# The Hackathon Playbook

> Battle-tested hackathon strategy from 36+ wins and $100K+ in prizes, by Bill Zhang.
> Covers team formation, ideation, validation, execution, pitching, submission, and
> what to do after the hackathon, plus a dedicated track for non-coders building with AI.

The playbook is a 7-phase system, ordered the way a hackathon actually unfolds; read
the phases in sequence for the full method, or jump to the phase you are in right now.
The non-coder track shows domain experts how to win with AI tools instead of code, and
ships installable AI skills (slash commands) for Cursor and Claude Code. The blog holds
long-form write-ups of specific strategies. Every page on this site has a Markdown
version at the same URL with .md appended, and llms-full.txt contains the whole corpus.
A read-only MCP server exposing search over this content lives at https://thehackathonplaybook.dev/api/mcp
(see https://thehackathonplaybook.dev/.well-known/mcp/server-card.json).

## Playbook

- [Team Formation](https://thehackathonplaybook.dev/playbook/team-formation.md): Pick teammates who cover four roles, and build a steady squad if you want to keep winning.
- [Ideation](https://thehackathonplaybook.dev/playbook/ideation.md): Combine tools and problems you already know into an idea you can build in time.
- [Validation](https://thehackathonplaybook.dev/playbook/validation.md): Test the riskiest part of your idea early, and prep your stack if you're competing to win.
- [Execution](https://thehackathonplaybook.dev/playbook/execution.md): How to spend your hours so you finish with a working demo.
- [Pitching](https://thehackathonplaybook.dev/playbook/pitching.md): Build your pitch around the demo, and get ready for judge questions.
- [Submission](https://thehackathonplaybook.dev/playbook/submission.md): What to put in your Devpost, README, and demo video, and when to submit.
- [Post-Hackathon](https://thehackathonplaybook.dev/playbook/post-hackathon.md): Post your project and follow up with people you met, so it keeps helping you after judging.

## For Non-Coders

- [The Proof](https://thehackathonplaybook.dev/non-coders/proof.md): The lawyer who won Anthropic's 500-person hackathon, and three others who build with AI.
- [Getting Started](https://thehackathonplaybook.dev/non-coders/setup.md): What to set up before your first prompt, and the five-step loop you'll repeat for every feature.
- [Concepts Explained](https://thehackathonplaybook.dev/non-coders/concepts.md): GitHub, APIs, deploying, and other jargon explained in plain English.
- [Using APIs](https://thehackathonplaybook.dev/non-coders/apis.md): How to add a service to your app, with worked examples for ElevenLabs voice and a Supabase database.
- [The System Prompt](https://thehackathonplaybook.dev/non-coders/system-prompt.md): The CLAUDE.md and AGENTS.md files that set the rules your AI follows every session. One command sets up both.
- [Skills & Commands](https://thehackathonplaybook.dev/non-coders/skills.md): Slash commands for each stage of a hackathon build, from planning your app to writing its README.

## AI Skills

- [Non-Coder Mode](https://thehackathonplaybook.dev/non-coders/skills/non-coder-mode.md): The AI works in small steps and explains each in plain English. It asks before anything risky, like deleting files, and stays on for the rest of the session.
- [Domain to Spec](https://thehackathonplaybook.dev/non-coders/skills/domain-to-spec.md): Interviews you about your field and your idea, then writes AGENTS.md (rules for the AI) and PRD.md (the plan for your app).
- [Quickstart](https://thehackathonplaybook.dev/non-coders/skills/quickstart.md): Runs /domain-to-spec, /scaffold-frontend, and /scaffold-backend (if needed) in one go, pausing once so you can approve the plan.
- [Scaffold Frontend](https://thehackathonplaybook.dev/non-coders/skills/scaffold-frontend.md): Turns PRD.md into the first version of your app's frontend in a client/ folder: Next.js pages, navigation, types, and an optional client for your backend.
- [Scaffold Backend](https://thehackathonplaybook.dev/non-coders/skills/scaffold-backend.md): Builds a FastAPI backend in a server/ folder, with sample data for each route PRD.md lists and optional Supabase. Skips itself if PRD.md says no backend.
- [v0 Prompt Crafter](https://thehackathonplaybook.dev/non-coders/skills/v0-prompt-crafter.md): An alternative to /scaffold-frontend. It turns PRD.md or a one-line idea into a paste-ready Vercel v0 prompt, with a visual style researched for your industry.
- [Feature Builder](https://thehackathonplaybook.dev/non-coders/skills/feature-builder.md): Run it once for each feature. It shows you the plan first: the files and commands it will use, how to test the result, and how to undo it.
- [Bugfix Doctor](https://thehackathonplaybook.dev/non-coders/skills/bugfix-doctor.md): Translates the error into plain English, then finds what caused it. It makes the smallest fix it can and checks that the fix worked.
- [Demo Prep](https://thehackathonplaybook.dev/non-coders/skills/demo-prep.md): A timed demo script from problem to result, with a backup plan if the app breaks and the questions judges will likely ask.
- [README Writer](https://thehackathonplaybook.dev/non-coders/skills/readme-writer.md): Writes your README (your repo's front page) with badges, a demo video, a how-it-works diagram, and team cards. It also fills in the repo's description, website, and topics so judges and recruiters can find it.

