DEV Community: Major League Hacking (MLH)

Prompt Pad: Show Your AI How to Respond with Few-Shot Examples

MLH Team — Fri, 06 Nov 2026 16:00:00 +0000

Want AI to answer in a specific way? Don't just tell it. Show it.

In this episode of Prompt Pad, @rosendo_pili explores few-shot prompting: giving your model a few examples so it knows exactly how you want it to respond.

The tip in a nutshell

Describing the output you want only goes so far. When you include a handful of example inputs and responses in your prompt, the model picks up on the pattern and follows it, whether that's a specific format, tone, or style. Instead of guessing what "good" looks like, it has a model answer to work from.

Try it yourself

Pick a task where the AI's responses keep missing the mark. Add two or three examples of what a great answer looks like, then run your prompt again and compare. Share your before-and-after in the comments 👇

📣 Help us spread the word

Know someone who's tired of explaining what they want to AI over and over? Send them this video. And subscribe so you don't miss the next Prompt Pad tip:

▶️ YouTube: @MajorLeagueHacking
📸 Instagram: @mlhacks
🐦 X: @mlhacks
💼 LinkedIn: Major League Hacking
💬 Discord: Join the MLH community

Prompt Pad: What Are Open-Weight Models?

MLH Team — Thu, 05 Nov 2026 21:00:19 +0000

When people call an AI model "open," they don't always mean the same thing.

On this week's Prompt Pad, @rosendo_pili breaks down open-weight models using Google's Gemma as an example.

The difference

An open-weight model gives you the trained model itself. You can download it, run it on your own machine, and fine-tune it for your project.

Open-source asks for more. It means the full recipe is available to study, change, and share: the code, and for AI, details like the training data and process.

Your Turn

What would you build with a model that never has to leave your laptop? 👇

📣 Help us spread the word

Know someone who thinks "open" always means open source? Send them this video. And subscribe so you don't miss the next Prompt Pad episode:

▶️ YouTube: @MajorLeagueHacking
📸 Instagram: @mlhacks
🐦 X: @mlhacks
💼 LinkedIn: Major League Hacking
💬 Discord: Join the MLH community

Prompt Pad: What Is Open Source?

MLH Team — Wed, 04 Nov 2026 14:00:00 +0000

Chances are you're already using open-source software without realizing it.

In this episode of Prompt Pad, @rosendo_pili steps back from prompting to explain what open source is and why you should care.

Why it matters

Open source runs much of the world's software, including many of the AI tools and models people use every day. Anyone can read the code, learn from it, and help make it better. That includes you, whether you write code or not.

Your Turn

Tell us in the comments: what's an open-source project you rely on without thinking about it? 👇

📣 Help us spread the word

Know someone who's curious about open source? Send them this video. And subscribe so you don't miss the next Prompt Pad episode:

▶️ YouTube: @MajorLeagueHacking
📸 Instagram: @mlhacks
🐦 X: @mlhacks
💼 LinkedIn: Major League Hacking
💬 Discord: Join the MLH community

Prompt Pad: Lock Your AI's Output Schema in Google AI Studio

MLH Team — Tue, 03 Nov 2026 14:00:00 +0000

If you've ever tried to parse an LLM response in code, you know the pain: the format changes slightly from one run to the next and your parser breaks.

In this episode of Prompt Pad, @rosendo_pili shows how to lock your model's output schema in Google AI Studio so that every response follows the format you define. 🔒

Why it matters

Asking for JSON in your prompt is a request. A structured output schema is a guarantee. Once the schema is locked, your app gets clean, predictable responses it can rely on, and you no longer need regex workarounds to clean them up.

