Official Rules

OpenCoven Beta Hackathon 2026 — The Beta Summoning

Tagline: Summon something that stays.

No purchase is necessary to enter or win. This is a skill-based event. Void where prohibited.

These Official Rules govern the OpenCoven Beta Hackathon 2026 (the “Hackathon”). By submitting an entry, each participant agrees to these Rules and to the decisions of the event administrators and judges.

Judges’ calls and official Rule clarifications are final, subject only to correction of arithmetic or verified factual error.

1. Event administrators and official channels

For these Rules, “Organizers” means the persons administering the Hackathon through the official OpenCoven event channels.

Sponsor: CompleteTech LLC

Official links

• Rules: https://ctech.llc/072626hackathonrules
• Sponsor: CompleteTech LLC — http://www.complete.tech/
• Event repository, submissions, and material notices: https://github.com/OpenCoven/opencoven-beta-july-hackathon-2026
• Discord and announcements: https://discord.com/invite/opencoven
• OpenCoven: https://opencoven.ai
• Coven repository: https://github.com/OpenCoven/coven
• Coven Cave repository: https://github.com/OpenCoven/coven-cave
• Coven Runtimes repository: https://github.com/OpenCoven/coven-runtimes

Judges

• BunsDev: https://github.com/BunsDev
• CompleteDotTech: https://github.com/CompleteDotTech

The event repository is the official source for material rule notices, changes, and submission-related updates. Discord is used for reminders, discussion, invocation of the fallback announcement date, and results. These Rules control if a short promotional message conflicts with them.

2. Official timezone and schedule

The official timezone is America/New_York. All listed event dates occur during Eastern Daylight Time, UTC−4.

The build window is 120 hours and 30 minutes.

Midnight clarification

The deadline is midnight at the beginning of Saturday, August 8. It is the end of Friday night, August 7. Entries must be fully submitted before the clock advances beyond 12:00:00 AM EDT. A submission timestamped 12:00:01 AM EDT is late.

Fallback announcement

The fallback date is not an extension of the build or submission period. The Organizers may move the winner announcement to August 16 when entry volume, technical verification, conflicts, outages, or other review needs make the primary date impractical. If invoked, the change will be announced in Discord. No new project work or submission is permitted after the original deadline.

3. Eligibility

The Hackathon is open to individuals worldwide who may lawfully participate and receive the offered prize in their jurisdiction.

• Participants below the age of legal majority in their jurisdiction must have permission from a parent or legal guardian. The Organizers may require the guardian to accept a prize on the participant’s behalf.
• Judges, Organizers who can influence judging, and their immediate household members may not compete for a prize.
• A team may contain one to four people.
• A person may participate on only one submitted team.
• Each team may submit only one project. A team may replace or withdraw its entry before the deadline.
• Participation is void where prohibited or where fulfillment would violate applicable law, sanctions, provider rules, or payment restrictions.

The Organizers may request reasonable information necessary to verify eligibility and deliver a prize. Failure to provide it within the verification period may result in forfeiture.

4. The challenge

Build an original, useful, reproducible greenfield project and use OpenCoven materially during the official build window.

Eligible forms include:

• command-line or terminal tools;
• web, desktop, mobile, or local applications;
• OpenCoven skills, workflows, adapters, or integrations;
• clients built against a documented OpenCoven interface;
• developer tooling, observability, memory, orchestration, or agent-session utilities;
• research or evaluation tools with runnable code;
• new OpenCoven capabilities or features;
• other projects satisfying these Rules.

A project does not need mystical styling to qualify. “In theme” means the entry is compatible with OpenCoven’s actual values: persistent agents or familiars, continuity, inspectability, explicit project boundaries, local-first control, useful tools, deliberate memory, provider choice, and open collaboration.

5. Required use of OpenCoven

Every entry must use OpenCoven materially in at least one mode:

1. Development workflow use — OpenCoven is used to plan, build, test, review, coordinate, or document the project.
2. Runtime use — the submitted project integrates with, extends, invokes, visualizes, or otherwise depends on OpenCoven.
3. Both — OpenCoven is used to build the project and is part of the delivered product.

A ceremonial install, a single unrelated command, copied branding, or an unsupported statement that OpenCoven was used is insufficient.

