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Pi Network 2023 Q1 Hackathon Kickoff, Instructions and Resources

By January 11, 2023May 2nd, 2023Announcement, Hackathon

Pi Network is excited to kick off 2023 by announcing the launch of a new Hackathon! The network is building on the momentum from the 2022 College Hackathons and the 2021 Pi Hackathon, and continues to facilitate the development of quality Pi Apps. This hackathon will span until February 28, 2023.

Over the past few years, Pi Network has built the world’s most widely distributed cryptocurrency with over 35 million members across the globe, and the necessary ecosystem infrastructure. In 2023, as part of the mission of growth and utilities-building during the current Enclosed Network period of Mainnet, the network is continuing to expand and improve its app platform. This is to enable more community development and collectively become an even more robust utilities-based ecosystem.

That’s where you come in: Pioneers and developers like you are encouraged to contribute to Pi Network and ecosystem growth by building mobile web apps that bring true utility to the users. We’re looking for creative, utility-focused apps; these could be entertainment, education, social interaction, access to information, consumer utilities, or anything else you can think of.

Read on for more hackathon details, including the challenge and prize information; important onboarding, team formation, and project submission instructions; and helpful resources as you begin to develop!

The Challenge

Pioneers and developers are invited to build mobile web apps that address a real user need, support the use of Pi cryptocurrency, and are intuitive to use and accessible to everyday people.

Developing on Pi is easy, and doesn’t require any previous blockchain or crypto experience – simply build a mobile web app, integrate our SDK with JavaScript, and make API calls. If you want to participate in the Hackathon, follow the instructions further below  to get started!

Themes

You may choose to focus your project on one of themes below, or choose the Open Innovation theme and create the best app you can that doesn’t fall into one of the following categories. 

  • Social Media
    • What if users could send or receive micro-payments as part of this new category of social media you are creating? What if the use of staking can bubble up the best content? What if content creators can be rewarded for great content? You can be the innovator to bring micro-transactions into social media for the first time.
  • Games / Entertainment
    • This is the track for all things entertainment; show us your best games and entertainment apps that will keep our audience engaged in any way you can imagine. Don’t forget to integrate the Pi cryptocurrency as closely as possible to your ideas.
  • Consumer Utilities
    • This category is for all apps that provide utilities to our members, or to other businesses. Examples may include loyalty programs for businesses that bring the power of blockchain to the masses, marketplace apps, education platforms and more.
  • Open innovation
    • Show us your best idea – what is the coolest app you can think of?!

Prizes and Rewards*

Cash Prizes (all in USD): There will be a total of $30,000 in cash prizes available as follows:

  • $15,000 to the overall winner
  • $2,000 to three runners-up
  • $1,000 to the theme winners for four theme categories (see Themes section above)
  • $5,000 for winning team of a separate round of judging

Pi Cryptocurrency Rewards: Eligible teams, and their individual members, can earn 100 or more in Pi Cryptocurrency Rewards for achieving the following milestones and accomplishments:

  • Individual Pi Cryptocurrency Rewards:
      • 1.00Pi – Creating a Pi account with a referral code (existing Pioneers have likely already done this)
      • 5.60Pi  – Trying out our Demo App code
        • 0.10Pi  – Tier 1: Create App on DevPortal
        • 0.50Pi  – Tier 2: Run Demo locally on Sandbox
        • 5.00Pi  – Tier 3: Deploy Demo App on Servers
      • 1.00Pi  – Viewing Workshop recordings and correctly answering corresponding quiz questions (0.5Pi per workshop quiz)
  • Team Pi Cryptocurrency Rewards These rewards are only available under the PiOS Track as explained further below, and are meant to reward novel, thoughtful, working and deployed projects regardless of the idea. Thus, the rewards listed below are at the discretion of the Pi Core Team:
    • 20.00Pi – Participating in a mid-point check in
    • 72.40Pi – Deploying a fully functional app on Pi Mainnet using the PiOS license

The Pi Cryptocurrency Rewards described above, and which are being made available to Hackathon developers, will come out of the reserve set aside for “supporting community organization and ecosystem building,” as explained in the updated Pi whitepaper chapters released on December 28, 2021. More information on how it works will follow in a separate announcement.

Onboarding

Follow these important steps to get started with your Hackathon project and get set up in the Pi Ecosystem.

