JacHacks a2Tech

JacHacks a2Tech is a one-day AI hackathon hosted by Jaseci Labs at the Leinweber Computer Science and Information Building at the University of Michigan on September 26, $9,000 in prizes, and a room full of builders shipping real projects in under 9 hours.

This is the third event in the JacHacks series. Our first two brought together 500+ hackers who shipped 150+ projects, and now we're bringing it to SF with sponsors including NVIDIA, Base44, Lovable, Koyal AI, and NSF.

What makes JacHacks different is it's built around Jac, an AI-native programming language designed for exactly the kind of agentic AI projects everyone's trying to build right now. You don't need to know Jac walking in. We run a workshop that takes you from zero to shipping in an hour. Total beginners, students, professionals, and founders are all welcome, and you don't need a team to sign up. Come solo and we'll match you at team formation.

Beyond the build, the day is stacked: a keynote from Prof. Jason Mars, a resume review + big tech recruiting workshop with Jeff Nguyen, and a YC application workshop with Mehul from Koyal AI (YC F25). Plus meals and snacks all day and merch for every builder.

About the challenge

Build something real in one day. Every project is eligible for track prizes. Judging is live and in person: 4-minute demos in parallel groups, with top teams doing a second-round demo before the closing ceremony. Working demos beat slide decks.

Get started

Join the Discord — all announcements, schedule updates, and team matching happen there. Post questions in #ask-an-organizer.

Get familiar with Jac — optional, but a head start never hurts. Check out jaseci.org and the open-source repo at github.com/jaseci-labs/jaseci. We'll teach you the rest at the workshop.

Brainstorm ideas — thinking ahead is allowed and encouraged. Just remember all actual building happens during hacking hours (10:45 AM–7:15 PM ET).

Register your team on Devpost — up to 4 people. No team? Come anyway, we'll match you at the event.