Try it yourself

Open Google AI Studio, define a schema for something you're building, and see how much simpler the code that consumes the output becomes. Let us know what you build in the comments 👇

📣 Help us spread the word

Know someone fighting with messy AI output? Send them this video. And subscribe so you don't miss the next Prompt Pad tip:

▶️ YouTube: @MajorLeagueHacking
📸 Instagram: @mlhacks
🐦 X: @mlhacks
💼 LinkedIn: Major League Hacking
💬 Discord: Join the MLH community

Prompt Pad: Frame Your Persona for Better AI Answers

MLH Team — Mon, 02 Nov 2026 20:09:37 +0000

Want better answers from AI? Start by telling it who to be.

In this episode of Prompt Pad, @rosendo_pili shows how setting your model's persona in the system prompt immediately improves the quality of its answers.

The tip in a nutshell

Before you ask the question, give the model a role. "You are a senior backend engineer reviewing a pull request" gets you a very different answer than a bare "review this code." A persona tells the model what expertise to draw on, what tone to use, and what a good answer looks like.

Try it yourself

Pick a prompt you use often and add a one-line persona to the top. Compare the two answers side by side. Then share your best persona in the comments 👇

📣 Help us spread the word

Know someone whose AI answers could use an upgrade? Send them this video. And subscribe so you don't miss the next Prompt Pad tip:

▶️ YouTube: @MajorLeagueHacking
📸 Instagram: @mlhacks
🐦 X: @mlhacks
💼 LinkedIn: Major League Hacking
💬 Discord: Join the MLH community

Welcome to the Prompt Pad: AI Tips & Tricks with Rosendo Pili

MLH Team — Thu, 29 Oct 2026 19:07:55 +0000

Keeping up with AI is a full-time job. Prompt Pad is here to help you keep up a little at a time.

Prompt Pad is a new short-form video series, hosted by @rosendo_pili. Each episode covers one practical tip you can use right away. It doesn't matter whether you're brand new to AI or have been shipping LLM features for years.

What to expect

Short and to-the-point. Every episode is under a minute.
Practical. One technique per episode, shown in a real tool.
For everyone. No PhD or prior coding experience needed.

We'll post every episode here on DEV as part of this series, so follow along and drop your questions in the comments. Ro might answer them in a future episode.

📣 Help us spread the word

If you know someone who's trying to get better at AI, send them this video. And subscribe so you don't miss an episode:

▶️ YouTube: @MajorLeagueHacking
📸 Instagram: @mlhacks
🐦 X: @mlhacks
💼 LinkedIn: Major League Hacking
💬 Discord: Join the MLH community

Everything You Need To Know About Hacktoberfest 2026: AI Belongs to Everyone 🎃

Jess Lee — Thu, 01 Oct 2026 16:19:06 +0000

It's October 1st, which means Hacktoberfest 2026 is officially live! 🎉

This year looks a little different. Hacktoberfest is now powered by Major League Hacking (MLH) and DEV, presented by DigitalOcean, and it's built around one idea:

AI belongs to everyone.

For the entire month, people around the world are coming together, online and in person, to discover, learn about, and build with open-source AI. Maybe you'll finally figure out what an "open-weight model" actually is. Maybe you'll catch your first livestream, try an AI tool you can run and inspect yourself, or build something with a friend at a local Fest.

Maybe you'll write your first skills.md, build an open-source agent, or fine-tune a model. Wherever you're starting from, there's a place for you this month.

Totally new to "Open-Source AI"? Here's what you need to know:

You don't need to be a developer, or to have ever touched open source, to take part in Hacktoberfest. A few quick definitions to get you going:

Open source means the code is public. Anyone can look at how a project is made, learn from it, use it, and help improve it.
Open-weight models are AI models whose "weights" (the learned knowledge that makes the model work) are publicly released, so anyone can download, run, study, and adapt them, rather than only accessing them through a company's app. Open-weight is not the same as open source.
Open-source AI tools are the building blocks around those models (agents, frameworks, and utilities) that are shared openly for anyone to use and improve.

