A two-week hackathon for tiny weights, big ideas, and the things you can build close to home — hosted by Gradio & Hugging Face.
Two tracks✦Models ≤ 22GB✦Built on Gradio✦Open to everyone
The internet is full of giant models doing giant things. This isn't that.
For two weeks, we want to see what you can do with small models, tight constraints, and care for the people right around you. Build for one neighbor. Build something that runs on the laptop you already own. Build something a child could love.
Pick a track, ship a Gradio app, and tell us a story.
~ choose your path ~
Two Tracks.
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. Walk over. Watch them use it. The closer the problem, the better the project.
Judging Criteria
The problem is specific and real (not invented for the demo)
The person it was built for actually used it
Honest fit between problem, solution, and the small-model constraint
Polish and craft 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.
Judging Criteria
Genuinely delightful — would you show a friend?
The AI is load-bearing for the experience
Originality of concept (we've seen the chatbot)
Polish and craft of the Gradio app
~ rules of the land ~
The Constraints.
①
Small Models Only
Any model that fits inside 22 GB of memory.
↳ pending team sign-off
②
Built on Gradio
Your app must be a Gradio app, hosted as a Hugging Face Space.
③
Show, Don't Tell
A short demo video and a social-media post about your project are part of the submission.
~ getting started ~
How It Works.
1
Register
Join this Hugging Face org. That's your ticket in — no application, no waitlist.
2
Find Your People
Hop into the Gradio Discord channel. Office hours, AMAs, and teammates live there.
3
Build & Ship
Build your Gradio app and host it as a Space under this org during the hack window.
4
Submit
Drop your Space link, a short demo video, and a social post by the deadline.
~ extra credit ~
Bonus Quests.
None of these are required. Each one bumps you up the leaderboard. Stack them like badges on a scout sash.
Off the Grid
No cloud APIs. The whole thing runs on the model in front of you.
Well-Tuned
Your app uses a fine-tuned model you've published on Hugging Face.
Off-Brand
A custom frontend that pushes past the default Gradio look.
Llama ChamPion
Your model runs through the llama.cpp runtime.
Sharing is Caring
You shared your agent trace on the Hub.
Field Notes
You wrote a blog post or report about what you built and what you learned.
~ when ~
Timeline.
Week of [date TBD]
Registration opens
Sign up on the Hugging Face org, join the Discord channel, start sketching ideas.
[date TBD]
Hack window begins
Two weeks to build, ship, and demo.
Mid-window
Live AMA + office hours
Drop in to ask the Gradio team anything about your build.
[date TBD]
Submissions close
Demo video, public Space, and social post — locked in.
[date TBD]
Winners announced
Per track, plus the leaderboard for bonus quests stacked.
Build something small.
Two weeks. Two tracks. The model on your laptop. The neighbor next door. Let's make some little things.
"""
with gr.Blocks(
title="Build Small — A Gradio + Hugging Face Hackathon",
) as demo:
gr.HTML(LANDING_HTML)
if __name__ == "__main__":
demo.launch(
css=CUSTOM_CSS,
head=HEAD_HTML,
theme=gr.themes.Base(),
)