Cortensor Hackathon #4

Doc: https://docs.cortensor.network/community-and-ecosystem/hackathon/hackathon-4

Join Discord For Detail: https://discord.gg/cortensor

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Hackathon #4 is designed to push agentic applications from “cool demos” into usable, repeatable workflows — where agents can delegate work, call tools, validate outcomes, and keep going.

Hackathon Format (unchanged): Open-ended runs continue — variable inflow = high-value edge-case data. We’ll keep inviting outsiders to try agentic apps while hardening software, docs, and process.

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Objective

Build proof-of-concept (PoC) agent applications, agent frameworks, bots, validators, and developer tools that leverage Cortensor’s decentralized inference protocol as the execution + trust backbone.

Primary focus areas (Agent-first)

• Agentic Applications (core track) Agents that do real work: monitor, act, coordinate, transact, and report — with clear tool interfaces and repeatable flows.
• Delegation + Execution Loops Demonstrate a full loop: Agent plans → delegates tasks → Cortensor executes (redundant compute) → results returned → agent continues.
• Trust & Verification (PoI/PoUW utilization) Use PoI (redundant inference) and PoUW (validator scoring) where it adds credibility:
  • cross-model or cross-run checks
  • rubric-based scoring
  • evidence bundles / audit logs
  • “why trust this output” surfaces
• Agent Tooling & Templates SDK wrappers, CLI scaffolds, starter kits for:
  • agent + tool calling
  • session management
  • logging + replay
  • evaluation harnesses
• Operational Agents (DevOps / Community / Monitoring) Agents that keep infra and communities healthy:
  • router health checks, latency alerts
  • miner/model usage analytics
  • automated incident summaries
  • support triage bots with safe guardrails
• Public Goods Agents Open-access bots that provide ongoing community value (free inference tier, limited quotas, or public endpoints).

Stretch goals (bonus points)

Note: ERC-8004, x402, MCP, and COR Prover are optional R&D surfaces — not required to participate.

• ERC-8004 artifacts: emit agent identity/validation artifacts for discoverability.
• x402: pay-per-call rails or UI flows for usage-based access.
• Router surfaces: integrate Router v1 (REST) with a /validate endpoint; prototype COR Prover surfaces; explore MCP-compatible patterns.

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Prize Pool (in $COR equivalent)

• 1st: $1000
• 2nd: $800
• 3rd: $500
• 4th–5th: $300 each
• 6th–7th: $150 each
• 8th–10th: $100 each
• 11th–20th: $50 each

Ongoing Support: Top projects may qualify for monthly $COR grants for continued maintenance and improvements.

Important Notice on Prize Payouts (eligibility condition)

To align incentives with Cortensor’s long-term growth: if a prize-winning participant is not (a) an existing node operator running >20 nodes, or (b) a holder of $500+ $COR prior to kick-off, or (c) a participant with active staked tokens, then their prize will be split:

• 50% allocated directly to Staking Pool #1 under their address
• 50% distributed upfront as liquid $COR

This ensures rewards both support winners and strengthen network security and staking participation.

Judging & Awarding Policy

• Quality over rank: Prizes are not awarded strictly by leaderboard order. Cortensor will judge qualified entries on overall quality, impact, technical rigor, usability, documentation, and alignment with Cortensor’s roadmap.
• Discretionary placement: Judges may award a prize to any qualified entry at a given place (e.g., a lower-ranked but higher-quality project may receive a higher prize tier).
• No guarantee to fill all places: Cortensor may withhold or reallocate any prize tier if submissions do not meet the quality bar.
• Ties / partial awards: Cortensor may declare ties, split awards, or issue honorable-mention grants at its discretion.
• Compliance: Entries must comply with all rules; violation may result in disqualification and forfeiture of prizes.
• KYC requirement: Cortensor may require KYC verification for any qualified or prize-winning entry. If requested, successful completion of KYC is mandatory to receive prizes.

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Suggested Project Ideas

New and emphasized for #4 (Agent Apps)

1) Real Operators: agents that run workflows

• Release Manager Agent Watches repos, builds changelogs, drafts release notes, posts weekly dev summaries.
• Incident Commander Agent Monitors router/validator health → detects anomalies → opens tickets → posts a short incident report.
• QA / Regression Agent Runs daily test scripts against endpoints, compares outputs, flags drift, and files issues with evidence.
• Community Support Agent Triage questions in Discord/Telegram, routes to docs, escalates edge cases to humans.