Why does this matter? When AI is open, more people get to understand it, access it, and shape how it's used. That's what "AI belongs to everyone" is all about, and Hacktoberfest is a month-long invitation to come see for yourself.

A quick note on what's changed

When DigitalOcean launched Hacktoberfest in 2014, the formula was simple: open four pull requests, earn a t-shirt. That idea helped bring a whole generation of people into open source. 💜

But AI tools now make low-effort pull requests trivial to generate, and open-source maintainers have been paying the price. So this year, pull requests and merge requests no longer count toward Hacktoberfest rewards. Instead, the focus is on learning and building together, and on open source as a philosophy of transparency and collective ownership, not a PR count.

You can read more about the thinking behind this change on the Hacktoberfest Mission page.

📒 Start your sticker book

Everything you do this month, in person or online, earns virtual stickers in your Hacktoberfest sticker book. Collect enough virtual stickers, and real ones show up in your mailbox:

Stickers collected	Reward
3	A physical Hacktoberfest sticker pack, mailed to you
10	A bonus holographic sticker added to your pack
17	You're a Hacktoberfest Completionist, with an automatic raffle entry for a Hacktoberfest t-shirt or an Arduino Uno Q board

You can earn stickers by attending a Fest, checking into livestreams, joining Global Hack Week, submitting to DEV Challenges, joining the MLH Discord, taking the pre- and post-event surveys, and more. If you use an AI coding assistant, you can also earn one by installing and logging in to DevRelay, a tool that connects DEV and MLH right inside your agent session. The full list is on the Hacktoberfest Activities page.

Start your sticker book

Once you sign in with a free MyMLH account to start your sticker book, connect your DEV account to earn your first sticker!

🏙️ Join a Fest near you

This year there are 300+ community-hosted, one-day Fests happening in 60+ countries around the world. We can't recommend going in person enough, especially if you're just getting started. There's nothing like learning alongside people who are figuring it out with you. Here's what you get when you show up:

Hacktoberfest 2026 t-shirts, stickers, and swag, available in person while supplies last.
An official participation certificate and an "Attend a Fest" virtual sticker for your sticker book.
Your people. Meet others in your community who are curious about open-source AI.
Hands-on building with real hardware. Select Hack Days have Arduinos on hand, so you can take an open-source AI project off the screen and into the physical world.

Fests come in two flavors:

Meetups: talks, workshops, panels, and time to connect with others. No project or team required, which makes them a great first step if you're new.
Hack Days: mini-hackathons where you build with open-weight models or open-source AI tools, demo at the end of the day, and compete for prizes. Come solo or bring a team.

Find a Fest

🌐 Join online

Global Hack Week: Hacktoberfest

Can't make it to a Fest? Global Hack Week: Hacktoberfest brings the energy online from Friday, October 9 (12:00 PM EDT) through Thursday, October 15 (1:00 PM EDT).

It's a free, week-long virtual hacker festival, and a welcoming place to learn at your own pace:

Daily livestreamed workshops, with recordings on YouTube if you can't catch them live
Challenges of all kinds, from social and design challenges to technical ones that earn you points
Mini-events and community hangouts in the MLH Discord

Global Hack Week counts toward your sticker book too: you can earn stickers for completing the registration challenges, checking into a livestream, and more.

DEV Challenges

We're running five challenges throughout Hacktoberfest, all with cash prizes, and each submission earns you a virtual sticker. They're a great excuse to try something new and share what you learned along the way.

Hacktoberfest Weekend Challenge

We're kicking things off with a short-form weekend challenge. The prompt drops in just a few hours, and you'll have the weekend to build and submit.

