Global payment cards & full-power AI
On-site payment cards and credits for leading international AI APIs. Run the tokens and try the endpoints you’ve always held back on—all in three days.
Who says great code
needs a big-city address?
This time,
we’re bringing the world to you in Qingdao.
This isn’t a contest for collecting certificates. It’s a 72-hour underground lab by the sea, built by young people who refuse to give up. No résumés, no pedigree—just world-class AI compute, hardware boards, and 500 restless minds ready to debug together at 3 a.m.
// TO YOU, STILL WAITING FOR A SEAT AT THE TABLE
Ever had a night like this?
It’s 2:30 a.m. Your screen is the only light left. You scroll through the latest AI models from across the ocean, itching to build—until international payments, dev-board prices, and the pressure to follow a conventional path push you back into your chair.
If no one brings us the spark, we’ll move the entire arsenal to the shores of Qingdao ourselves.
On December 25, your signal gets an answer. Open the door—your people are already here.
02 / THE ARSENAL
Even without a prize,
this trip pays for itself.
Let’s be honest: this isn’t a corporate spectacle backed by billions. We started with nothing, bringing community and hardware partners aboard one by one. We know what it means to be held back, so we’re putting once-unthinkable resources in your backpack.
A Stack Anyway-level hardware arsenal
Tables of modules, powerful dev boards, sensors, and debugging gear. Bring a wild idea, then solder, take apart, and stack it up.
72 hours of food & fuel
Meals, midnight snacks, coffee, and energy drinks are covered. Focus on turning your wild idea into code that runs.
The inventors, here to fix bugs
Core engineers sit beside you to read errors and work through architecture. Life’s bigger questions are welcome, too.
03 / NO BULLSHIT, JUST CODE
Around here, running code does the talking.
No faking it
0 lines of code = 0 stage time
A demo that can’t run live won’t reach the judges. The spotlight belongs to people who build.
Meet your next team
Skip the résumé. Land an offer.
CTOs walk the floor, looking at your engineering, not your school. Your code is your VIP pass.
Everyone gets a stage
500 builders. A booth for everyone.
An expo for everyone, with space for every project. Put down roots, and we’ll help you grow.
04 / FIRST COMMIT IN QINGDAO
Shandong’s geek chronicle starts with you.
Other events showcase past winners. Here, the page is blank. You’re more than a participant—you’re the founding generation of HackFlows S1. When code freezes, your repository joins the record: HF-S1-001 through HF-S1-200.
SLOT #001
AWAITING COMMIT_
You, trying a full-power global AI model for the first time and rebuilding your workflow
SLOT #002
AWAITING COMMIT_
You, picking up a top-tier dev board for the first time to build your own cyber toy
SLOT #003
AWAITING COMMIT_
You, flying across China to Qingdao just to build side by side
05 / REAL TALK FAQ
Before you close this tab, one last thing.
I don’t feel skilled enough. Will I be out of my depth?
Even without prize money, getting a frontier model running, flashing a board you couldn’t afford, or finding a friend to talk with until 4 a.m. already makes the trip worthwhile. Never setting off is the only regret.
Can I apply alone if none of my friends are coming?
More than 60% come aboard on their own. In the community group and on Day 1, we’ll help you meet teammates who need your frontend, backend, hardware skills—or your wild ideas.
How do you select people? Do school names and awards matter?
Not at all. Show us your GitHub activity, a debugging write-up, a half-finished toy—or tell us in three sentences: with unlimited compute and hardware, what wild thing would you build?
DIMENSION ECHO // SIGNAL SENT
Don’t let your signal
fade into the wilderness.
You could stay warm, write another year-end report, and quietly slide into 2027.
Or pack your bag, step into the heat of 500 laptops, and say:
“Hey, my API works. Let’s get started.”
December 25. See you by the sea in Qingdao.
Come aboard · Join HackFlows S1 ↗