The repository must include evidence such as:

• a description of the OpenCoven workflow;
• relevant commands, configuration, architecture, session references, or sanitized screenshots;
• code integrating an OpenCoven component or documented interface;
• a short explanation of what OpenCoven changed or enabled;
• enough information to distinguish material use from a passing mention.

Runtime integration is not mandatory, but deeper, useful, and better-documented OpenCoven use can earn more core points.

6. Greenfield requirement

The judged project must be newly created for this Hackathon.

Allowed before the build window

Participants may:

• brainstorm or discuss an idea;
• create an empty repository;
• reserve a name or domain;
• write non-implementation notes, requirements, issue lists, or hand-drawn wireframes;
• identify general-purpose libraries or services;
• prepare a blank submission template.

Not allowed before the build window

Participants may not create or reuse project-specific implementation work, including:

• source code;
• generated application scaffolding containing implementation;
• tests implementing project behavior;
• project-specific prompts, workflows, skills, configuration, or data pipelines;
• a prior prototype or private version of substantially the same project;
• copied work from another hackathon, client, employment, or existing repository.

General-purpose components

Dependencies, frameworks, libraries, models, datasets, templates, and tools that existed before the Hackathon may be used when:

• their licenses permit the use;
• they are not a disguised prior implementation of the project;
• they are identified in the repository;
• required notices are preserved; and
• the team’s original project-specific work was created during the build window.

AI-assisted coding is allowed. Participants remain responsible for originality, security, correctness, and licensing.

The Organizers may inspect repository history, tags, release dates, package metadata, demos, prior public work, or other relevant evidence.

7. Open-source and GitHub requirements

Each entry must satisfy every requirement below by the deadline.

Public GitHub repository

• The complete judged source must be in a public GitHub repository.
• The repository may remain private during the build window.
• It must be public and accessible to both judges before the deadline.
• All project-owned components needed to reproduce judged functionality must be included.
• External APIs and hosted services are allowed, but a proprietary or hidden project-owned backend may not contain material judged functionality.
• The repository must remain public until judging, prize verification, and any announced audit are complete.

Standard MIT License, unmodified

The project must contain a root-level LICENSE or LICENSE.txt using the standard MIT License text.

Only the year and copyright holder may be populated. The license may not include:

• added restrictions;
• field-of-use limits;
• noncommercial clauses;
• source-available riders;
• Commons Clause;
• custom attribution conditions;
• conflicting exceptions;
• mandatory dual-license conditions; or
• any modification to the standard permission and warranty text.

A correct template is included in participant/LICENSE_TEMPLATE.txt.

Third-party dependencies retain their own licenses. Participants are responsible for compatibility and notices. The MIT requirement does not relicense third-party work.

Upstream contributions

A standalone Hackathon repository must still use unmodified MIT even when the project proposes a change to OpenCoven. Any upstream PR is separately governed by the target repository’s license, contribution guide, Developer Certificate of Origin, patent terms, and maintainer requirements.

8. Required repository contents

The final repository must include:

1. README.md;
2. LICENSE or LICENSE.txt;
3. HACKATHON.md;
4. reproducible installation and run instructions;
5. an explanation of OpenCoven use;
6. a dependency and prerequisite list;
7. a final Git tag named july-hackathon-2026-final, or a clearly identified immutable commit;
8. a demonstration link or equivalent proof;
9. tests, verification steps, or a documented manual test path;
10. attribution for reused assets, data, and third-party code.

The repository must not contain live secrets, credentials, private session data, personal data published without permission, or malicious payloads.

9. Submission procedure

A team must complete both steps before the deadline.

Step 1 — Freeze the project

git tag -a july-hackathon-2026-final -m "OpenCoven Beta Hackathon final submission"
git push origin july-hackathon-2026-final

If tagging is impossible, provide the full 40-character commit SHA. Judges score the frozen tag or commit, not later changes.

Step 2 — Open the submission issue

Open one OpenCoven Hackathon Submission issue in the event repository: https://github.com/OpenCoven/opencoven-beta-july-hackathon-2026/issues/new/choose. Use the submission form or the submission template.

Include:

• project name;
• team members and GitHub usernames;
• employer name, if an entrant chooses to provide it;
• public repository URL;
• final tag and commit SHA;
• demo URL or instructions;
• concise description;
• how OpenCoven was used;
• new-feature bonus claim;
• planned-adoption bonus evidence;
• all merged reproducible-bug PR URLs claimed;
• an affirmation that the entry is greenfield and MIT licensed.