  1. If you haven’t already, set up the Pi Browser:
    1. Download the app( Apple App Store or Google Play)
    2. Sign in to the Pi Browser with your Pi Account
      1. More instructions here or in this video
  2. Open the Pi Browser and enter the Pi Developer Portal by tapping the “develop.pi” icon. If you are entering the Developer Portal for the first time, follow these steps:
    1. Once you have registered your email and agreed to the necessary Terms, tap the “Register App” icon
    2. Fill in the required fields; if you don’t have a project idea yet, you can fill in placeholder information (e.g. name your app “Test”)
    3. Under the App Network, select “Pi Testnet”
    4. Tap the “Submit” icon, and you should see your App Dashboard
    5. Join this hackathon on the Developer Portal: tap the “Hackathon” icon, and enter code “2023Q1Hackathon”. This will add you to the hackathon, and you should then be able to see the Pi Rewards checklist and begin working on your app to claim Pi!
  3. Go to the Pi Browser home screen and enter the Brainstorm app by tapping the “brainstorm.pi” icon
  4. If you are a developer, complete the Developer Quiz on Brainstorm to gain the Developer badge

Team Formation

  1. Open the Pi Browser app and tap the “brainstorm.pi” icon on the Browser home screen
  2. You can either create a project by tapping the “Propose” button,  or join an existing team by scrolling through the featured projects under the “proposals-2023” filter
  3. Note: If you wish to include “Pi” in your app name, it may NOT be the prefix of your app name. Read the Pi Network Trademark Guidelines for more information.
  4. If joining an existing team, fill in the “Skills you can provide” and “How can you help” sections to tell the existing project members more about your skills and experience.
  5. If your request is accepted by the team admin, you can tap “Open Project Chat Room” to start collaborating

PiOS Track

The Pi Open Source (PiOS) Software License allows Pi Community Developers to create Pi Open Source applications and tools for the Pi Ecosystem. The PiOS license grants unrestricted use of the software only within the Pi Ecosystem. Developers are encouraged to use this license when developing a Pi App. Only developers using the PiOS license will be eligible to receive the 20Pi and 72.4Pi Cryptocurrency Reward levels as explained above. Follow the instructions below to use the PiOS license.

  1. Create a Brainstorm Proposal for the project (or join an existing Brainstorm project, per instructions above under Team Formation)
    1. Projects without a Brainstorm proposal link will not be accepted
  2. Follow the instructions here https://github.com/pi-apps/PiOS
  3. The Pi Core Team will review submissions, and if accepted, merge the PR
  4. The Pi Core Team will create a new repository for your project within the pi-apps github organization. The github account that submits the PR will get admin access to the newly created repository with full rights to control their repository, such as inviting their team members, editing, adding or accepting code from the community, or even moving or deleting their repository
  5. Develop your project within this repository. You can maintain your application from this new repository and receive, review, and accept PRs from other contributors.
    1. Note: If you wish to include “Pi” in your app name, it may NOT be the prefix of your app name. Read the Pi Network Trademark Guidelines for more information
  6. Add the PiOS license file to the project repository
    1. Update the license with the required information
  7. When ready to submit your project, follow the steps in the Submission Guidelines below

Project Submission Guidelines

  1. You must submit your final project on the Pi Brainstorm App, and your Brainstorm project listing should include the following:
    1. a description of your app (3-4 sentences maximum)
    2. a presentation on your app in the form of a YouTube video (5 minutes maximum)
    3. The URL where your application can be accessed through the Pi Browser. It is ok if your app only works on Testnet mode, but Mainnet apps are preferred.
  1. Create a publicly accessible YouTube video that includes the following:
    1. Overview of your project (what is it?)
      1. Who is your target audience?
      2. What is the problem you are solving, or user needs you are addressing?
      3. How do you solve that problem/need from a user perspective?
    2. How did you integrate Pi into your project?
    3. Demonstration of the app functionality and user-flow
    4. Brief overview of your tech
      1. From a technical perspective how do you solve the key problem?
      2. What unique features have you built into your app?
      3. What major product qualities or achievements do you want to highlight?
    5. This video should be no longer than 5 minutes

Submission Instructions

  1. In the Pi Brainstorm App, ensure your project summary is up to date
  2. Add a link to your YouTube presentation video in the “Presentation video” field
  3. If you are using the PiOS license, add a link to your Github repository in the “Github repo” field
  4. Tap the “SUBMIT FOR REVIEW” button, then tap ”CONFIRM” when you are ready to submit

Resources

Developer Onboarding Guide

  • Our Developer Onboarding Guide details all of the steps to get set up as a new developer along with covering the unique benefits and features Pi Network offers to developers
  • To get started quickly, check out the Getting Started Checklist for a step-by-step guide to start building on Pi

Developer Documentation

  • If you are already familiar with our ecosystem and want to jump into our developer documentation, then head over to our Pi Platform Github Repository
  • It has all of the information needed to integrate our Pi SDK and our APIs

Pi Demo App (Boilerplate Code)

  • To see the demo application in action, navigate to “demo.pi” within the Pi Browser to interact with live instances that are on the Pi Testnet
  • To review or clone the demo application’s code visit the Pi Demo App Repository

*Subject to other terms and conditions set forth in the terms of service for the Hackathon which can be found in the Brainstorm.pi app

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