Timezone	Launch Time (Local)	Submissions Due (Local)
PDT	Thursday, Oct 1 at 7:00 PM	Sunday, Oct 4 at 11:59 PM
EDT	Thursday, Oct 1 at 10:00 PM	Monday, Oct 5 at 2:59 AM
GMT	Friday, Oct 2 at 2:00 AM	Monday, Oct 5 at 6:59 AM
CEST	Friday, Oct 2 at 4:00 AM	Monday, Oct 5 at 8:59 AM
IST	Friday, Oct 2 at 7:30 AM	Monday, Oct 5 at 12:29 PM
JST	Friday, Oct 2 at 11:00 AM	Monday, Oct 5 at 3:59 PM
AEST	Friday, Oct 2 at 12:00 PM	Monday, Oct 5 at 4:59 PM

Open-Source AI Challenges: Weeks 1–4

After the weekend, we're inviting you to explore and build with open-source AI every week. Each week has its own theme:

Round	Dates
Week 1	October 5–11
Week 2	October 12–18
Week 3	October 19–25
Week 4	October 26–31

Pro tip: Week 1 wraps up right as Global Hack Week gets going, so the workshops you catch at GHW are perfect fuel for your Week 2 submission. 😉

Follow the #hf26challenge tag to see what everyone's making, and register early for each challenge so you don't miss any announcements.

DevRelay

We just launched something cool.

If you build with an AI coding agent, DevRelay connects it to DEV and MLH. Your agent knows which challenge or hackathon you've entered, helps you build for it, and lets you submit without leaving your session.

It can also get you partner coupons from MLH while you build, and we're adding more partners over time, so you can often deploy for free. Install it and log in to earn a sticker for your sticker book. 🎃

Get DevRelay

💜 Thank you to our sponsors

Hacktoberfest 2026 is presented by DigitalOcean and made possible by our sponsors: Tiger Data, Snowflake, MongoDB, Gauge, Solana, Render, GitHub, Sentry, Backboard.io, IBM, ElevenLabs, Paper Compute, Entire, Prior Labs, Google Cloud, Gemma, Qualcomm, Arduino, Mastra, Temporal, TLDR, and Thinking Machines.

Questions?

Check out the Hacktoberfest FAQ or reach out to hacktoberfest@mlh.io. For questions about a specific Fest, use the "Contact Host" button on its event page.

However you show up this month, whether you're curious, brand new, or a seasoned open-source contributor, we're so glad you're here. AI belongs to everyone. Let's explore it together. 🎃

Happy Hacktoberfest!

Midnight Rescue: The Ultimate Raspberry Pi Hackathon Revival Guide 🚀

Maria Dunning — Wed, 16 Sep 2026 02:40:42 +0000

Howdy Hackers!
I'm assuming you are here because your Raspberry Pi is acting up. Going to do a small intro here before jumping to the recipe for this cookbook but going to keep it short so you can get back to hacking :)

My name is Maria, I work for Major League Hacking, and we bring hardware to many of the events we support including Raspberry Pis! I get lots of questions asking about debugging, and our documentation has 3 different resources we point to for Raspberry Pis. We wanted to consolidate here, but as a full disclaimer, we used AI to help us with the merge. If you see something wonky, just comment so that I and others can see what is off.

Now to the meat and potatos you are here for.

Midnight Rescue: The Ultimate Raspberry Pi Hackathon Revival Guide 🚀

Welcome, midnight builder! It’s late, your code is almost there, but your Raspberry Pi is throwing a full-blown tantrum. Don't panic! Hackathon hardware gets heavily used, and SD cards often carry ghost settings or corruption from previous events. You didn't break anything—this is just a right of passage.

We’ve provided a Troubleshooting Kit in the Hardware Lab specifically to handle this exact moment. Grab your kit, take a breath, and let’s get your hardware back on track step by step! Please note that this kit must stay at the Hardware Lab table so that others can use it during the event as needed. Feel free to pull up a chair as you debug!

