Build Small Hackathon: Complete Resource & Rule Guide
This document serves as a comprehensive summary and structured guide for the "Build Small" hackathon hosted by Hugging Face.
The event aims to redirect focus from large API-based models back to the era of tinkerable, locally tunable open-weight models.
1. Hackathon General Rules
- Model Size Limit: All models used in the hackathon must be strictly under 32 billion parameters. You may use a combination of multiple models, but each individual model must have a total parameter count (not just active parameters) below 32 billion.
- Platform & Submission: Submissions must be deployed as a Gradio App and hosted within the official Hugging Face hackathon organization. Docker-based environments are permitted as long as the underlying interface relies on a Gradio Space.
- Demo Video Requirement: Participants must submit a demo video demonstrating the app's functionality. This ensures the app can be evaluated even if API limitations or GPU exhaustion prevent judges from running it live.
- Social Proof Requirement: Participants are required to create a social media post showcasing their application and include the link to this post in the README file of their Gradio Space.
- App Limitations: Participants may submit as many applications as they want; however, if relying on the provided Zero GPU resources, participants are limited to a maximum of 10 Zero GPU applications per user.
2. Tracks and Themes
The hackathon features two primary tracks aimed at stimulating different forms of creativity and utility:
Backyard AI
Practical, problem-solving applications built to improve daily life for the creator or someone close to them.
eg. A custom storybook generator for a child, a personal study tutor, or a receipt/bill parser.
Thousand Token Wood
Whimsical, delightful, and highly creative AI-native applications that push the boundaries of fun and engagement.
eg. Interactive AI games, out-of-the-box entertainment tools, desktop pets.
3. Prizes and Awards Structure
With a total of 29 different ways to win, the prize pool includes a robust mix of cash, credits, and hardware.
- Total Cash Pool: $48,000 USD distributed across multiple sponsor-specific categories.
- Compute & Credits: 20,000 Modal credits.
- Hardware: Two NVIDIA RTX GPUs.
- Subscriptions: 1-Year ChatGPT Pro subscriptions.
General
Each of the 2 tracks has the following prizes:
- 1st place: $4000
- 2nd place: $2500
- 3rd place: $1500
- 4th place: $1000
- Community choice (most upvotes): $2000
No additional criteria
OpenBMB
$5k dedicated to Backyard AI and $5k to Thousand Token Wood. \
- 1st place: $2500
- 2nd place $1500
- 3rd place: $1000
Participants must build with MiniCPM models.
OpenAI
$10000 across all submissions
- 1st place: $5000
- 2nd place: $3000
- 3rd place: $1000
Requires Codex-attributed commits in the connected GitHub repository or space.
Using Codex holistically (e.g. fine-tuning models, complex agents) ranks higher.
nvidia
2x RTX 5080 GPUs across all submissions.
- Best space (as judged by nvidia team)
- Community engagement (likes/ interactions)
Participants must use Nemotron models.
modal
$20000 modal credits across all submissions for best use of Modal’s platform (as judged by the modal team):
- 1st place: $10000 credits
- 2nd place: $7000 credits
- 3rd place: $3000 credits
Participants must use the modal platform for either the development or runtime of their application and note this in the space README.
bonus awards
Additional criteria that participants can optionally meet to be eligible for extra prizes.
Off brand
$1500
The best custom UI pushing past the default Gradio look. gr.Server is your friend.
tiny titan
$1500
The best app built on a genuinely tiny model, less than ≤4B parameters.
best demo
$1000
The full package: great app, great demo video, great social post.
best agent
$1000
The best agentic app, under the 32B cap, of course.
Bonus Quest Champion
$2000
The most bonus criteria met!
If there is a tie then the award will go to the most ambitious, highest quality submissions, despite the extra constraints!
judges wildcard
$1000
For the entry that's amazing but fits no category. We know you're out there.
submitting
- ensure the appropriate criteria are met!
- join the build small hackathon organisation
- upload your submission as a space to the build small hackathon organisation.
- create a demo video demonstrating your space and why it is great! no humility here, sell it! upload the video to youtube, upload it as a file to the space, or put it somewhere else that is public (so we can watch it).
- post about it on social media!
- Update the README of your space with a link to the social media post and the demo video.
- Update the README frontmatter with tags detailing which tracks and badges you wish to be considered for.
- Add a short description to the readme explaining the idea, how you built it, the tech you used.