about 2 hours ago

Today’s the day: 5pm ET Deadline 🚨

Today’s the day! 🎉

Submissions close at 5:00 PM ET today.
No extensions — make sure everything is submitted on time.

Before you hit submit, confirm you’ve included:

  • ✅ Public code repository (open source)

  • ✅ Demo video (~3 minutes)

  • ✅ Project description

  • ✅ Optional live demo link (if available)

Whether this is your first AI app or your tenth, you should be proud of what you’ve built. Thank you for being part of the DigitalOcean Gradient™ AI Hackathon — we’re excited to review your work.

Good luck, and congratulations on shipping! 🚀

3 days ago

Final call for submissions

There are only 3 days left to complete your submission for DigitalOcean Gradient™ AI Hackathon.

7 days ago

One week left ⏰

One week left until submissions close ⏳

This is the time to:

  • Test everything end-to-end

  • Record and upload your demo video

  • Review your repo as if you were a judge seeing it for the first time

Double-check that:

  • Your repository is public and functional

  • The open-source license is visible at the top of the repo

  • Instructions are complete and accurate

  • Your project clearly demonstrates Gradient™ AI usage

Avoid last-minute surprises — aim to be submission-ready before the deadline day.

Almost there!

14 days ago

Polish, deploy, and prep your demo ✨

You should now have something that works — this week is about making it shine.

Focus on:

  • Improving reliability and performance

  • Deploying your app (if applicable)

  • Cleaning up your repository and README

Submission checklist (start now):

  • Public GitHub repo with an open-source license

  • Clear setup and usage instructions

  • 3-minute demo video (YouTube, Vimeo, or Facebook Video)

  • Project description explaining how you used Gradient™ AI

Judges love clarity. A well-documented, thoughtfully explained project goes a long way.

Two weeks to go — you’ve got this.

21 days ago

Build the core of your app ⚙️

This is a big one — it’s time to build the core functionality of your application.

By now, you should be:

  • Writing real code

  • Training or integrating models

  • Using DigitalOcean Gradient™ AI infrastructure in meaningful ways

Tips for this stage:

  • Commit early and often — judges will review your repo

  • Document setup and usage as you go (future you will be thankful)

  • Don’t overbuild — focus on what proves your idea works

If you’re planning a demo app or video walkthrough, start thinking about how you’ll show the value clearly in ~3 minutes.

You’re officially past the halfway point.…

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28 days ago

You’re officially in build mode 🚧

This week is all about solidifying your idea and mapping out how you’ll use DigitalOcean Gradient™ AI across your stack.

Ask yourself:

  • What problem does my app solve?

  • How am I using Gradient™ AI features (training, inference, deployment)?

  • What makes this more than a prototype?

Helpful reminders:

  • Your submission must be a new, working application

  • You’ll need a public, open-source repository with a visible license

  • Judges will look for clear, thoughtful use of Gradient™ AI — not just buzzwords

By the end of this week, aim to have:

  • A clear feature list

  • A rough system diagram

  • Your repo created and…

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about 1 month ago

We’re excited to have you here

This hackathon is all about shipping real, working AI applications using DigitalOcean Gradient™ AI’s full-stack features — from training to deployment.

Quick reminders to get started:

This is a great week to:

  • Set up your environment

  • Pick your problem space

  • Sketch your app architecture

You have just over a month to build something production-ready — start strong and pace yourself. We can’t wait to see what…

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