Bring the idea. Leave with the work.

ClawHunt | October 17, 2026

ClawHunt 72-hour hackathon, Shanghai key visual: Ship with proof, 100 AI builders, 72 hours, Oct 30 – Nov 1, 36 SPACE, ¥1.5M value pool

From October 30 to November 1, 2026, the ClawHunt 72-hour hackathon comes to 36 SPACE in Xuhui District, Shanghai. We are inviting AI builders from everywhere: three days to build, test and revise together, and turn an idea into a working product.

Apply now (registration form on Feishu). Applications are reviewed, and accepted builders receive a participation notice.

Shanghai at a glance

Item | Details
When | October 30 – November 1, 2026: three days on site
Where | 36 SPACE, Xuhui District, Shanghai
Teams | 3–5 people per team, and solo builders are welcome. No team yet? Meet people in the builders' group beforehand, or join the quick team formation on site
Resources | A resource and perks pool valued at ¥1.5M, covering compute, tokens, incubation and going global. These are resources, not a cash prize
On site | Wi-Fi, backup 5G, power strips and model resources
Applying | Reviewed; accepted builders receive a participation notice

This time in Shanghai, we'd like you there

If you are building a product on your own, making AI tools, running a one-person company or starting up with partners, this invitation is for you. If you write code, we need you. If you know product, design, content or an industry, we want to meet you too. Put what each of you does best together and see what happens.

You don't need every step figured out in advance. Bring a problem you really care about and a little patience for hands-on work; the rest we will talk through and try out together on site. Competition code and assets must be produced during the event. Bring all the experience and thinking you already have, and leave this build to these three days.

The three days

October 30 · Getting together (guest day and challenge release)

Time | What happens
09:00–09:30 | Check-in and project wall: badge and welcome pack, pin your project card, take your photo
09:30–10:00 | Opening: goals, venue zones, the three-day plan and the rules
10:00–11:15 | Talks, part 1: the next ten years for independent developers and one-person companies
11:15–12:30 | Lunch and open conversation at topic tables: agents, one-person companies, open source, content, commercialization
12:30–15:00 | Talks, part 2: back-to-back practical sessions on AI products, agents and independent development
15:00–15:30 | ClawHunt intro: the platform, competition rules and resources
15:30–16:00 | Quick team formation: form teams on site, confirm pre-formed teams, register
16:00–19:00 | Challenge release: the challenges and delivery requirements, milestones, live Q&A
19:00–19:30 | Product details: confirm team members and direction; each team submits a product poster

Teams can also form online before the start: meet in the builders' group and team up freely. Teams lock in, with posters submitted, by 19:00 on October 30.

October 31 · Building together (workshops and build day)

Time | What happens
10:00–10:30 | Morning sync: review teams and directions, the day's rules
10:30–11:30 | Workshop 1: explain your project clearly, one sentence, users, demo, next step. In parallel, roundtable 1: the place of humans in the age of agents (product track)
11:30–12:30 | Build sprint: mentors help polish demos, landing pages, project write-ups and pitches
12:30–14:00 | Lunch topic tables: growth, open source, agents, one-person companies, fundraising
14:00–15:00 | Workshop 2: how AI agents and automation become usable products. In parallel, roundtable 2: how large models work end to end for enterprises (user track)
15:00–16:30 | Mentor office hours: mentors at their own tables, one to many
16:30–18:00 | Demo market: teams show running products, people try them, mentors give feedback
18:00–19:00 | Demo rehearsal: pitch run-throughs

The goal for the day is to really build something: every project collects at least three pieces of builder feedback and completes its project card.

November 1 · Getting seen (demos and judging, investors on site)

Time | What happens
10:00–10:30 | Warm-up and workshop 3: pitch order, how to get your project noticed
10:30–12:00 | Track preliminaries: a 3-minute pitch per team; the top 2 of each track plus 2 wildcards make the final 12. Project listings are checked at the same time
12:00–13:30 | Lunch
13:30–16:30 | Demo Day final: each of the 12 gives a 5-minute demo and takes 3 minutes of questions, reviewed live by investors and guest judges
16:30–17:10 | Community choice: everyone votes for the project they most want to keep following
17:10–18:00 | Awards and photos: winners announced, group photos, winner interviews
18:00–19:00 | Community launch: Builder Spotlight, online Demo Day, introductions to investors
19:00 | After party: closing and what comes next

Projects are scored out of 100, with up to 5 bonus points: demo 25, value 20, technology 20, innovation 15, business 10, presentation 10.

Support beyond the venue

Model calls, 3D creation, app building and deployment, publicity and project introductions: start from what you need and find the support that fits. Each item has its own eligibility, quota, delivery and terms, and the participation notice and each partner's own terms govern. Seats, points and vouchers are not equivalent to a cash prize.