## Blog

- [How I Fine-Tune LLMs at Hackathons on Rented Cloud GPUs](https://thehackathonplaybook.dev/blog/fine-tune-llms-at-hackathons-cloud-gpu.md): How I fine-tune LLMs at hackathons: rent an A100 or H100 on Vast.ai by the hour, then let an AI agent set up, watch, and debug the machine while you build.
- [What to Do After a Hackathon: Ship 5 Assets That Get You Hired](https://thehackathonplaybook.dev/blog/what-to-do-after-a-hackathon.md): My first internship came from one LinkedIn post about a hackathon we didn't win. What to do after a hackathon: five linked assets, four written by AI skills.
- [9 Hackathon Pitch Mistakes I Saw at LA Hacks](https://thehackathonplaybook.dev/blog/hackathon-pitch-mistakes-la-hacks.md): Judging LA Hacks, I watched good projects lose points to hackathon pitch mistakes. The one almost every team made was leaving the judges no time for Q&A.
- [How to Win Hackathons: A Complete Guide from 36+ Victories](https://thehackathonplaybook.dev/blog/how-to-win-hackathons.md): How to win hackathons, in the seven phases I learned across 50+ events and 36+ wins: from picking your team to following up with people after judging ends.
- [Best Tech Stack for Hackathons in 2026: Tools That Win Prizes](https://thehackathonplaybook.dev/blog/best-tech-stack-for-hackathons.md): The best tech stack for hackathons is the one your team already knows. If you don't have one yet, this is the Next.js, FastAPI, and Supabase default I use.
- [Hackathon Tips for Beginners: Your First Hackathon Survival Guide](https://thehackathonplaybook.dev/blog/hackathon-tips-for-beginners.md): You don't need an idea or a team to go to your first hackathon. These hackathon tips for beginners cover what to set up at home and how to spend the 24 hours.
- [Hackathon Pitch Guide: How to Present Your Project and Win Prizes](https://thehackathonplaybook.dev/blog/hackathon-pitch-guide.md): A hackathon pitch guide with one 3-minute structure: problem, live demo, how it works, and impact. Plus Q&A prep, and how to cut it down for a shorter slot.
- [Non-Coders Winning Hackathons: What Domain Experts Bring](https://thehackathonplaybook.dev/blog/non-coders-winning-hackathons.md): A personal injury lawyer took 1st at Anthropic's hackathon without writing code. What that says about non-coders winning hackathons, and where coding helps.
- [How to Build with ElevenLabs and Cursor at a Hackathon](https://thehackathonplaybook.dev/blog/build-with-elevenlabs-and-cursor.md): My loop for a voice AI hackathon project: write the PRD first, connect ElevenLabs to Cursor through MCP, then have the agent write each test before the feature.

## Optional

- [The Hackathon Playbook](https://thehackathonplaybook.dev/index.md): Battle-tested hackathon strategy from 36+ wins and $100K+ in prizes, by Bill Zhang. Team formation, ideation, execution, pitching, and submission.
- [The 7-Phase Playbook](https://thehackathonplaybook.dev/playbook.md): A battle-tested 7-phase system for winning hackathons: team formation, ideation, validation, execution, pitching, submission, and post-hackathon strategy.
- [Hackathons for Non-Coders](https://thehackathonplaybook.dev/non-coders.md): How non-coders win hackathons with AI tools: the proof it works, the setup, the concepts, and the installable AI skills.
- [Blog](https://thehackathonplaybook.dev/blog.md): Hackathon strategy write-ups: how to win, pick a stack, pitch, and turn weekend projects into career wins.
- [Full corpus](https://thehackathonplaybook.dev/llms-full.txt): every page of this site as one Markdown file