Welcome to HackJPS 2026! Everything you need to get started, build confidently, and submit a strong project is right here.

Getting Started

• Join the Discord — Main hub for announcements, team-finding, and mentor office hours

• Register using the form — Make sure you're officially signed up before submitting

• Official Website — Event info, updates, and organizer blog

Recommended Tools & Platforms

No-code / Low-code

• Momen — Hackathon sponsor; build full-stack apps without heavy coding

• Figma — UI/UX design and prototyping

• Bubble — Visual web app builder

Coding

• GitHub — Version control and collaboration

• Replit — Browser-based IDE, great for quick prototypes

• Vercel / Netlify — Free frontend hosting

AI & ML

• OpenAI API — GPT models for NLP and chat

• OpenRouter — Single API to access models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Meta, and more; great for comparing models or keeping costs flexible

• Vercel AI SDK — Open-source toolkit for building AI-powered apps with streaming, tool calling, and multi-model support; pairs well with Next.js

• Hugging Face — Open-source models and datasets

• Google Colab — Free GPU notebooks for ML work

Vibe Coding Stack

New to building full-stack apps fast? This combination covers everything — frontend, auth, and backend database — with minimal configuration so you can focus on your idea.

• React — The industry-standard library for building user interfaces. Component-based, well-documented, and works with every tool in this stack.

• Clerk — Drop-in authentication for React apps. Handles sign-up, sign-in, social logins, and user management in minutes. No auth logic to write yourself.

• Convex — A reactive backend-as-a-service that replaces your database, server functions, and real-time sync in one. Write TypeScript functions that run server-side; your React components subscribe to live data automatically.

Together, these three give you a production-ready full-stack app with auth and a live database — all in TypeScript, all beginner-friendly. Check out the Convex + Clerk integration guide to wire them up in under 30 minutes.

Learning Resources

Building for Impact

• IDEO Design for Social Innovation — Human-centered design principles

• Hack for Social Good Playbook — GitHub's guide to civic hacking

FAQ

• Who can participate? Students ages 13 and up from any country (standard exceptions apply).
• Can I work solo? Yes. Solo submissions are welcome. Teams of up to 4 are recommended.
• What if I don't know how to code? That's fine — design-only and concept submissions are accepted. Use tools like Figma or Momen to build without code.
• When will winners be announced? Winners will be announced on TBD. All participants will be notified via Devpost and Discord.

Still have questions? Post in the #help channel on Discord.