solanabr/solana-ai-kit

hackathon

Prepare a winning hackathon submission.

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How to use

  1. Copy the installation command and review the source package before installing it in your own agent environment.
  2. Check the source document for required tools, credentials and supported hosts.
  3. Describe your input and desired deliverable; review the output against the source material.
npx skills add https://github.com/solanabr/solana-ai-kit --skill hackathon

Before you start

  • Installation does not include a model subscription, API allowance or permission to access your files.
  • Repository stars and installation counts describe activity, not an independent quality or security test.
Original skill document

Rendered from the source repository. Headings, examples, code, tables, links, and referenced images are preserved.

<!-- Adapted from sendaifun/solana-new (submit-to-hackathon, apply-grant), MIT © 2026 SendAI and Superteam. Telemetry removed. -->

Hackathon Submission

Track choice → scannable description → <3-min demo script → checklist. Optimize for a judge who has 90 seconds, not a reader who has 10 minutes.

Context handoff

At start, read .claude/context/idea.md and .claude/context/build.md if present — pull the pitch, wedge, and what actually works from them instead of asking again.

Workflow

1. Pick the least-crowded track

Winning a thin track beats placing in a fat one. Per candidate track: estimate entry volume, fit with what's actually built, and judge appetite (sponsor tracks often have the fewest serious entries).

  • Winner patterns + track history: hackathon-winners.md — every Colosseum grand champion and track winner, with what they built
  • Live crowdedness check: ext/colosseum — query 5,400+ past submissions for cluster density and gaps (requires COLOSSEUM_COPILOT_PAT)

2. Write a scannable description

Judges read 100+ submissions. Yours gets one skim deciding whether it gets a real read:

  • Tagline: what it does, one sentence, no jargon
  • First paragraph: problem + who has it
  • Bold the one thing that's novel
  • "What works today" list — demo-able claims only, never roadmap dressed as product
  • Why Solana (one concrete reason: speed, fees, composability with X)

Full structure (200–500 words, paragraph-by-paragraph): hackathon-submission-guide.md. Score the draft against judging-criteria.md before submitting.

3. Demo script (<3 minutes)

TimeBeat
0:00–0:20Problem — one user, one pain, no market-size slides
0:20–0:40What you built, one sentence + UI first appears
0:40–2:10The demo — one happy path, real data, on-chain proof (explorer tx)
2:10–2:40The novel part — the thing competitors don't have
2:40–3:00Traction/team one-liner + the ask

Shot-by-shot template and recording tips: demo-video-script.md. Rule: if the demo can fail live, record it.

4. Submission checklist

  • [ ] Track chosen by crowdedness, not vanity
  • [ ] Tagline passes the "non-crypto friend" test
  • [ ] Description scannable in 90 seconds (bold claims, short paragraphs)
  • [ ] Demo video <3 min, real transaction shown
  • [ ] Repo public, README quickstart actually works from clone
  • [ ] Deployed link (devnet OK) + program ID listed
  • [ ] Team and contact info complete
  • [ ] Pitch deck attached if track requires one — use pitch-deck

After the hackathon: grants

Losing the track doesn't mean losing the funding. Same artifacts (description, demo, deck) feed grant applications:

  • Superteam Earn (earn.superteam.fun) — bounties + grants up to ~$10k USDC equivalent, fast cycles, regional Superteams
  • Solana Foundation grants — milestone-based, public-good angle; reuse the scannable description with an ecosystem-benefit paragraph
  • Grant-shaped ideas dataset: superteam-ideas.json

Note: upstream apply-grant ships no inert reference files (SKILL.md only — excluded from routing), so grant guidance lives here.

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