Ship something real
Walk out with a live, working product you can put in a portfolio — not a slide deck.
Our Theme
Build Through the Rain
An 8-hour offline vibecoding hackathon
HACK/PITCH
WITH DORA
8 hours · 1 idea · 0 codeTurn one good idea into a real, working product using AI and no-code tools. No coding expertise required — bring curiosity, leave with something shipped.
When:
14th August 2026
Offline · Venue TBA
Submissions close · 12th August 2026
Register + submit your idea✦No code required✦Free to participate✦Mentors all day✦Top 100 teams build offline✦Register + submit your idea✦No code required✦Free to participate✦Mentors all day✦Top 100 teams build offline✦
0
Finalist teams
Shortlisted from open idea submissions across the country.
0h
Build sprint
One offline day to go from blank screen to a live demo.
0k+
Prize pool worth
Credits, merch and coupons — plus ecosystem pipelines.
0+
Problem tracks
From AI agents to health, finance and consumer social.
“The rain begins the way stories do — quietly, and then all at once.”the narrator
IAbout the expedition
You don't need to be an engineer. You need one idea worth building.
Use AI copilots and no-code tools to build apps, sites and solutions that solve real problems. Beginner or serial shipper — curiosity is the only entry requirement.
Your AI toolbelt
ClaudeLovableChatGPTCursorGeminiDeepSeek+ anything you love
A place where you can
- Share your ideas out loud
- Build useful, real products
- Learn skills in one sitting
- Work with builders from everywhere
8hOffline sprint
No codeRequired
₹0Fee to join
0Why participate
Five good reasons to spend one rainy day building.
Learn the AI toolbelt
Lovable, ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor, Gemini and friends, used the way builders actually use them.
Mentors on the floor
Founders, PMs, designers and marketers circulating all day — with a track just for first-timers.
Win the haul
₹50k+ worth of credits, merch and coupons, plus internships and launch support.
Join the ecosystem
Lifetime access to a builder network and 7+ GWY ecosystem programs.
“No traveller enters the forest alone. First, let's see who can answer the call.”the narrator
IIWho can join
Eligibility, in three short lines.
Students only
Open to students currently enrolled in a bachelor's or master's programme.
Any year, any course
First year to final year. Solo, or teams of up to 4 — form your alliance across disciplines.
All backgrounds welcome
Coders, designers, marketers, storytellers — bring whichever superpower you have.
Courses accepted
BTechMTechBBAMBABAMABCAMCABScMScDiploma+ other bachelor's & master's
II·5Hacking for the first time
Never been to a hackathon? This section is your whole map.
Read this once and you'll walk in on build day knowing exactly what happens, what to bring, what to build, and how to win marks. Zero technical background assumed.
DM from a first-timer
- wait… a hackathon? i've literally never written code 😭
- perfect. neither had half of last year's winners.
- so what do i actually do for 8 hours
- you type what you want in plain English. the AI builds it. you make it look good and pitch it.
- …that's it?
- that's it. mentors sit next to you the whole day. show up curious 🌧️
You + one idea
A room full of students, one deadline, and permission to build the thing you've been talking about. Pick a real problem, make the simplest working version, show it off at the end of the day. Nothing breaks in your life if it breaks on screen — that's the whole point of trying it in public, with help nearby.
0 lines of code required100% beginner-safeMentors on tap
Excuses, dismantled
“I can't code.”
You don't have to. You describe what you want in plain English; AI writes and hosts it. Most winning builds at vibecoding events are made by non-CS students.
“I'll slow my team down.”
Products need a problem, a story, a design and a pitch — not just code. Those are usually the missing skills, and they might be yours.
“8 hours isn't enough for a beginner.”
It is when you scope to one screen that does one thing well. Judges reward a small, finished, believable product over an ambitious broken one.
“Everyone else will be far ahead.”
Half the room is doing this for the first time too, and mentors circulate all day. Nobody gets left staring at a blank screen.
Beginner toolkit · all free tiers
🛠
Lovable
Describe an app in chat and get a real, deployed web app. Best starting point if you've never built anything.
🧠
ChatGPT / Claude / Gemini
Your co-founder for ideas, copy, logic, debugging and pitch scripts. Ask it to explain anything twice.
✏️
Figma / Canva
Sketch the screen before you build it. Ten minutes here saves two hours later.
