Beginner's Paradise - FirstCommit

By participating in First Commit, all participants agree to follow these rules and guidelines.

• First Commit is open to participants aged 13–21 years old.

• Participants may join from countries and territories supported by Devpost, excluding any restricted regions or locations where participation is not permitted.

• Participants do not need to be students, but the hackathon is designed primarily for students and young developers.

• Participants may compete individually or in teams.

• Teams may have up to 6 members.

• While larger teams are allowed, every team member must make a meaningful contribution and be able to explain their work during judging.

• All team members should be credited in the submission.

• Projects must be created during the hackathon period.

• Participants may use existing frameworks, libraries, templates, and tools, but the main project work must be completed during First Commit.

• Projects may include web apps, mobile apps, desktop applications, games, hardware projects, AI projects, or other software-related creations.

• Every project must have a public GitHub repository.

• Projects must show development progress through multiple meaningful commits.

• Submissions with the entire project uploaded in a single commit will be disqualified.

• Commit history should accurately represent the team's development process.

• AI tools are allowed and encouraged as learning resources.

• AI should assist your learning, debugging, brainstorming, and development process—not replace your understanding or the majority of your work.

• Participants must understand and be able to explain the code and decisions behind their projects.

• Significant AI usage must be disclosed in the README.

• Participants must submit AI chat history/screenshots if requested by organizers.

• All submitted projects must be publicly available through GitHub.

• Any external code, assets, APIs, libraries, templates, or resources used must be properly credited in the README.

• Failure to disclose copied or reused materials may result in disqualification.

Every submission must include:

• A public GitHub repository.

• A complete README containing:

  • Project overview.

  • Technologies used.

  • Setup instructions.

  • Credits and external resources used.

  • AI usage disclosure (if applicable).

• A project demo presentation explaining:

  • What the project does.

  • How it works.

  • The development process.

  • Challenges faced.

  • What was learned.

Missing required materials may result in disqualification.

Projects will be judged primarily on:

• Learning and growth throughout the hackathon.

• Understanding of the technology used.

• Creativity and problem-solving.

• Project execution.

• Quality of the presentation.

First Commit is designed for beginners, so technical complexity alone will not determine winners.

Public voting may be available as a community feature, but it will not affect the official judging results.

Participants must:

• Treat other participants, mentors, organizers, and judges with respect.

• Avoid harassment, discrimination, or inappropriate behavior.

• Collaborate honestly and fairly.

• Respect intellectual property and other participants' work.

Violations of the Code of Conduct may result in removal from the hackathon.

A participant or team may be disqualified for:

• Submitting copied or plagiarized work.

• Misrepresenting contributions or team member work.

• Uploading a project created before the hackathon.

• Using a single commit as the entire development history.

• Failing to disclose external resources or AI assistance.

• Violating the Code of Conduct.

• Providing false information in their submission.

Organizers reserve the right to make final decisions regarding eligibility and rule violations.