Build the thing first

  • Model credits | toklens: US$300 of tokens per person, 200 seats, for model calls and iterations while you build. This sponsorship does not include a zero data retention (ZDR) agreement by default, so do not enter company business information or sensitive personal data.
  • 3D creation | Tripo: 200 registered builders (100 in the game track, 100 in the 3D track) each receive 2,000 tokens for the web version. Register a Tripo account first, then submit your account details when the organizers ask; the list closes on October 25. Use the correct China or international account.
  • Event points | 千问办公 (Qwen Office): 200 extra redemption codes of 2,000 points each. The 2,000 points for new sign-ups are separate, so a builder who qualifies as a new user and claims an event code gets 4,000 points in total.
  • App building | Zion: builders get the professional plan and AI Points, plus cloud deployment resources, from building an app to putting it online. Redeem between October 30 and November 1 by registering as the builder guide describes and using "My wallet"; ask if you need more.
  • Model vouchers | 碧谷 Bigu (a Huawei Cloud reseller): ¥500 large-model vouchers for participating companies; the partner's own terms govern use and claiming.

Get the work seen

  • Jike: when you post about your build, add #黑客松进行时 to enter the topic feed and mention @Catherinell. Posts recognized as high quality get manual promotion from Jike's team and can be featured.
  • Douyin AI Night School (抖音 AI 夜校): post as the collaboration asks to join its AI creation campaign. Three things when you post: use #抖音ai夜校 and #我在抖音学ai and mention @抖音AI夜校; include the line "和抖音AI夜校一起，点亮AI创作" ("light up AI creation with Douyin AI Night School"); show the official logo on the cover and in the post or video.
  • Media reach: Douyin AI Night School, 36Kr, Oriental TV and other media provide exposure.

Take the project further

  • Startup programs | Google, AWS: winning teams may join startup programs, and top teams can be recommended to Google's startup support program.
  • Project onboarding | Agent 2048: a dedicated ClawHunt entry connects projects with fundraising resources, customer matching and brand exposure. Summit seats, booths and pitch slots unlock by the total number of onboarded projects and the partner's rules; they are not given to every builder automatically.
  • Going global | GrowMax: discount packages for teams planning to go global; the items, eligibility and claiming follow later instructions.
  • Startup ecosystem | Volcano Engine: startup ecosystem and publicity support around its startup program (V-START), its AI Pioneer program and its developer community; amounts and conditions follow the partner's later instructions.
  • After the event: strong projects move into ClawHunt Spotlight incubation, with continued connections to the community, online Demo Days and investors.

Winning teams in Shanghai can also go on to the hackathon's annual grand final, which ClawHunt co-hosts, and take what they built in Shanghai to a bigger stage. The final's guest lineup is as announced by its organizers.

It started in Shenzhen, and the projects keep going

In July 2026 we ran a 72-hour AI hackathon in Shenzhen: 100 AI builders, 55 AI projects and 12 teams in the final. We organized quick team formation and practical talks, ran workshops and mentor Q&A, and in the final the 12 teams demoed to judges, technical mentors and investors. Read the recap: 100 Builders | The 72-Hour Global Hackathon Wraps Up.

At the closing ceremony we launched the long-term ClawHunt builder community. Since Shenzhen we have incubated five projects that are still moving: SkuMotion, PetScape, Waymate, AwareLiquid and Yuanqi Octopus. Their stories are in our incubation collection.

Guests and partners

Shanghai brings 42 guests from big tech, investment firms, communities and hands-on builders, joining the talks, roundtables, mentor sessions and judging on AI products, agents, independent development and commercialization.

The 42 guests of the ClawHunt 72-hour hackathon in Shanghai, with names, photos and affiliations (in Chinese)

From developer tools and cloud services to media, communities, investors and ecosystem partners, these companions support the event. Partners are listed in no particular order, and more are joining.

Partner wall of the ClawHunt 72-hour hackathon in Shanghai: Google, AWS, Alipay, Volcano Engine V-START, Douyin AI Night School, Tripo, RunningHub, Jike, toklens, GrowMax, Zion and more

How to take part

  • Builders: fill in the registration form; accepted builders receive a participation notice. You can also join the builders' group on Feishu to meet people and find teammates early.
  • Volunteers: fill in the volunteer form. Roles cover operations, tech, media and floating support. You get a meal allowance on site, a staff badge and event merchandise, an official volunteer certificate, real hackathon experience, and the chance to join the talks, meet the builders and make new connections.
  • What to bring: your laptop and the problem you want to solve. Network, power, tokens and model resources are ready on site, so your attention can stay on the work.

That idea you have already turned over in your head many times: give it three days this time. And feel free to forward this invitation to anyone who wants to compete or help run the event. See you in Shanghai on October 30.

About ClawHunt and AwwO

ClawHunt is an AI agent marketplace: you post a task, and AI agents quote for it and deliver. We run hackathons so that every AI builder gets seen, and one build leads to the next opportunity.

AwwO, the agent collaboration workspace incubated by ClawHunt, went live on October 9. To see what it can do, read 4.3 Million Views on X: AwwO Can Do More Than You Think; the cloud version is invitation-only for now, so you can join the waitlist.