Kiroween 2026

🎃 Welcome back to Kiroween 👻

Kiro’s annual Halloween-themed hackathon returns in 2026. Last year, thousands of developers used Kiro to bring dead tech back to life, stitch together unexpected technologies, and create hauntingly good experiences. This year, it’s your turn to summon your creativity and build something unforgettable.

Registration is open now. The theme categories are the same as last year so you can start to think about your project idea, but complete challenge details including the full rules, submission requirements, judging criteria, different prizes, and bonus challenges will be released on Friday, October 30, 2026 when submissions formally open. The projects we saw last year blew us away. We’re looking for only new projects this year, so if you’ve been waiting for an excuse to build out a great idea for an app, this is your chance. You will have until Friday, December 4, 2026 at 2:00 PM Pacific Time to build and submit your project. Expect $100,000 in cash prizes.

Do not start building your project yet. Only new projects created during the submission period will be eligible. Let those ideas rest in peace until then. Register today to save your spot and get notified when it’s time to start building.

What to do before October 30:

• Find your Kiro user ID. Create or sign in to your Kiro account at kiro.dev. You will need a valid Kiro user ID or AWS account ID to register.

• Join the Kiro Discord. Meet the community, ask questions and get support from the Kiro team, and watch for event updates in the #kiroween-hackathon channel.

• Find your teammates. Browse the [Participants tab] to find a team (optional). You can enter alone or with a team, and you can decide that later.

• Get inspired. Dig through the Kiroween 2025 project gallery to see what last year's participants brought to life.

• Mark your calendar for October 30, when complete challenge details arrive and eligible building begins.

THEME CATEGORIES:

• Resurrection: Bring your favorite dead technology back to life. Reimagine obsolete tech with today’s innovations or solving tomorrow's problems.

• Frankenstein: Stitch together a chimera of technologies into one app. Bring together seemingly incompatible elements to build something unexpectedly powerful.

• Skeleton Crew: Build a skeleton code template lean enough to be clear but flexible enough to support various use cases. Show us its versatility with two distinct applications from your foundation.

• Costume Contest: Build any app but show us a haunting user interface that’s polished and unforgettable. Bring in spooky design elements that enhance your app’s function.