• You must be at least 18 years of age at the time of the event.
• You must be currently enrolled as a student at an accredited educational institution, OR have graduated within the past 12 months.
• You cannot participate solely for recruitment purposes or to promote products/services.

• Teams may have 1 to 4 members.
• You may participate solo or form a team.
• All team members must be registered participants of HACKMESA 2026.

• All projects must be startedduring the hackathon. You cannot submit a project that was built before the event.

• AI coding assistants (GitHub Copilot, Cursor, ChatGPT, Claude, etc.) – You may use AI tools to help write, debug, and generate code.
• AI APIs and services (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, Hugging Face, etc.) – You may integrate AI/ML models and APIs into your project.
• Open-source libraries and frameworks (React, Flask, TensorFlow, LangChain, etc.)
• Public APIs and services (Google Maps, Twilio, Stripe, etc.)
• Starter templates and boilerplates (create-react-app, Next.js starter, Vite, etc.)
• UI component libraries (Material UI, Shadcn, Bootstrap, Tailwind, etc.)
• Code snippets from documentation, tutorials, or Stack Overflow
• No-code/low-code tools (Figma, Retool, Bubble, etc.)

• Submitting a project you or your team previously built
• Using significant portions of a private codebase you wrote before the hackathon
• Forking an existing project and making minor modifications
• Continuing work on a side project or school assignment

• When in doubt, disclose it. If you're using any pre-existing code, significant AI-generated code, or templates beyond basic boilerplates, mention it in your submission.
• Judges may ask about what was built during the hackathon versus what was pre-existing or AI-generated.
• You are responsible for ensuring you have the rights to use any third-party content, libraries, or APIs.
• Projects must not infringe on any patents, copyrights, trademarks, or other intellectual property rights.

• Projects must be submitted on Devpost before the deadline.
• Submissions must include:
  • Project name and description
  • Link to source code (GitHub, GitLab, etc.)
  • List of technologies, APIs, and AI tools used
  • Team member information

• You retain full ownershipof any intellectual property you create during the event.
• By submitting, you grant HACKMESA and its sponsors a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to showcase, demonstrate, and promote your project (including name, description, screenshots, and demos) on websites, social media, and promotional materials.

All participants must abide by the MLH Code of Conduct and HACKMESA event rules:

• Be respectful and inclusive to all participants regardless of gender, gender identity, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, or experience level.
• Use welcoming and inclusive language.
• Refrain from harassment, discrimination, or intimidation of any kind.
• Follow all instructions from event organizers and volunteers.
• Respect the venue and its facilities.

Violation of the Code of Conduct may result in immediate disqualification and removal from the event.

Projects will be evaluated on:

• Innovation – How creative and original is the idea?
• Technical Complexity – How technically impressive is the implementation?
• Design & Usability – How polished and user-friendly is the project?
• Impact & Usefulness – Does it solve a real problem or provide value?
• Presentation – How well is the project demonstrated and explained?

• This is a 24-hour hackathon. Hacking begins at the Opening Ceremony and ends at the submission deadline.
• Teams may use any programming language, framework, or platform.
• Hardware hacks are welcome.
• Have fun, learn something new, and build something awesome!