🌐
Framer / Webflow / Carrd
Landing pages and product sites without touching code.
🗂
Airtable / Google Sheets
A perfectly respectable database for an 8-hour prototype.
🔌
Zapier / Make
Wire tools together — forms, emails, notifications — with zero backend.
Your 8 hours, hour by hour
- 00:00 · step 1
Kickoff & team huddle
Rules, judging criteria and a 10-minute scoping exercise: one user, one problem, one screen.
- 00:30 · step 2
Prompt your first version
Give your AI tool a clear description. Get something clickable on screen before you polish anything.
- 02:30 · step 3
Mentor checkpoint #1
A mentor sanity-checks your scope and tells you what to cut.
- 04:30 · step 4
Make it feel real
Names, colours, copy, empty states. Craft is worth more marks than extra features.
- 06:00 · step 5
Mentor checkpoint #2 + pitch prep
Lock the build. Write a 3-minute story: who it's for, why now, show the demo.
- 07:30 · step 6
Demo day
Pitch a live, working product to a builder, a creator and a marketer.
Bring this with you
- ✓A laptop and charger
- ✓Stable internet backup (mobile hotspot)
- ✓Free accounts on 2–3 AI / no-code tools
- ✓A notebook and a rough idea you care about
- ✓Water, snacks, and a teammate who disagrees with you
Five rules that beat experience
- 01Solve a problem you personally have. You'll pitch it better.
- 02One screen, one action. Depth beats breadth in 8 hours.
- 03Show something clickable within the first hour.
- 04Ask a mentor the moment you're stuck for 15 minutes.
- 05Spend the last 45 minutes on the demo, not the code.
First-timers get a dedicated mentor track on build day. Register your idea before 12th August 2026 — it takes five minutes and costs nothing.
Register + Submit Idea“Every path in the jungle ends at something worth carrying home.”the narrator
IIIThe haul
Prizes for the finishers.
No cash — a ₹50,000+ pool of credits, merch and coupons, plus ecosystem pipelines that outlast the day.
Total pool
₹50k+
worth credits / merch / coupons & ecosystem perks
Every participant: mentor time, industry access and a certificate.
01
₹25,000
Champion team
worth credits / merch / coupons
02
₹15,000
Runner-up
worth credits / merch / coupons
03
₹10,000
Second runner-up
worth credits / merch / coupons
Exact breakdown unveiled on demo day · sealed envelope
Ecosystem support pipelines · your perks
i. Career growth
Remote / offline internships
Direct internship opportunities with corporate partners, across remote and offline tracks.
Interviews & offers
ii. Go-to-market
Product launch support
Take your prototype to launch with hands-on GTM guidance from the Dora ecosystem.
Launch runway
iii. Ecosystem access
7+ GWY ecosystem programs
Exclusive access to seven and counting flagship programs under the GWY ecosystem.
Members-only
iv. Research
Research opportunities
Present and publish at international conferences alongside senior researchers.
International conferences
v. Social impact
NGO volunteering
Work with vetted NGO partners on real, ground-level tech problems.
Community driven
vi. Mentorship
Verified industry mentors
One-on-one mentorship from verified experts across engineering, design and product.
1:1 sessions
vii. Network
Builder network
Lifetime access to a curated network of builders, founders and operators shipping every day.
Lifetime access
IVProblem territories
Twenty directions. Pick one, or cross two.
Categories are prompts, not walls — cross-pollinate freely. The theme stays wide open as long as it's consumer-focused.
01
Productivity
Focus, notes, calendars
02
Engineering & Dev
Dev tools, infra, testing
03
Design & Creative
Design, illustration, video
04
Finance
Budgeting, payments, investing
05
Social & Community
Feeds, groups, chat
06
Marketing & Sales
Growth, CRM, outreach
07
Health & Fitness
Wellness, tracking, mental health
08
Travel
Trips, stays, discovery
09
Platforms
OSes, browsers, extensions
10
Product add-ons
Plug into what people love
11
LLMs
Foundation models, fine-tunes
12
AI Agents
Autonomous copilots that ship
13
Physical Products
Hardware, gear, wearables
14
Web3
Consumer crypto, on-chain social
15
Voice AI
Speech, transcription, agents
16
Ecommerce
Shops, checkout, resale
17
Data analysis
Dashboards, BI, notebooks
18
Family
Household, parenting, pets
19
No-code Platforms
Ship without code
20
Lifestyle
Food, habits, community
VThe route
Two phases. One very long, very good day.
