"Eh I" Summer Vibe Hackathon (Ottawa - July)
Biggest AI / vibe coding hackathon in the region 🇨🇦
All levels of experience welcomed!
Prize pool: over $6000, in addition to swags, goodies, over $20,000 in credits, food and more.
Sponsored by Vercel, Windsurf, Tavily, LangChain, Google and more.
The “Eh I” Summer Vibe Hackathon is your chance to channel that Canadian spark into agentic tools, wild experiments, and maybe even the next startup. Whether you’re from Ottawa, Toronto, Montréal, or beyond, join us on July 5 for a full day of food, hacking, and fun.
Ship something cool in a day (with the help of AI), and win! Food will be provided.
"I think the role of Software Engineer will transition to Product Engineer. Human taste is now more important than ever as codegen tools make everyone a 10x engineer."
- Leo Paz (Outlit, W25) 👈 From AIT Ottawa!!! 🇨🇦
Prizes:
$2000: Best use of Tavily's web crawl API (sponsored by Tavily)
$600: Best implementation of MCP in a coding agent (sponsored by Ross Video)
$500: The Geminis - Most Canadian Agent - most action-oriented, useful and helpful - and polite - agent (sponsored by Google)
$500: Best Voice Agent that can securely access user’s data (sponsored by Remitian)
$500: Best AI Copilot for Early-Stage Startup Founders (sponsored by Invest Ottawa)
$100: Best use of external knowledge (sponsored by DashQ)
$100: Most impactful project (sponsored by Vectorize)
$100: Knowledge Seeker Agent (sponsored by PromptCircle)
$1000 in Langchain credits: Best Ambient / Async Agent: agent that runs in the background (sponsored by LangChain)
$300 in Windsurf credits: Best use of Windsurf (sponsored by Windsurf)
$600 in Vercel Credits / team member: Application with best design (Sponsored by Vercel)
$500 cash to social posts with the most engagement (LinkedIn or X)
Core Tools to Explore:
Windsurf
Superwhisper
Claude Code
Firebase Studio
Agenda (Tentative):
9:30 Arrive
10:00 Talks Begin
11:00 Hacker Lightning Talks
11:55 Vibe Coding Begins
12:00 Lunch Served
5:00 Dinner
6:30 Demos & Presentations
9:20 Judging
9:30 Celebrate winners & adjourn!
Workshops:
12:00 - My top tips for building with Lovable - Mindaugus, Growth + Strategy at Lovable
12:30 - How to build a business out of your vibe-coded project - Kazi Hossain, Founder of Thred AI, raised from top angels in Silicon Valley
1:30 - AI & Agents on Google Cloud Platform /w Brett Tackaberry, Google Canada
2:00 - Connect your AI agents to custom data with Tavily by Tavily Team
2:30 - How to use Windsurf the right way by Thoufeek, Brand Ambassador for Windsurf, AI Tinkerers organizer
3:00 - Getting started with Cursor by Shrey, Cursor Ambassador from Halifax
3:30 - I reverse-engineered how anyone can launch a mobile app and make money /w Arthur, Full Stack Builder from Ottawa
4:00 - How to grow your business 10x with with AI and UGC Meta ads - Dillion Verma, Founder of Refract, Magic UI (16K Github stars)
4:30 - How to market your business using AI /w Lubna Forzley, Founder @ Stories
Judges:
Hai Nghiem - founded AIT Ottawa / howit.works
Brett Tackaberry - Principal Architect for the Public Sector at Google Cloud
Pierre-Olivier Charlebois - CTO @ Remitian
Chris Bartholomew - CTO @ Vectorize
William Ratté - CTO @ DashQ
Thoufeek Baber - Windsurf
Dean & Mike - Engineers from Tavily
Ugo Osuji - Founder @ PromptCircle / Engineer @ Writer
Parisa Zare - Market Insights @ Invest Ottawa
Rami Alhamad - Founder @ Alma
More will be announced!
FAQ
Is the hackathon in person?
Yes! This is an in-person event. Being in the same space with curious, driven builders adds a whole new layer of energy. Surrounded by brilliant minds, tight timelines, and shared ambition—this is where the magic happens.
What should I bring?
Your laptop
Your energy and curiosity
A charger or two
And your tinkering spirit
Will food and drinks be provided?
Yes! We’ve got snacks, meals, and caffeine to keep you going.
What if I don't have an idea?
No problem at all:
Join a team working on something exciting
Or pick from a list of idea prompts we’ll have ready
What if I don't have a team?
Also totally fine:
You can hack solo
Or meet potential teammates at the event—we’ll help make intros
I don't know how to code, should I still join?
Definitely.
With vibe coding, you can build apps using natural language instead of traditional code
Team up with coders and contribute your product instincts, domain expertise, or wild creativity
This is a space for makers, designers, tinkerers, and storytellers—not just coders
Who are AI Tinkerers?
Our group welcomes developers of all backgrounds. If you’re passionate about the technicalities behind developing AI systems, this is a home for you. Our promise is to provide a stage for open-source AI developers to share code and the lessons they’ve learned from experimentation.
Join our Discord to get started (click here)
Organizers
Previous hackathon photos
Community support
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