🧰 Meet Your Troubleshooting Toolkit

Before diving in, make sure you’ve grabbed the Hardware Lab’s Troubleshooting Kit. Inside your toolkit, you’ll find:

Tool	What It Does
7-Inch Portable Screen & HDMI Cable	Gives you direct visual access to the Pi’s terminal—no network magic needed!
Mini Bluetooth/Wireless Keyboard	Allows you to type commands directly into the Pi setup screen.
USB MicroSD Card Reader/Writer	Lets you plug SD cards into your laptop to wipe or re-flash them.
Fresh Spare MicroSD Cards	Clean, blank slates ready for a brand-new OS installation.

We’ll use these tools in two main phases: Direct Hardware Diagnostics (seeing what’s wrong) and SD Card Re-Flashing (resetting to a squeaky-clean state).

Phase 1: Direct Visual Diagnostics (Using the Kit)

Instead of guessing why you can’t SSH into your Pi, let's look directly at what it's doing on boot!

Plug in the HDMI Cable: Connect the Micro-HDMI end to your Raspberry Pi 4 (use HDMI 0, the port closest to the USB-C power port) and the standard HDMI end to the 7-inch screen.
Power the Screen & Keyboard: Turn on the 7-inch screen and plug in the mini keyboard's USB dongle into one of the Pi’s USB slots.
Power Up the Pi: Plug in the USB-C power cord. Watch the screen!

What are you seeing on screen?

Rainbow Screen / Red LED only: The Pi can’t read the SD card at all. Move straight to Phase 2 below!
Kernel Panic / Endless Errors scrolling past: The OS on the SD card is corrupted from a previous team. Head to Phase 2 to re-flash it!
Asks for Login: The OS is alive! Try default credentials (pi / raspberry). If that fails, someone changed the password—time for a quick re-flash in Phase 2.

Phase 2: Nuclear Option—Wiping & Re-Flashing the MicroSD Card

If the SD card is corrupted or locked, re-flashing gives you a 100% clean OS in just a few minutes. Grab a spare MicroSD card from the kit or use your current one.

Step 1: Format & Wipe the Card

Insert the MicroSD card into the USB Reader/Writer and plug it into your laptop.

Windows: Download and open SD Formatter or Raspberry Pi Imager. Select your SD card drive, select Quick Format, and click Format.
Mac / Linux: You can use Raspberry Pi Imager or Disk Utility to format the card to FAT32.

Step 2: Flash the Operating System

We recommend using Raspberry Pi Imager (or Win32 Disk Imager / BalenaEtcher):

Download the latest Raspbian / Raspberry Pi OS Lite (or full desktop version) zip/img.
Open your imaging software and select the downloaded .img or .zip file.
Select your USB SD Card Reader as the target device.
Click Write / Flash! (This takes about 5 to 10 minutes—great time to grab a snack!).

Important Note: Windows might pop up messages after flashing saying "You need to format the disk in drive X: before you can use it." Ignore and close these pop-ups! Windows just doesn't natively read Linux partitions.

Step 3: Enable Headless SSH Access

Want to control your Pi from your laptop terminal without keeping the 7-inch screen attached forever?

Keep the SD card plugged into your laptop. Open your file explorer.
Look for the drive partition named boot.
Inside the boot directory, create a brand-new empty file and name it simply ssh (make sure there is no file extension like .txt or .docx!). # On Mac/Linux terminal, you can just run: touch /Volumes/boot/ssh
Eject the SD card safely and insert it into your Pi.

Phase 3: Connecting to Your Pi via Ethernet or SSH

Now that your Pi has a fresh OS and SSH enabled, let’s get you connected!

Option A: Direct Screen & Mini Keyboard (Fastest!)

Just leave the 7-inch screen and mini keyboard plugged into the Pi. Boot it up, log in with default credentials (username: pi, password: raspberry), and start coding!

Option B: Ethernet / Network SSH Connection

Connect an Ethernet cable from the Pi into your computer (use a USB Ethernet adapter if needed).
Power up the Pi. Give it about 60 seconds to complete its initial boot routines.
Open your laptop's terminal (or PuTTY on Windows) and run: ssh pi@raspberrypi.local
When prompted, enter the default password: raspberry
Test your connection by running a quick ping test: ping -c 4 google.com

🎉 You're Back in Business!

