MiniCPM family — tiny, capable text · vision · audio · omni models (1B–8B). |
|
|
| 1B–8B models |
|
|
| #### Black Forest Labs |
|
|
| FLUX.2 Klein — text-to-image & precise image editing at 4B / 9B. |
|
|
| image gen |
|
|
| #### OpenAI · Codex |
|
|
| Codex coding agent (GPT-5.5) with GitHub, Figma & Hugging Face plugins. |
|
|
| coding agent |
|
|
| #### NVIDIA |
|
|
| Nemotron 3 family — Nano · Omni · ASR · Parse · Embed. |
|
|
| model suite |
|
|
| #### Modal |
|
|
| Serverless compute for inference, training, batch & sandboxes. |
|
|
| compute |
|
|
| #### JetBrains |
|
|
| Mellum 2 — 12B MoE coding models, Thinking & Instruct. |
|
|
| 12B MoE |
|
|
| #### Cohere Labs |
|
|
| Cohere Transcribe (ASR) and Tiny Aya multilingual models. |
|
|
| ASR · multilingual |
|
|
| FIND THE RIGHT ONE |
| Use the kit recommender → |
|
|
| ## 07 · The trail map |
|
|
| ### How to submit |
|
|
| The markers between you and the finish line. |
|
|
| 1. **Meet the criteria** |
| Double-check your build satisfies the entry rules and any prize criteria you’re targeting. |
| 2. **Join the org** |
| Join the Build Small hackathon organisation on Hugging Face — your home base for the jam. |
| 3. **Upload your Space** |
| Upload your submission as a Gradio Space inside the org. |
| 4. **Record a demo** |
| Film a demo selling your Space — no humility. Put it on YouTube, upload it to the Space, or host it publicly. |
| 5. **Post on social** |
| Share one post about your build on social media. |
| 6. **Update your README** |
| Add links to the post and demo video, tags for tracks + badges in the yaml block at the top, and a short write-up of the idea and tech. |
| |
| Start your submission |
|
|
| ## 08 · Field notes |
|
|
| ### Frequently asked |
|
|
| **What does “under 32B” actually mean?** |
| Every model your project depends on must have under 32B total parameters (not just active parameters). You can freely combine several models — say a 14B text model, a 7B speech model, and a 12B image model — as long as each one individually stays under the cap. |
|
|
| - Do I have to use a sponsor’s model? |
| - Do I need to exclusively use a sponsor’s models to win their prize? |
| - Am I eligible for the OpenAI Codex prize if I didn’t get free Codex credits? |
| - Is there a GPU limit? |
| - Can I use a hosted API instead of running locally? |
| - Can one project win multiple prizes? |
| - Can I submit multiple apps? |
| - How do I submit? |
|
|
| --- |
|
|
| ## BUILD SMALL |
|
|
| Build something small, local, and yours. A Hugging Face × Gradio hackathon. |
|
|
| ### EXPLORE |
|
|
| - The idea |
| - Tracks |
| - Prizes |
| - Partners |
|
|
| ### TAKE PART |
|
|
| - Rules |
| - Find your kit |
| - Submit |
| - FAQ |
|
|
| ### ELSEWHERE |
|
|
| - HF Org |
| - Gradio |
| - Hugging Face |
| - X / Twitter |
|
|
| © 2026 Build Small · made small with love |
| ≤ 32B params · open weights · run it yourself |
| Submit |
| Hugging Face × Gradio |
| N 45.21 · W 122.6 |
| BUILD SMALL |
| Build something small, local, and yours. |
|
|
| Registration’s closed and the jam is underway — this is your field guide. Everything you need to enter cleanly: the rules, the 29 ways to win, and the right kit for what you’re building. |
|
|
| See the prizes |
| Resources |
| June 15, 2026 |
| final deadline |
| ≤ 32B |
| params, max |
| $48k+ |
| prize pool |
| 29 |
| ways to win |
| The big idea |
| The future of AI doesn’t have to live in someone else’s data center. |
|
|
| Build Small is a return to small, local, tinkerable models. Open weights you can read, run and reshape — everything under 32B parameters, humming away on hardware you actually own. Less API bill, more workshop. |
|
|
| 02 |
| Pick a trail |
| Two tracks, one campsite |
| Solve a real problem, or wander somewhere weird. Both are equally celebrated — and carry the same prize pool. |