2) On-chain & crypto-native agents (safe + verifiable)

• Receipt Verifier Agent Takes tx hashes/receipts → explains what happened → validates expected state changes → emits an attestation artifact.
• Treasury Watch Agent Monitors balances/flows, posts alerts, generates periodic reports (with policy-based thresholds).
• Governance Analyst Agent Summarizes proposals, finds risks/tradeoffs, and provides structured “for/against” reasoning (with sources).

3) Multi-agent systems and coordination

• Coordinator Agent Breaks a goal into subtasks, delegates to specialized agents/tools, merges results, validates final output.
• Disagreement Resolver When two agents disagree, run multi-run validation + rubric scoring and return a structured arbitration bundle.

4) Memory & personalization (done responsibly)

• Project Memory Agent Maintains a structured memory store (decisions, constraints, TODOs), produces weekly deltas, supports “why did we decide X?”
• Knowledge Base Builder Turns docs/issues into a searchable map, then answers questions with citations + confidence + validation.

Tooling / DX ideas (still highly valued)

• Agent Starter Templates (TS/Python): tool registry, session helpers, structured logging, replay runner
• Evaluation Harness: local scripts to run N trials across models/runs; generate validation reports
• Observability dashboards: agent task success rates, latency, failure reasons, validator scores over time

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Ongoing Support

• Outstanding projects may receive monthly $COR grants for ongoing improvements.
• Exceptional teams may be offered dedicated roles in the Cortensor developer community.

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How to Participate

• Join Discord: discord.gg/cortensor
• Build openly in the community repo: https://github.com/cortensor/community-projects
• Submit your final app with a clear README showing functionality and Cortensor integration:
  • Create PR as submission at https://github.com/cortensor/community-projects
  • Demo App/URL
  • Documentation / Video
  • Cortensor Session IDs & Router Endpoint (if you used web2 integration)
  • Post all of the above into Discord #build-ground

Deliverables Checklist (Agent-focused)

• Public repo with permissive license (MIT/Apache-2.0)
• README with:
  • quickstart + runbook
  • architecture diagram
  • tool list (what the agent can do)
  • safety/constraints (what it refuses to do)
• Demo link (live URL or recorded video) + reproduction steps
• Agent runtime proof:
  • sample transcripts / logs
  • structured outputs (JSON where relevant)
  • replay script or test command
• Verification (recommended):
  • rubric prompt(s) / scoring policy
  • cross-run checks or validator usage
  • evidence bundle format (JSON + optional IPFS)

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Timeline

• Kick-off: TBD (Q1 2026)
• Submission deadline: TBD (≈6 weeks after kick-off)

If dates shift, we’ll announce updates in Discord.

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Evaluation Criteria

Mandatory: Working public demonstration during the hackathon (Discord/Telegram or designated channel). Projects not demonstrated will not qualify.

Scoring rubric:

• Agent capability & workflow completeness — 30%
• Integration with Cortensor (sessions, routing, validators, staking/payment flows; PoI/PoUW where applicable) — 25%
• Reliability & safety guardrails — 20%
• Usability & demo quality — 15%
• Public good impact (free access, docs, community value) — 10%

Bonus considerations: ERC-8004 artifacts, x402 flows, MCP patterns, /validate usage, on-chain records, tests/benchmarks, observability dashboards.

No Auto-Generated Submissions: Purely AI-generated entries without a working implementation do not qualify.

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Terms & Notes

• Optional surfaces (FYI): COR Prover, ERC-8004, x402, and MCP are internal/WIP and not required.
• Safety/Compliance: Projects must follow applicable laws and reasonable safety guidelines.
• Transparency: Clearly mark any centralized components or paid services used.
• Data: Use public or properly licensed datasets/APIs.
• Contact: Questions and office hours will be posted in Discord.

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Hackathon #4 is about agents that actually ship work — with execution you can rely on and results you can verify.

Let’s build agent apps that hold up in the real world.