If you see ping responses coming back, congratulations—you have successfully brought your Raspberry Pi back from the dead at 12:30 AM! You are now ready to build your awesome hackathon project.

Still stuck or getting unexpected error messages? Don't hesitate to flag down an MLH Coach! We are here to help you. Happy hacking!

We're expanding the MLH Asia-Pacific League

Sanidhya Goel — Tue, 08 Sep 2026 14:36:05 +0000

Hey Everyone!

At Major League Hacking (MLH), our mission is to empower student developers worldwide by providing organizers and hackers with the resources, mentorship, and support they need to build incredible tech communities. We partner directly with hackathons to guide organizers through the planning process, while connecting hackers with our partners like GitHub, Google, MongoDB, ElevenLabs, Vultr, Snowflake, and many more, to provide cutting-edge software tools, hardware, exclusive prizes, and a ton of iconic swag to take home.

We’re growing the APAC League

Over the years, we have seen some of the most innovative projects and passionate hackers emerge from the Asia Pacific (APAC). We have always loved working with our APAC events. The energy, the projects, and the sheer dedication of this region are completely unmatched. Because of that, we are incredibly excited to announce a massive update: we are officially scaling up our Asia Pacific League to support 3x our previous capacity of events in the upcoming season and beyond!

As someone who used to organize hackathons in this very region, I know exactly what goes into making these events a reality. To make sure you get in on this expansion and get the most out of an MLH partnership, I want to share one crucial piece of advice:

Plan Your Event Early & Apply for MLH Membership 3-4 Months Prior

In the APAC region, we frequently see organizers waiting until the last month to reach out. When you plan at the last minute, it limits the resources we can provide. It causes you to miss out on a huge margin of support and causes us to miss out on supporting some truly incredible events. Reaching out 3-4 months before your actual dates ensures we can build the best possible event together without the last-minute stress!

If you are ready to bring an unforgettable experience to your local hacker community, we want to hear from you. Apply to become a member event:

MLH Event Membership Application

Looking for other ways to get involved with the global hacker community?

Whether you're interested in running smaller-scale events or diving into open-source, check out Hack Days or join us during Hacktoberfest to start building with the community.

We can't wait to work with all of you and see what we build together this season. Follow us on DEV: @mlhacks + connect with us on socials :

And feel free to reach out to us anytime at league@mlh.io.

Happy Hacking!

Hey Everyone! I’m Sanidhya from MLH

Sanidhya Goel — Fri, 04 Sep 2026 03:04:14 +0000

MLH AI Roadshow Bengaluru

Hey Everyone! I am Sanidhya Goel, a new MLH Hackathon Community Manager (HCM) for Asia Pacific, and I couldn’t be more excited to expand my role on the MLH team and community!

My journey into the hacker community didn't start with me being a hacker, as it is for most people; it started with me wearing a volunteer badge.

During my second year of college, I volunteered for my campus's first-ever hackathon, Code Kshetra, organized via Geek Room. I went in just checking it out on a senior's recommendation, but I ended up witnessing something great. Beyond the impressive development work, I saw people genuinely connecting, playing games, and jamming in music sessions. It was the most fun I’d had in a long time.

That energy pushed me to jump in as a hacker. I teamed up with three classmates for Techminds Hackathon, where we built an IoT project and ended up winning! From that moment, I was completely hooked on both attending and organizing hackathons.

Interestingly, my next hackathon (Vihaan 007) was my first encounter with MLH. I saw the MLH booth, but I was so hyper-focused on building my project that I didn't even question what it was; I just grabbed my swag and went back to coding!

