Hackathon playbook

Short hackathon = judges see a ~3-minute pitch and/or a ~90-second demo video. Optimise for one working happy path + a story + a look that feels finished, and — when the judges score it — a believable business: market, pricing, how it scales. Never build breadth.

Execution contract — read first, non-negotiable

These rules override your own judgement about time, efficiency or "what matters most". Agents under perceived time pressure tend to silently drop steps; these rules exist to stop exactly that.

1. Follow the phases in order and do every step of every phase. For each phase, load the named skill and do what that skill says — fully, not a summary of it.
2. You never decide to skip, merge, shorten or "fast-track" a phase or a step. Not because of time, not because it seems obvious, not because the user seems to know already. Only the user can skip or reorder, and only by saying so explicitly ("skip the logo", "no video", "go straight to build").
3. Running behind is not a reason to cut. If a phase is over its timebox, say so in one line with the numbers ("phase 7 is 20 min over, 1 h 10 left") and ask which phase to cut or shorten. Wait for the answer. Until then, keep doing the current phase properly.
4. Every phase ends with its output on disk (the Output column below) and a ticked line in HACKATHON.md. A phase without its output is not done — do not start the next one.
5. Do not invent constraints. Never claim "there's no time", "this isn't needed for a hackathon" or "judges won't care" unless the user said it.
6. When unsure what the user wants, ask one short question — do not guess by dropping work.
7. When a phase points to a file in references/ (next to this SKILL.md), read the whole file at the start of that phase and do every step in it. The steps live there to keep this file short, not because they are optional.

HACKATHON.md (create it in phase 0, update it after every phase)

# Hackathon — <project name>
Start: <HH:MM>   End: <HH:MM>   Deliverables: deck ☐ video ☐ live demo ☐
Profile: <2h | 4.5h | 8h | 24h | 48h>   Team: <solo | 2 | 3–4 | 5+>   Confirmed by user: ☐
Roles: <name/handle → role>          (owner column below uses these)

- [ ] 0. Kickoff — rules, judging criteria, deliverables, profile, roles      @owner
- [ ] 1. Idea check — <one-sentence problem>
- [ ] 2. Market check — depth: full ☐ lite ☐ · verdict: go ☐ pivot ☐ kill ☐ (user's call)
- [ ] 3. MVP scope — <3–4 features, critical flow>
- [ ] 4. Business model — pricing, lean canvas, scalability
- [ ] 5. Brand — BRAND.md (name, positioning, voice) + logo + DESIGN.md
- [ ] 6. UI direction — DESIGN.md direction locked
- [ ] 7. Build — happy path works end to end
- [ ] 8. Polish + feature freeze
- [ ] 9. Repo README — badges, proof table, screenshots
- [ ] 10. Pitch story
- [ ] 11. Slides           (if deck)
- [ ] 12. Demo video       (if video)
- [ ] 13. Rehearsal
Skipped by user: <phase — user's words — time>

Every line ends with its owner (@handle, or @all). Only the user's explicit words go under "Skipped by user". If that line is empty, every box must end up ticked.

Phases (timeboxes shown for the 4.5 h solo profile — other lengths and team sizes: references/scale.md)

Rules of thumb

• One owner per decision: when two skills serve the same phase, the playbook says which one owns the decision and what the other adds. On a conflict the owner wins — never mix their rules or keep two sources of truth (one DESIGN.md, one BRAND.md).
• One voice everywhere: if a sentence would not fit BRAND.md, rewrite it.
• Cut scope before writing code. If a feature is not in DEMO.md, it does not exist.
• Hardcode / seed data freely; judges do not see the backend.
• The pitch follows: problem (with a real quote or number) → who → demo → market & business (when judged) → why now → ask.
• Feature freeze at phase 8; everything after is README, deck, video and rehearsal.
• The live demo always has a backup: the exported video or screenshots.

Optional boosters — use when installed

If one of these exists in your skill list, the phase must use it in addition to the skills above; if it does not exist, carry on without it (that is not a skip). infographic is installed by this playbook; the rest you add yourself.

Other useful skills

• Research: last30days (Reddit, X, YouTube, HN, GitHub, Polymarket; TikTok / Instagram with a ScrapeCreators key).
• Ideas when stuck: brainstorm if installed, otherwise pm-brainstorm-ideas-new.
• Social launch post: social-content.