|
|
| THE PRACTICAL TRACK |
| Backyard AI |
| Practical, problem-solving apps built to improve daily life — for you or someone close to you. Useful things that run on hardware you own. |
|
|
| A custom storybook generator for a child |
| A personal study tutor |
| A receipt or bill parser |
| An on-device document assistant |
| THE WHIMSICAL TRACK |
| Thousand Token Wood |
| Whimsical, delightful, AI-native apps that push the boundaries of fun. Wander somewhere stranger and show off what small models can dream up. |
|
|
| Interactive AI games |
| Out-of-the-box entertainment tools |
| A desktop pet that lives on your machine |
| A text-adventure dungeon master |
| 03 |
| Trail rules |
| Entry criteria at a glance |
| The things every submission needs. Tick them off and you’re on the board. |
|
|
| REQ-01 |
| Stay under 32B |
| Every model must be under 32B parameters. Combine several small models if you like — but each one’s total parameter count must stay below the cap. |
|
|
| REQ-02 |
| Ship a Gradio app |
| Deploy your project as a Gradio App inside the official Build Small org on Hugging Face. Docker is fine, as long as the interface is a Gradio Space. |
|
|
| REQ-03 |
| Record a demo |
| Submit a demo video showing your app working — so judges can evaluate it even if GPU or API limits stop a live run. |
|
|
| REQ-04 |
| Post it |
| Create one social-media post showcasing your app, and link to it from your Space README. |
|
|
| REQ-05 |
| Mind the GPU limit |
| Submit as many apps as you like. If you rely on the provided Zero GPU resources, you’re limited to 10 Zero GPU apps per user. |
|
|
| REQ-06 |
| Tag your README |
| Add tags for the tracks and badges you want to be considered for to the yaml block at the top of your README, plus a short write-up of the idea and tech. |
|
|
| 04 |
| The prize table |
| 29 ways to win |
| A $48k cash pool plus 20k Modal credits, two NVIDIA RTX GPUs and ChatGPT Pro — across track placements, sponsor challenges, and collectable bonus badges. |
|
|
| $48k |
| cash pool |
| +29 |
| ways to win |
| All prizes |
| General |
| Sponsor prizes |
| Bonus badges |
| GENERAL TRACK PRIZES · AWARDED PER TRACK |
| Backyard AI |
| 1st |
| $4,000 |
| 2nd |
| $2,500 |
| 3rd |
| $1,500 |
| 4th |
| $1,000 |
| Community Choice |
| $2,000 |
| Thousand Token Wood |
| 1st |
| $4,000 |
| 2nd |
| $2,500 |
| 3rd |
| $1,500 |
| 4th |
| $1,000 |
| Community Choice |
| $2,000 |
| SPONSOR PRIZES · OWN CRITERIA PER PRIZE |
| OpenBMB |
| Best MiniCPM Build |
| 1st |
| $2,500 |
| 2nd |
| $1,500 |
| 3rd |
| $1,000 |
| To qualify ·Build with MiniCPM models. |
|
|
| Clarifications (3) |
| OpenAI |
| Best Use of Codex |
| 1st |
| $5,000 |
| 2nd |
| $3,000 |
| 3rd |
| $1,000 |
| To qualify ·Requires Codex-attributed commits in your connected GitHub repo or Space. |
|
|
| Clarifications (2) |
| NVIDIA |
| Nemotron Hardware Prize |
| Best space |
| RTX 5080 |
| Community engagement |
| RTX 5080 |
| To qualify ·Build with Nemotron models. |
|
|
| Clarifications (2) |
| Modal |
| Best Use of Modal |
| 1st |
| 10,000 credits |
| 2nd |
| 7,000 credits |
| 3rd |
| 3,000 credits |
| To qualify ·Use Modal for the development or runtime of your app, and note it in your Space README. |
|
|
| Clarifications (2) |
| BONUS BADGES · TAP FOR DETAILS |
| $1,500 |
| Off Brand |
| The best custom UI that pushes past the default Gradio look. |
|
|
| What counts |
|
|
| $1,500 |
| Tiny Titan |
| The best app built on a genuinely tiny model. |
|
|
| What counts |
|
|
| $1,000 |
| Best Demo |
| The full package: great app, great demo video, great social post. |
|
|
| What counts |
|
|
| $1,000 |
| Best Agent |
| The best agentic app. |
|
|
| What counts |
|
|
| $2,000 |
| Bonus Quest Champion |
| The most bonus criteria met across the board. |
|
|
| What counts |
|
|
| $1,000 |
| Judges’ Wildcard |
