HackForge

Inspiration

Hackathons are exciting, but participants often spend hours brainstorming ideas, organizing requirements, planning features, and preparing submissions instead of actually building. I wanted to create a single platform that simplifies this entire workflow so developers can focus on innovation. HackForge was built to act as an AI-powered hackathon copilot that guides users from idea generation to final submission.

What it does

HackForge helps developers throughout their hackathon journey by providing: AI-powered hackathon idea generation Project planning with milestones and tech stack suggestions Requirements and challenge generation Submission preparation Markdown documentation export Modern, responsive, and intuitive user interface The goal is to reduce time spent on repetitive planning tasks and increase productivity during hackathons.

How we built it

HackForge was built using: Next.js React TypeScript Tailwind CSS Vercel During development, OpenAI GPT-5.6 was used for brainstorming, UI refinement, documentation, and improving the overall user experience. OpenAI Codex was used for code generation, debugging, refactoring, and accelerating development. The final architecture, testing, feature selection, debugging, deployment, and project customization were completed manuall

Challenges we ran into

Some of the biggest challenges included: Designing an intuitive workflow that connects multiple hackathon stages. Managing component reusability while keeping the codebase clean. Fixing UI interactions such as navigation, copy functionality, and deployment issues. Delivering a polished MVP within the limited Build Week timeline.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We're proud that HackForge successfully delivers an end-to-end hackathon workflow in a clean and user-friendly interface. Some achievements include: Fully responsive modern UI Multiple AI-assisted planning features Successful deployment on Vercel Well-structured GitHub repository Professional documentation and project organization

What we learned

This project reinforced how AI can significantly accelerate software development when combined with human decision-making. We also gained practical experience with rapid prototyping, UI design, deployment workflows, GitHub integration, and building production-ready applications under hackathon constraints.

What's next for HackForge

Future versions of HackForge will include: GitHub integration Devpost submission automation User authentication Cloud project storage Team collaboration features AI chat assistant for hackathon guidance PDF and presentation generation Personalized hackathon recommendations Real-time project collaboration

Built With

• ai
• codex
• css
• gpt-5.6
• javascript
• next.js
• openai
• react
• tailwind
• typescript
• v0
• vercel