2026 New Year Challenge - 5 Projects United Hackathon

Source: Dev.to

Event Theme

The 2026 New Year Challenge is a global, collaborative hackathon jointly hosted by five leading AI projects. It runs for 10 days, from Jan 8 to Jan 18, 2026 (PT), with a total prize pool of $3,000.

Each project hosts its own independent track, covering diverse aspects of modern AI agent development, from memory management and automation to external integrations and deployment.

You can participate in multiple tracks simultaneously; each track is evaluated separately.

• Registration opens on Jan 8 at 00:00 PT.
• Join the event community in advance.

Organizers

• MemU
• OpenAgents
• Sealos
• TEN Framework
• Zeabur

Event Timeline

Build Period

• Jan 8, 00:00 PT – Hackathon starts
• Jan 18, 00:00 PT – PR and project submissions close

Jan 22 – Winners announced & payouts

All five project challenges run within this shared timeframe. Each project runs its own judging and reward system.

Rewards & Scoring

Each project defines its own:

• Reward structure
• Scoring or evaluation system

There is no global leaderboard across all five projects; performance is evaluated only within the challenges you join. See each project’s challenge page for detailed rules and rewards.

Challenge Tracks Overview

MemU PR Hackathon

• Prize pool: $600
• Community badge & MemU credits

Build the memory layer for next‑gen AI agents. Contribute bug fixes, features, integrations, or guides; every merged PR earns points and recognition.

🌟 Star MemU on GitHub:

OpenAgents

• Prize pool: $500
• Community badge

Develop practical, innovative Agent Networks on the OpenAgents platform. Solve real‑world problems and inspire new ideas.

🌟 Star OpenAgents on GitHub:

Sealos Run Wild Hackathon

• Unlimited participation

No PRs required. Choose one of two missions:

1. Open Deployment Challenge: Deploy anything (games, tools, blogs) on Sealos.
2. memU Integration Track: Build smart agents using memU and Sealos Devbox, submit a live demo URL.

Winners receive traffic, resources, and spotlight.

🌟 Star Sealos on GitHub:

TEN Framework PR Hackathon

• Prize pool: $600

Contribute bug fixes, extensions, or documentation to TEN Framework; merged PRs earn points and recognition.

🌟 Star TEN Framework on GitHub:

Zeabur Ship It Hackathon

• Prize pool: $600
• Community badge

Transform a raw idea into a fully deployed, production‑ready application using Zeabur AI Hub or one‑click deployment. Participants using Zeabur AI Hub receive $5 credits.

🌟 Star Zeabur on GitHub:

The event organizers reserve the right to final interpretation.