| For the entry that’s amazing but fits no category. |
|
|
| What counts |
|
|
| 05 |
| Choose your kit |
| What are you building? |
| Tell us the shape of your idea and we’ll point you at the partners and models worth reaching for. Then dig into their pages for the full guide. |
|
|
| 01 |
| Image / OCR app |
| 02 |
| Voice / audio app |
| 03 |
| Tiny text assistant |
| 04 |
| Coding agent |
| 05 |
| Need compute / training |
| For a image / ocr app, reach for: |
| Read documents, understand photos, or generate & edit images. |
|
|
| OpenBMB |
| MiniCPM-V 4.6 |
| via OpenBMB |
| Vision-language at ~1.3B — strong OCR & document understanding. |
|
|
| Open |
| Black Forest Labs |
| FLUX.2 Klein |
| via Black Forest Labs |
| Generate and edit images locally at 4B / 9B. |
|
|
| Open |
| NVIDIA |
| Nemotron Parse |
| via NVIDIA |
| Sub-1B structured extraction from complex documents. |
|
|
| Open |
| 06 |
| The outfitters |
| Seven partners stocked the shed |
| Models, tools and compute from across the small-AI world. Tap any one for its full kit and support channels. |
|
|
| OpenBMB |
| MiniCPM family — tiny, capable text · vision · audio · omni models (1B–8B). |
|
|
| 1B–8B models |
| Black Forest Labs |
| FLUX.2 Klein — text-to-image & precise image editing at 4B / 9B. |
|
|
| image gen |
| OpenAI · Codex |
| Codex coding agent (GPT-5.5) with GitHub, Figma & Hugging Face plugins. |
|
|
| coding agent |
| NVIDIA |
| Nemotron 3 family — Nano · Omni · ASR · Parse · Embed. |
|
|
| model suite |
| Modal |
| Serverless compute for inference, training, batch & sandboxes. |
|
|
| compute |
| JetBrains |
| Mellum 2 — 12B MoE coding models, Thinking & Instruct. |
|
|
| 12B MoE |
| Cohere Labs |
| Cohere Transcribe (ASR) and Tiny Aya multilingual models. |
|
|
| ASR · multilingual |
| FIND THE RIGHT ONE |
| Use the kit recommender → |
| 07 |
| The trail map |
| How to submit |
| The markers between you and the finish line. |
|
|
| 1 |
| Meet the criteria |
| Double-check your build satisfies the entry rules and any prize criteria you’re targeting. |
|
|
| 2 |
| Join the org |
| Join the Build Small hackathon organisation on Hugging Face — your home base for the jam. |
|
|
| 3 |
| Upload your Space |
| Upload your submission as a Gradio Space inside the org. |
|
|
| 4 |
| Record a demo |
| Film a demo selling your Space — no humility. Put it on YouTube, upload it to the Space, or host it publicly. |
|
|
| 5 |
| Post on social |
| Share one post about your build on social media. |
|
|
| 6 |
| Update your README |
| Add links to the post and demo video, tags for tracks + badges in the yaml block at the top, and a short write-up of the idea and tech. |
|
|
| Start your submission |
| 08 |
| Field notes |
| Frequently asked |
|
|
| What does “under 32B” actually mean? |
| Every model your project depends on must have under 32B total parameters (not just active parameters). You can freely combine several models — say a 14B text model, a 7B speech model, and a 12B image model — as long as each one individually stays under the cap. |
|
|
| Do I have to use a sponsor’s model? |
|
|
| Do I need to exclusively use a sponsor’s models to win their prize? |
|
|
| Am I eligible for the OpenAI Codex prize if I didn’t get free Codex credits? |
|
|
| Is there a GPU limit? |
|
|
| Can I use a hosted API instead of running locally? |
|
|
| Can one project win multiple prizes? |
|
|
| Can I submit multiple apps? |
|
|
| How do I submit? |
| BUILD SMALL |
| Build something small, local, and yours. A Hugging Face × Gradio hackathon. |
|
|
| EXPLORE |
| The idea |
| Tracks |
| Prizes |
| Partners |
| TAKE PART |
| Rules |
| Find your kit |
| Submit |
| FAQ |
| ELSEWHERE |
| HF Org |
| Gradio |
| Hugging Face |
| X / Twitter |
| © 2026 Build Small · made small with love |
| ≤ 32B params · open weights · run it yourself |
|
|
