Build Personal Agents Hack | $280k Prize Pool

​Kick off SF Tech Week with 200 hackers to finally build your own custom personal agent.

​! Hack platform now open: build-personal-agents.com

​Sunday, October 4, 2026 · Terra Gallery, San Francisco

​Automate the boring stuff. Build an agent to manage your inbox, control your smart home, help you with day-to-day decisions and tasks, manage your relationships... ok maybe not that one.

​The Challenge

​Build a personal agent that helps you or your team with something in your personal life. It can do one thing really well or help across several parts of your day.

​Hack solo or in a team of up to five people. You’re welcome to use tools from any of the co-hosts, but it’s not required.

​The Stack (Co-Hosts)

​On site for the hackathon:

• ​Neon: backend, including AI Gateway and Postgres

• ​Mastra: agent framework, observability and factory

• ​Exa: web search and crawling

• ​Fly.io: sprites agent sandboxes

• ​Kernel (YC): browser automation and use

• ​Executor (YC): tools and MCP gateway for your agent

• ​Assistant UI (YC): UI components for agent chat

• ​AgentMail (YC): email inboxes for your agents

​Prizes

• ​1st team

  • ​$100k Neon AI Gateway credits (split across the team) or $25k per team member, whichever is higher

  • ​$50k Fly.io credits (split across the team) or $12.5k per team member, whichever is higher

  • ​$5k Mastra credits

  • ​$5k Executor credits

  • ​$5k Exa credits or $1k per team member, plus an Exa hoodie and an Exa goat stuffy for every team member

  • ​$1k Kernel credits, plus a Kernel sweatshirt for every team member

  • ​12-month free Assistant Cloud access (Assistant UI)

  • ​12-month free AgentMail startup plan

• ​2nd team

  • ​$50k Neon AI Gateway credits (split across the team) or $12.5k per team member, whichever is higher

  • ​$25k Fly.io credits (split across the team) or $6.25k per team member, whichever is higher

  • ​$3k Mastra credits

  • ​$3k Executor credits

  • ​$3k Exa credits or $500 per team member, plus an Exa goat stuffy for every team member

  • ​$500 Kernel credits, plus a Kernel sweatshirt for every team member

  • ​12-month free Assistant Cloud access (Assistant UI)

• ​3rd team

  • ​$10k Neon AI Gateway credits (split across the team) or $2.5k per team member, whichever is higher

  • ​$5k Fly.io credits (split across the team) or $1.25k per team member, whichever is higher

  • ​$1k Mastra credits

  • ​$1k Executor credits

  • ​$1k Exa credits or $200 per team member, plus an Exa goat stuffy for every team member

  • ​$250 Kernel credits, plus a Kernel sweatshirt for every team member

  • ​12-month free Assistant Cloud access (Assistant UI)

​Side quests

​Judges nominate teams during judging and vote after the presentations; the winners are announced with the top three. Any submitted team can win, including a top-three team.

• ​Best Open Source Project (CodeRabbit): $10k in CodeRabbit usage credits for the best open source project

• ​Best UI (Assistant UI): $750 for the team with the best UI solution

​For all hackers

​Look forward to food trucks, snacks & drinks, and an after-hack happy hour. Additionally, every attendee can claim:

• ​$1k CodeRabbit usage credits for every participating team

• ​$500 Neon AI Gateway credits

• ​$500 Neon credits

• ​$500 Fly.io credits (claim link on build-personal-agents.com)

• ​$50 Kernel credits (claim link on build-personal-agents.com)

• ​$50 Exa credits (claim link on build-personal-agents.com)

• ​$25 Mastra credits

• ​Free Executor usage during the hack

• ​1-month free AgentMail dev plan (claim link and code on build-personal-agents.com)

• ​Kernel hats and stickers on the swag table

​Judges

• ​Nikita Shamgunov (VP Eng, Databricks)

• ​Scott Johnston (CEO, Fly.io)

• ​Abhi Aiyer (CTO, Mastra)

• ​Jeff Wang (Co-Founder, Exa)

• ​Catherine Jue (CEO, Kernel)

• ​Rhys Sullivan (Founder, Executor)

• ​Simon Farshid (Founder, Assistant UI)

• ​Haakam Aujla (Founder, AgentMail)

• ​Erik Thorelli (Head of DX, CodeRabbit)

• ​Jakub Krehel (Founding Design Engineer, Interfere)

• ​James da Costa (Partner, a16z)

​Schedule

• ​9:00 AM: Doors open + breakfast

• ​10:00–10:30 AM: Hackathon kickoff. Every co-host gives a quick elevator pitch on their tool and how to use it in your agent stack

• ​10:30 AM–1:00 PM: Hacking

• ​1:00–1:45 PM: Lunch

• ​1:45–4:30 PM: Hacking

• ​4:30 PM: Submissions close. Submit your project through the hackathon portal

• ​4:30–4:45 PM: Judges review the submissions and together pick the top 6 teams

• ​4:45–5:15 PM: Top 6 teams present to everyone: 2-minute presentation, 1-minute Q&A

• ​5:15–5:25 PM: Judges pick 1st, 2nd and 3rd place and the side quest winners

• ​5:25 PM: Awards

• ​5:30 PM: Happy hour with beer, wine and light bites

• ​7:00 PM: End of event

​RSVP to build your personal agent.