Express Launchpad

​A 6-hour, builder-first hackathon for engineers who care about shipping real AI and data systems.

​This is not a demo-day or an idea jam. This is a build day. And over one intense build day, you’ll design and ship a working app powered by a real data or AI pipeline built on Express.

​Express.dev is a platform for orchestrating data, APIs, and AI workflows into production-ready systems. It acts as the backbone that connects raw data or prompts to real, user-facing outputs, without you having to stitch together fragile infra yourself.

​You’ll work in teams of 2, form ideas quickly, and build hands-on for 6 hours. By the end of the day, every team must demo a live, working app where Express is a core dependency. If Express is removed, the app should no longer function.

​Projects will be evaluated based on:

• ​Depth and correctness of Express usage

• ​Clarity and usefulness of the problem being solved

• ​Execution quality within the 6-hour constraint

• ​Clarity of the live demo and end-to-end flow

​This hackathon is designed for engineers who already ship - AI engineers, data engineers, backend engineers, and technical builders who enjoy working close to infrastructure and execution. This is not a no-code or theory-focused event.

​Come prepared to build fast, make tradeoffs, and ship something real.