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the next craft

In-person hackathon

LIMA · BOGOTÁ · GUATEMALA · AREQUIPA · EL SALVADOR · 1 AUG 2026 · 12 HOURS

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10 PRINT "MANIFESTO"

Not an event. 12 hours of building.

The Next Craft is the in-person hackathon by Crafter Station × Next. 12 hours of real work, running simultaneously in Lima, Bogotá, Guatemala, Arequipa and El Salvador, with 300 hackers solving real problems.

Admission is selective. No room for spectators, no space for pretty slides. You come to ship real product: with users, with data, with something that works when the clock runs out.

20 PRINT "TL;DR"

  • DATE

    1 AUG 2026

  • PLACE

    Lima · Bogotá · Guatemala · Arequipa · El Salvador

    5 in-person hubs

  • FORMAT

    12 hours in-person

  • SEATS

    300

  • TEAMS

    3–5 people

  • DEADLINE

    31 JUL 2026

    23:59 GMT-5

30 PRINT "TRACKS"

3 TRACKS. PICK YOUR WEAPON.

The bar is still one: what you build has to be used by someone real before the bell rings.

TRACK 01 — 03

CREATE · PUBLISH · DISTRIBUTE

CONTENT MACHINE

Build tools that create, edit, publish or distribute content — designed as a real product, not a demo. Something people actually use and that runs on its own.

STARTING POINTS ↓

  • An assistant that turns your work into content and publishes it for you
  • Long-form → clips, picking the best moments instead of random cuts
  • A tool that repurposes your old content in a smart way
  • Publish to several platforms at once, without it breaking
  • Not just generating content: measuring whether it actually lands

This is how products grow today. The challenge is making it work for real and at scale, not just in the demo.

TRACK 02 — 03

WEIRD · EXPERIMENTAL · UNCLASSIFIABLE

OUT OF THE BOX

Build something weird, experimental or unclassifiable — but with a technical spark. Real-time, novel interfaces, generative, hardware. The rule: make people react.

STARTING POINTS ↓

  • A voice interface that responds instantly
  • Something generative and live that reacts to whoever uses it
  • A game with characters that actually think
  • Something that mixes hardware or sensors with AI
  • An extension that does something unexpected with the page
  • A 'joke but useful' app with a good trick behind it

Viral projects come from here. Permission to experiment instead of building another SaaS — but done well.

TRACK 03 — 03

LEARN BY DOING · NOT WATCHING

LEARNING BY SHIPPING

Build tools to learn by doing: that adapt, give real feedback and evaluate your work. No passive education — the product has to make you do.

STARTING POINTS ↓

  • A tutor that teaches with projects and gives you real feedback
  • Feedback that adapts to what you already know and what you're missing
  • Practice that adjusts to what you tend to forget
  • Practice interviews that actually evaluate you
  • An environment that runs and tests your code while you learn
  • Mentor matching that connects the right people

The education track, but with a better angle: less school, more doing.

Schedule — Saturday August 1, 2026, from 09:00 to 21:00

40 PRINT"SCHEDULE" · 12 HOURS

  • 08:30Registration and check-in
  • 09:00Kickoff — rules and team formation
  • 09:30Hacking begins
  • 11:00Mentorship with Next Fellow and Crafter Station
  • 13:00Lunch
  • 16:00Progress check-in git status
  • 18:30Snack break — 3 hours left
  • 20:00Code freeze + submit git commit -m "final"
  • 20:15Demos — 3 minutes per team, live product

50 PRINT "PRIZES"

Prize TBA

MAIN PRIZE TBA

FOR EVERYONE WHO GETS IN

  • Mentorship throughout the 12 hours
  • Official event swag
  • Access to the Crafter Station community
  • Tool credits
  • Food during the event

Jury evaluates with live demo + pitch. We'll publish the rubric soon.

60 PRINT "SPONSORS"

Want to sponsor? → sponsors@crafterstation.com

70 PRINT "FAQ"

DO YOU BUILD? APPLY.

Deadline: July 31, 2026, 23:59 GMT-5. 300 seats, selective admission. Free. The form is 8 questions, 90 seconds.

[ APPLY → ]