My perspective shifted when I became the lead of Geek Room and organized Code Kshetra 2.0. We officially registered as an MLH member event. For context, becoming an MLH Member Event means partnering directly with Major League Hacking, through which the organizers get hands-on support throughout the entire planning process, while the hackers get access to mentorship, software, prizes, swag, and exclusive event resources from our partners. I had the chance to work with Siddharth Shivkumar (my HCM at the time) and Vinayak (our MLH Coach for the event). Working with them for months to curate the best possible event made me realize the sheer potential of an MLH partnership. It opened my eyes to the fact that the hacker community is a massive, globally connected network far beyond my local well.

I knew I wanted to be part of it. I applied to be a Coach, but the timing wasn't right as MLH wasn't hiring. I spent the next year organizing over five amazing hackathons throughout 2025. Then, in November, I finally got an email from Ryan asking if I was still interested. Hell yeah, I was!

After an amazing set of interviews, where Ryan and Siddharth came to Delhi and met my incredible fellow Coaches Harshita, Romanch, Toukir, and Anjana, I officially started staffing events.

Hack Byte 4.0 with Coach Toukir and Coach Anjana

Usually, new MLH Coaches are paired with experienced staff for their first few events to learn the ropes. I had 2 events where I was paired with Siddharth to experience and learn the ropes of being an MLH Coach. And then came Electrothon 8.0; I was paired with a senior Coach who unfortunately fell ill at the last minute, making me the sudden event lead.

I won't lie, I was overwhelmed and a little hesitant. But handling the full event, running workshops, and connecting with so many passionate people all in one place, and working with the help of Paul (my Coach on call) and Alex (my MLHer on call), this ended up being the best experience of my life. It was a massive investment of time and energy, but it made me realize this is what I wanted to do.

Electrothon 8.0 (PS: The dog was a paid actor)

Up until March 2026, I had been working as a full-time software engineer at an amazing AI startup, tackling complex problems and building applications for the country's largest financial players. But in April, I just had the instinct and pulled the trigger, texted Ryan to ask about more opportunities on the team, and here I am! I officially joined the team in July after another round of interviews.

Electrothon 8.0

I can't wait to work with you all and see what we build together this season. Follow me on DEV + connect with me on LinkedIn and feel free to reach out to us anytime at league@mlh.io.

Happy Hacking!

Preptember is here!! Plan a Fest for your local community.

Jess Lee — Tue, 01 Sep 2026 19:26:08 +0000

September marks the official start of Preptember, a month dedicated to organizers planning local gatherings and getting ready for Hacktoberfest.

This year, Hacktoberfest is entering a new chapter. We’re shifting away from open-source contributions and focusing on community-building and educating folks around open artificial intelligence. As the AI landscape rapidly evolves, we think it's more important than ever for people to learn about and have experience with open-source AI tools and open-weight models.

You can read our full announcement here:

A new chapter for Hacktoberfest

Jess Lee for Major League Hacking (MLH)

Aug 19

Hacktoberfest 2026: AI belongs to everyone

#hacktoberfest #opensource #ai #agents

226

3 min read

Host a Fest

We're supporting over 300+ in-person events (“Fests”) this year, which means we’re looking for hosts! You don't need a big team or a big budget to bring Hacktoberfest to your city. If you're part of a meetup group, a university club, or you and a couple of coworkers can book a conference room for a day, you have what it takes.

As a host, you’ll receive:

T-shirts and stickers for your Fest participants
Programming support to help shape the day
Promotion through our official Fests directory

Depending on which Fest format you choose, your event may be eligible for food and drink reimbursement as well.

How To Apply

Step One: Pick your Fest Format

Fests come in two formats and you get to choose:

Hacktoberfest Hack Day: a 3-12 hour mini-hackathon where participants create and submit projects to compete for Best Open-Source AI Project.
Hacktoberfest Meetup: flexible in format (talks, demos, workshops, etc). We rely on you, the host, to shape them in the way that best serves your community

Step Two: Apply to Host a Fest

Fill in the details of your Fest (format, region, etc) and your contact information on our application form.