A submission is complete only when the repository is public, the frozen reference exists, and the event-repository issue is created before the deadline.

Submission timestamp

The event-repository issue timestamp and the Git tag or declared commit must show completion before the deadline. Discord availability does not affect submission validity.

10. Post-deadline changes

Judges score only the frozen tag or commit.

After the deadline, a team may:

• fix a public description typo outside the frozen code;
• answer judge questions;
• supply a missing explanation that does not alter the project;
• remove an exposed secret, provided it is rotated immediately;
• continue development on another branch.

A team may not:

• change the frozen tag to different code;
• add a missing feature to the judged artifact;
• replace the demo with materially different functionality;
• add evidence that did not exist by the deadline;
• create new bonus-eligible bug PRs.

A bug-fix PR opened before the deadline may finish maintainer review afterward. Only PRs merged before scores are locked receive bonus points. Post-deadline changes made solely for maintainer review are not added to the core project score.

11. Judging

The judges are:

• BunsDev — https://github.com/BunsDev
• CompleteDotTech — https://github.com/CompleteDotTech

Each judge reviews the same frozen artifact under the published rubric.

Core score — 100 points

Bonus score — up to 25 points

Maximum possible score: 125.

Scoring method

• Judges score independently.
• Final scores are the arithmetic average of valid judge scorecards.
• Scores may be shown to two decimals.
• A project must receive at least 60 core points to be prize-eligible.
• Bonus points cannot cure ineligibility or raise a below-threshold core score into eligibility.
• Judges may test only the frozen artifact and may use documented mock or demo modes.
• Judges may request clarification but may not coach a team into changing judged work.

Ties

Ties are resolved by:

1. higher OpenCoven use and evidence;
2. higher technical execution and reliability;
3. higher reproducibility and documentation;
4. higher originality and usefulness;
5. documented consensus by non-conflicted judges.

Conflicts

A judge must disclose a material relationship reasonably affecting impartiality, including authorship, employment, paid work, close family relationship, or substantial collaboration.

The conflicted judge will not score that entry. The remaining judge’s score may stand, or a substitute reviewer may be appointed. The conflict and resolution should be recorded.

Final eligibility, scoring, and tie decisions are final, subject to correction of arithmetic or verified factual error.

12. Bonus rules

New OpenCoven capability — up to 10 points

This rewards a demonstrable capability that did not previously exist in the relevant OpenCoven surface or ecosystem.

Examples include:

• a new runtime integration;
• a useful skill or workflow;
• a new client or interface;
• a new observability, memory, session, portability, or developer-experience capability;
• an extension making OpenCoven usable in a new context;
• a meaningful upstream feature.

A cosmetic rename, copied sample, thin wrapper, or unimplemented concept does not qualify.

Documented upstream adoption intent — up to 5 points

This requires public evidence from an authorized maintainer, before scores are locked, that the feature or a defined part is intended for upstream integration.

Qualifying evidence may include:

• a maintainer statement on an issue or PR;
• an accepted implementation plan;
• an approved or merged feature PR;
• placement on an identified work item with explicit adoption language.

Opening a PR, adding an enhancement label, or receiving a casual positive comment is insufficient by itself.

Merged reproducible-bug fixes — up to 10 points

Points may be earned for eligible merged PRs fixing reproducible beta bugs in:

• OpenCoven/coven;
• OpenCoven/coven-cave;
• OpenCoven/coven-runtimes; or
• another OpenCoven repository explicitly approved by the Organizers.

Detailed bands and requirements appear in pr-bonus-policy.html.

The same work may not count as both a bug fix and a new feature. Judges classify ambiguous work.

13. Prizes

Subject to verification:

Each prize may be fulfilled as a subscription, token balance, API usage, or equivalent inference access from a major provider selected by the team and approved by the Organizers, or as an approved gift card. Expected provider choices include OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google.

Fulfillment may be:

• a provider subscription purchased for the winner;
• provider credits or tokens where available;
• an approved gift card up to the award amount;
• reimbursement of a valid provider receipt up to the amount;
• another equivalent method agreed by the Organizers and winner.

The amount is the maximum total value, including transaction costs or taxes charged at purchase unless stated otherwise. There is no guaranteed cash alternative. A team receives one prize, not one per member.

The Hackathon is sponsored by CompleteTech LLC. It is not sponsored, endorsed, administered by, or associated with OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, GitHub, or Discord.

