San Diego | Claude Impact Lab
Real civic problems. Real city data. One day to build something that matters.
Join us for Anthropic's first Claude Impact Lab — a one-day hackathon where engineers build AI tools that solve real problems for the City of San Diego, using real city data!
San Diego generates massive amounts of public data — permitting records, parking systems, public safety incidents, short-term rental compliance, municipal code, council meeting transcripts. This data shapes how the city operates and how 1.4 million residents interact with their government. But most of it is locked behind clunky portals, buried in PDFs, or scattered across systems that don't talk to each other. The people who need this information most — residents, city staff, small business owners — can't actually use it.
AI agents and intelligent tooling can fundamentally change that:
A permitting assistant that walks a homeowner through the process in plain language
An MCP server that gives any AI assistant structured access to city datasets in real time
An agent that monitors council meetings and surfaces decisions relevant to your neighborhood
A public safety tool that helps the city allocate resources based on real patterns instead of spreadsheets
These aren't hypotheticals — they're buildable right now.
Come build them. Anthropic is providing API credits, swag, and prizes. City staff and domain experts will be in the room. The Claude Code team will be on hand. A panel of AI leaders and city officials will judge final demos.
If you're a builder who wants to point your skills at something that actually matters — grab a spot. Space is limited.
What to Bring
Your laptop (fully charged) and charger
A GitHub account and Anthropic API/subscription access set up beforehand
A teammate or two (or come solo — we'll help you find a team)
Familiarity with Claude, Claude Code, or MCP is a plus but not required
Ideas! Browse the data sources before the event to get inspired
Agenda
10:00 AM — Doors Open & Check-in Coffee, breakfast, and team formation for solo attendees
10:30 AM — Kickoff & Problem Briefings. Overview of datasets, challenge tracks, and judging criteria.
11:00 AM — Hacking Begins Build time. Claude Code team and domain experts available for support.
12:30 PM — Lunch & Lightning Talks. Grab food and hear quick demos of Claude Code from the organizer.
5:30 PM — Code Freeze & Demo Prep
6:00 PM — Final Demos & Judging. Teams present to a panel of AI leaders and city officials.
6:00 PM — Awards & Closing Prizes, next steps for promising projects, and networking.
6:30 PM — Wrap
About the Organizer
Max Krueger is an AI consultant and Tech Lead at Casper Studios, where he helps companies adopt and implement AI across their business processes. He organizes AI engineer events in Southern California bringing together 100+ engineers and practitioners, and serves as San Diego's Claude Community Ambassador. With a background spanning enterprise AI deployment, search and rescue operations, and community building, Max is passionate about connecting builders with problems worth solving. Connect on LinkedIn!