Fest Application

Note: You do not need to have a venue locked in to begin your application!

We’re approving events on a rolling basis, with the goal of responding within a week. You’ll receive an email from us the moment your Fest is approved.

What happens after my application is approved?

Once your application is approved, your Hack Day or Meetup will be listed on our official Fest directory! As a host, you’ll want to focus on these next steps once your application is approved:

Secure a Venue: Once your application is approved, your in-person event needs a safe, accessible space. We’ll publish a separate post on tips and tricks to securing a venue, but for now we’d recommend reaching out to your company office manager, school administrator, or local meetup group for recommendations.
Plan your Fest: This is the fun part! Once a venue is locked, you get to start planning your Fest. Check out our Fest Planning Guide for support.
Show off your Swag: All Fest formats are eligible to receive Hacktoberfest swag. Wear your t-shirt with pride and stick your stickers, everywhere (save some for your Fest participants though)!

Can’t host? Find a Fest near you, or participate online.

We're approving Fests everyday, so check back regularly and sign up for a Fest near you. There's nothing more exciting to a Host than knowing that people want to show up.

Find a Fest

Throughout October, we’ll also host a full schedule of online activities (virtual workshops, DEV Challenges, livestreams, and more) so everyone can participate worldwide.

Happy Hacking 🎃

The data is in: AI is how developers learn now

Matthew Revell — Mon, 24 Aug 2026 16:41:56 +0000

AI is now the most common way that new developers learn.

We all knew AI was having an impact on developer go-to-market but it's not just about who or what is writing the code.

In Major League Hacking's latest Season Census of developers globally, 75% of verified respondents use AI in some form to learn technical skills. That’s more than YouTube (71%) and online courses (59%).

So, does this mean that developer GTM is now all about Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)? It seems not.

AI learners use more of everything else

Developers who learn with AI use more of most other learning channels, not less: more YouTube (73% vs 63%), more online courses (61% vs 53%), and more events (37% vs 20%).

43% of AI learners use four or more non-AI learning channels; among non-AI learners, it’s 31%. Only 3% of AI learners rely on AI alone.

Now, some of you might be thinking this is just people who love checking boxes on surveys. But even the lightest box-checkers show the same gap.

Whether it's that AI users are generally more enthused learners, or that learning with AI actively points people at more resources, it seems that AI isn't replacing other learning methods.

AI seems to steer developers toward specific tools

Developers who learn using AI gravitate toward a particular stack.

For example, they're about a third more likely than other developers to be using Firebase and Supabase, with Postgres and MongoDB close behind.

That ties up with other data points in the industry. Supabase CEO Paul Copplestone says that more than 60% of new databases on the platform are now launched by some form of AI tool.

But for most other tools, there's no difference between AI learners and everyone else. So it seems likely that LLMs recommend some options more than others. For developer GTM, that represents a challenge to the developer journey we're used to. AI recommendations squash discovery and learning into a single stage.

So, is developer GTM now all about courting LLMs?

AI learners haven't abandoned other channels. They watch more YouTube, take more courses, show up to more events.

But human developers are no longer the only audience. Mintlify reports that two-thirds of visits to the documentation it hosts now come from agents, not people; that is up from 15% at the start of the year. The docs, tutorials, and examples we write for developers are being read by the models those developers learn from. Messaging, integrations, developer experience: all of it now serves two audiences at once.

The technologies developers encounter today can shape the stacks their companies use tomorrow. We know that 51% of people in the MLH community have introduced a technology they first encountered through one of our programs into their workplace.

So how developers discover new tools matters and AI tools are becoming an increasingly important part of that discovery process. The first recommendation may now come from an LLM, before a developer asks a colleague, searches the web, or visits your website.

At MLH, we help developer tools companies become tools developers choose and take with them into the workplace. If that’s a challenge you’re working on, we’d love to help.