14. Winner verification

A potential winner must respond within 72 hours of direct notification or public announcement, whichever occurs later.

The Organizers may request:

• confirmation of identity and eligibility;
• provider or gift-card selection;
• a valid receipt for reimbursement when applicable;
• legally required tax or payment information;
• confirmation that the repository remains public;
• confirmation of team membership and prize recipient;
• evidence supporting a disputed bonus claim.

Failure to respond or verify may cause forfeiture and selection of the next eligible entry.

Winners are responsible for taxes, account eligibility, and compliance with provider terms.

15. Intellectual property

Participants retain ownership.

By submitting, each participant:

• confirms the right to publish the entry;
• licenses the submitted project to the public under MIT;
• permits the Organizers to inspect, run, screenshot, record, describe, link to, and display it for judging, promotion, results, and archival purposes;
• permits use of project name, team name, public GitHub usernames, and demo materials for those purposes;
• confirms third-party rights and notices are respected.

Submission does not assign ownership to the Organizers or OpenCoven.

Upstream contributions remain subject to the target repository’s license, DCO, patent terms, contribution guide, and review.

OpenCoven names, marks, and assets remain the property of their owners. Participation does not grant a right to imply endorsement.

16. Safety, security, and prohibited conduct

Entries and conduct must comply with law, GitHub rules, Discord rules, provider terms, the Code of Conduct, and responsible-security practice.

Prohibited:

• malware, ransomware, credential theft, destructive payloads, or unauthorized access;
• evasion or abuse of provider quotas, billing, authentication, or limits;
• publishing live credentials, private keys, personal data, or private session content;
• spam, harassment, discrimination, threats, doxxing, or targeted abuse;
• plagiarism, fabricated authorship, stolen code, or material license violations;
• false bonus claims, fabricated bugs, manipulated timestamps, fake accounts, or judging collusion;
• public disclosure of an unpatched security vulnerability;
• projects designed primarily to cause harm or facilitate unlawful activity.

Security vulnerabilities in OpenCoven must be reported privately through the target repository’s security process.

17. Disqualification

The Organizers may disqualify an entry for:

• missing the deadline;
• failing the greenfield requirement;
• failing to use OpenCoven materially;
• lacking a public GitHub repository;
• lacking the standard unmodified MIT License;
• submitting an inaccessible, falsified, or materially incomplete artifact;
• plagiarism or license violations;
• malicious or unsafe behavior;
• false statements or bonus claims;
• tampering with the event or judging;
• serious Code of Conduct violations;
• failure to verify eligibility or prize receipt;
• breach of these Rules.

When practical, the reason should be documented. Confidential security, conduct, or personal information need not be disclosed publicly.

18. Technical failures and changes

Participants are responsible for hardware, internet, provider accounts, backups, and repository availability.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, the Organizers are not responsible for:

• GitHub, Discord, provider, network, or hosting outages;
• lost commits, corrupted repositories, unavailable demos, or exposed secrets;
• provider rate limits, account suspensions, prices, or service changes;
• incompatible hardware or software;
• reliance on beta software.

The Organizers may clarify Rules, correct errors, change an administrative process, delay judging, substitute an equivalent prize method, or cancel when necessary for fairness, safety, legality, or operability.

No change should retroactively favor or disadvantage a particular entry. Material notices and changes will be posted in the event repository and, where practical, on the rules page.

19. Privacy and public records

The Hackathon uses public GitHub repositories and public or semi-public Discord channels.

The Organizers may collect and retain:

• GitHub and Discord usernames;
• public repository and PR information;
• scorecards and judge notes;
• contact details supplied for prize verification;
• provider selection and receipt information;
• conduct or security reports.

Public submission data may remain visible indefinitely through GitHub, Discord, archives, screenshots, and announcements. Private verification data should be limited to what is reasonably necessary.

20. Acceptance

By posting a submission, every team member confirms:

• they have read and accepted these Rules;
• the entry is greenfield;
• the project uses OpenCoven materially;
• the repository is complete and public;
• the project uses the unmodified MIT License;
• all team members and reused material are disclosed;
• bonus claims are accurate;
• no live secret or unauthorized personal data is included;
• the team is eligible to receive a prize.

Official Rules: https://ctech.llc/072626hackathonrules
Discord: https://discord.com/invite/opencoven