01 · Submissions close · 12th August 2026
Team & idea submission
Theme is wide open — build anything consumer-focused that solves a real problem. Register your team and drop your concept pitch before 12th August 2026. The top 100 finalist teams move to build day.
- Open theme, any consumer-focused product
- Concept pitch: idea, impact, how you'll build it
- Solo or a team of up to 4 members
- Submit via the Google Form
Online · asynchronous
02 · 14th August 2026
Build day + demo day
The top 100 finalist teams build their idea on-spot in 8 hours, then pitch the working product to a live judging panel of builders, creators and marketers grading from a consumer standpoint.
- On-spot start, build the idea in 8 hours
- Face-to-face mentorship across domains
- Pitch to judges: builder · creator · marketer
8-hour offline sprint
VIAllies
Partners of the expedition.
Names appear when the rain clears.
Premium sponsors · gold partners
DoraDAO
Sponsor
TBA
Coming soon
TBA
Coming soon
TBA
Coming soon
Hosting & event · official partners
Official hosting partnerComing soon
Innovation partnerComing soon
Hackathon partnerComing soon
College partnersComing soon
Tech communitiesComing soon
VIIMentors & judges
Guide a hundred teams through one very fast day.
Who can be a mentor or judge
Founders
Built and launched real products, hands-on from idea to execution.
Product managers & builders
Have shipped real products end-to-end.
Developers & engineers
Especially AI, Web3 or modern stacks.
Designers (UI/UX/Product)
An eye for user experience and usability.
Marketers & growth experts
Distribution, storytelling, user acquisition.
AI / no-code experts
ChatGPT, Lovable, Bubble, Framer and beyond.
Community builders & creators
Engagement, audience and voice.
Why join us
Sit at the front of what students build next.
- ✓Access a high-quality pool of builders and creators
- ✓Early exposure to innovative product ideas
- ✓Discover talent for hiring or collaboration
- ✓Personal branding as a thought leader in AI & product
- ✓Feature across community, socials and event platforms
- ✓Network with mentors, judges and ecosystem leaders
Limited seats on the panel · applications reviewed weekly
Become a sponsor
Fund an expedition into what’s next.
Partner with Hack with Dora to showcase your brand, reach top student builders and support community-driven innovation.
VIIIJudging
How the panel scores your product.
0125%
Consumer value
Is this something real people would open twice? Clarity of the problem and how sharply it lands.
0220%
Product craft
UX, polish, flow. Does it feel finished for an 8-hour build?
0320%
Use of AI + no-code
How cleverly you wielded AI copilots and no-code tools to move fast without cutting corners.
0415%
Originality
A fresh angle, a novel combination, or a familiar problem seen from a new window.
0510%
Go-to-market story
Who is it for, how do they find it, what would make them share it?
0610%
Pitch & demo
A live, working demo told as a story. Confidence, clarity, memorable close.
XBasecamp
Reaching basecamp.
An 8-hour offline sprint, one campus, a hundred teams building in the same room.
Three ways in
By auto / cab / rapido
10–15 min · from Agra Cantt
Autos, Ola/Uber and Rapido bikes run all day. Drop pin: “Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Khandari Campus”. Expect ₹80–₹200 depending on where you start.
By metro
20 min · from Agra Fort corridor
Take the Agra Metro toward the Khandari side and hop off at the nearest station to the campus, then a 5-minute auto ride finishes the trip.
By walk
8–12 min · from Khandari crossing
If you're staying anywhere around Khandari, Sanjay Place or Bodla Road, it's a straight, well-lit walk to the campus gate. Follow the signage boards on build day.
Camp coordinates
Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar University
Khandari Campus, Agra
Uttar Pradesh 282002
27.2090° N · 77.9901° E
IXQuestions
Still curious?
No. Hack with Dora is completely free. Submit your idea, and if you're shortlisted, join the offline finale at no cost.
Submissions close · 12th August 2026
Cross the threshold. Rewrite the ending.
Submit your team and idea by 12th August 2026. The top 100 finalists build and pitch on-spot in the 8-hour offline finale on 14th August 2026.
Free to participate · no fee