Agent Forge Hackathon: Build OpenClaw AI Assistant 🦞

​The era of simple chatbots is over. Real AI applications need to access live data, write their own code, autonomously manage their own state, and run reliably in the cloud.

​The Building OpenClaw AI Assistants hackathon gives you the ultimate stack to ship production-ready agents in one day. Assemble a team of one to six people — or go solo — and build, test, and deploy a working OpenClaw solution together. We are moving beyond local prototypes. If it doesn't deploy and manage real data, it doesn't count.

​Team Format

​Form a team of 1–6 people. Teams can blend different skill sets — developers, designers, business minds — to tackle bigger, more ambitious projects. Here are some directions your team could take:

• ​A custom UI to manage multiple OpenClaw Agent Forge instances — build a unified dashboard for orchestrating and monitoring several agents at once.

• ​Custom tools or skills for a single OpenClaw agent — extend what one agent can do by shipping new capabilities it can call on.

• ​A collaborative, cross-role project powered by OpenClaw — combine business development, design, and engineering: one teammate builds a pitch deck, another designs the UI, and a third wires it all together through OpenClaw.

​You're free to come up with your own idea. The only requirement: your project must be built on OpenClaw and deployed live by demo time.

​The Challenge

​Build an autonomous OpenClaw assistant or data-driven application that solves a real-world problem.

​Unlike standard hackathons where you build UI shells, this event focuses on functionality, live data, and true autonomy. Your OpenClaw agent should be able to gather intelligence (Scraping), autonomously spin up and manage its own database (Storage), process the information, and live on the web (Deployment).

​The Stack (Your Arsenal)

​You will have access to premium credits and tools from our innovation partners to build your OpenClaw solution. Follow this workflow to assemble your production-ready AI assistant:

​Step 1 — Zeabur (The Launchpad): Start by deploying your OpenClaw instance to the cloud. Ship your backend, APIs, and web interfaces with a single click, ensuring your project is live, accessible, and scalable from the start — no DevOps friction required.

​Step 2 — Agnes AI (The Brains): Install the purpose-built Agnes-Claw or Agnes-Claw-Pro models as your primary LLM backend. They deliver high-quality, low-cost reasoning and advanced tool-calling capabilities specifically optimized for powering the decision-making loops of OpenClaw agents.

​Step 3 — Bright Data (The Eyes): Give your assistant the ability to browse the web. Install Bright Data OpenClaw skills to enable web search capabilities, allowing your agent to fetch real-time data, monitor trends, or aggregate research automatically using reliable, large-scale infrastructure.

​Step 4 — TiDB Cloud Zero (The State): Add structured data persistence to your agent. With zero sign-up, zero config, and zero friction, your OpenClaw agents can provision fully functional, disposable distributed SQL databases using just a single line of curl to effortlessly and autonomously manage their own state.

​Step 5 — mem9 (The Memory): Equip your OpenClaw assistants with long-term memory and contextual awareness. Use mem9 to seamlessly store, embed, and retrieve past interactions and user preferences, allowing your OpenClaw agents to remember who you are and retain context across infinite sessions.

We also prepared a tutorial for you to integrate all of the products mentioned above. You can Check The Tutorial Here.

​Claim Your Zeabur Credits

​Every participant gets $10 USD in Zeabur credits to deploy and run your hackathon project.

• ​Code: BUILDER28

• ​Redeem here: zeabur.com/events?code=BUILDER28

​Prizes

​All winning teams will earn a share of exclusive hackathon prizes, including sponsored credits and tools from our partners to keep building and scaling their projects.

​Agenda

• ​10:00 AM — Check-in & Networking

• ​10:30 AM — Hackathon Introduction

• ​10:45 AM — Workshop: Bruce Yang, CEO of Agnes

• ​11:00 AM — Product Workshops (Zeabur, Bright Data, TiDB Cloud Zero, mem9)

• ​11:30 AM — Team Formation & Project Setup

• ​12:30 PM — Lunch

• ​4:30 PM — Submission Deadline / Live Demos

• ​5:30 PM — Winners Announced + Networking

• ​6:00 PM — Close

​Hackathon Submission

​Submit your project before 4:30 PM SGT (GMT+8) on Saturday, March 28th: Submit your project

​Who Should Come?

​You want to build OpenClaw AI that accesses the real internet, not just static datasets. You want your AI to have actual memory and autonomously manage its own databases. You want to deploy something live, not just run it on localhost. You want to connect with the SMU AI community and the AI Builders network.

​Whether you're a developer, a designer, or a business builder — if you want to ship a real AI project in a day with a team, this is your event.

​Before You Arrive

​SMU Visitor Registration (Required): The event is held at SMU. All visitors must complete the self-registration form before you come on Saturday: SMU Visitor Self-Registration

Venue:
- Function Room 6-1 and U Lounge, Level 6, SMU Administrative Building, 81 Victoria St, Singapore 188065
- Check the directions guide here

​Wi-Fi: Connect to the SMU_visitor network on the day. Follow the Wi-Fi connection guide to set up access.

​Join the Hackathon Community

​Connect with other participants, find teammates, and share ideas in our online hackathon chat group: Join the community

​Community Partner

​AI Builders: A premier community of AI builders, developers, and innovators in Singapore, Tokyo, and San Francisco Bay Area.

​Special Thanks

​SMU AI (SMU Artificial Intelligence Club): A student-led initiative proudly supported by the Singapore Management University Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SMU IIE).

​Limited spots available. Register now.