Version 2.0. This rulebook is binding. Registering means accepting every clause in it. Read Section 10 before you register, it covers ownership of what you build and it is the one part you should be certain about.
On the two brands. LofiStack and AskTechGuy run this event together. Registration and the event site live on LofiStack. Your code repository and the finalist showcase live on AskTechGuy. Both are ours, nothing is going anywhere unexpected.
1. Who can enter
- Open to anyone based in Bangladesh. Teams with members outside Bangladesh may enter, but every member must attend the full live window in Bangladesh Standard Time.
- Students, professionals, freelancers and agency teams are all welcome.
- Minimum age 16. Participants under 18 must have a signed guardian consent form on file before verification is complete, not later. See Section 4.
- All prize money is paid within Bangladesh, to Bangladeshi bank accounts. Internship offers require the right to work in Bangladesh.
- LofiStack and AskTechGuy staff running this event do not compete.
2. Teams
- A team is 2 to 4 people. Every team is scored identically regardless of size. There is no handicap and no bonus.
- One member registers as Team Leader and registers the whole team. The leader is our single point of contact and, if the team wins, the person the prize is paid to.
- We do not run a team-matching pool. Bring your own team.
- Team composition locks when verification completes. If a member drops out after that, the rest of the team may still compete, scored normally.
3. Registration
- Free. No entry fee, no hidden cost.
- Opens Monday 17 August. Closes Thursday 27 August, 23:59 BST.
- Registration is uncapped. However, places on event day are limited by proctor capacity. If verified teams exceed capacity, places are allocated in order of registration completion. We will tell you well in advance if this becomes relevant.
- Registering is not the same as being in. See Section 4.
4. Verification, mandatory, and you can do it on your own time
There is no scheduled call. Between 24 and 28 August, each member individually:
- Records a 30-second video, holding their photo ID up to the camera, saying their own name and their team name.
- Uploads it through the verification form.
That is the whole process. Every member must do it individually. One person cannot verify for the team.
Under 18: a signed guardian consent form must also be uploaded before your verification is accepted. The form is one page and downloadable from this site.
A team without complete verification does not compete. Verified teams receive the pod room link, the problem release and the submission form. Your device, camera and internet get tested at 17:00 on event day, in your pod, which is when it actually matters.
5. The event
| |
|---|
| Date | Sunday 30 August 2026 |
| Pod rooms open | 17:00, attendance and device check |
| Briefing | 17:30 |
| Build window | 18:00 to 22:00. Hard start, hard stop. |
| Problems released | 18:00:00, not before |
| Problems per team | Exactly 2, chosen from the 12 released |
- Cameras on for the whole window, for every member. See Section 6 for how this is actually checked, and for the exceptions that exist.
- Each team is assigned a pod room with a proctor. Stay in your pod.
- Your proctor may ask you to share your screen at any time. Refusing is a violation. Proctors will only ask to see your build environment. Close personal and work applications before 18:00.
- Talk freely within your team. Do not discuss the problems with anyone outside it.
6. Cameras, prayer, and losing your internet
We wrote this section carefully, because the default version of these rules punishes people for things that are not their fault.
Camera checks
Your camera stays on. Rather than watching every face continuously, which nobody can honestly do, your proctor will call a camera check at announced points during the event. A camera check is posted in your pod group. Failing to appear on camera within 3 minutes of a camera check is the violation. Nothing else is.
Prayer
Maghrib and Isha both fall inside the build window. Two windows are reserved:
| Window | Prayer |
|---|
| 18:15 to 18:40 | Maghrib |
| 19:30 to 19:55 | Isha |
Cameras off is fine. No notification needed. It is never a violation. And the early-submission clock stops for 20 minutes for every team automatically, applied equally whether you pray or not, so nobody gains and nobody loses. You do not need to report anything or prove anything.
Internet and power
Every member is expected to have a backup connection. A phone hotspot is enough, and you will be asked for your backup plan at registration. A team of two to four people is resilient by design: one member losing connectivity does not stop the team.
If you do lose connection, post in your pod group from your phone. Camera-off during a reported outage is never a violation. The clock does not stop for a single member outage, because backup was a stated requirement.
One exception: if your entire team is offline simultaneously for more than 20 minutes, which is an area-wide power cut that no personal backup solves, report it and the time may be credited back at the event lead's discretion.
Breaks
Take them. Tell your proctor. Come back.
7. What you may use
Allowed, without restriction
- AI coding tools. Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, Copilot, Gemini, all of them. This is an AI-era event run by an AI company. Use them well, that is part of what we are looking at.
- Any language, framework, library or package.
- Open-source code, templates, UI kits, component libraries, starter kits, subject to Section 8.
- Public documentation, Stack Overflow, tutorials, your own past public repositories.
- Any hosting provider. Any design tool, stock asset or icon set.
Not allowed
- Any code written for these specific problems before 18:00 on 30 August.
- Help from anyone who is not a member of your team. No outside developer, no friend on a call, nobody off camera.
- Sharing problems, solutions or approaches with another team during the event.
On the line between AI tools and outside help: an AI tool is a tool, a person is a person. Prompt Claude for an entire component if you like. Do not text a friend to write one.
8. Licences, what you may and may not bring in
Because we take ownership of submissions (Section 10), what you bring in matters.
You may not use:
- Components under AGPL, GPL, LGPL, MPL or SSPL, or any other copyleft or weak-copyleft licence.
- Any asset under a non-commercial or personal-use-only licence.
- Any code owned by your employer, a client, or anyone who has not given you the right to license it commercially.
You must submit a LICENSES.md listing every third-party dependency, template or asset you used, with its licence. This is one of the required submission components and it is scored.
If you are not sure whether something is allowed, ask in the Community before you use it. Asking is free, finding out afterwards is not.
9. Choosing problems and submitting
12 problems are released at 18:00, each tagged Easy, Medium or Hard. Your team picks exactly 2. Declare your picks in the pick form as soon as you decide. This is separate from your submission and does not start any clock.
A submission is complete only when all five of these exist, for each of your two problems:
- Source code in the repository we assign you, in our GitHub organisation. Commit as you work.
- A live URL that loads for a judge who has never seen your project, with no setup steps. Host it however you like, Vercel, Netlify, Render, Cloudflare, your own server. We do not care how, only that it works.
- A README, what it does, how to run it, what is mocked, what you would build next.
- A demo video, maximum 60 seconds. Show it working. Do not explain your architecture.
LICENSES.md per Section 8.
The submission clock
Your early-submission bonus is calculated from your last commit, not from when you fill in a form. Keep committing and you keep improving your judged score while your speed bonus falls. That trade-off is yours to make, and it is the same for everyone.
Both problems must be complete by 22:00. At 22:00 write access is revoked and every live URL is screenshotted and archived. Your work is judged against that archive, so a hosting account that sleeps three days later cannot hurt you.
10. Ownership of what you build
This is the clause to be sure about before you register.
LofiStack writes the problems, funds the prizes and hosts the event. In exchange:
You assign to LofiStack all rights in the work you submit, source code, assets, designs and documentation for both problems. LofiStack may use, modify, publish, commercialise or build on any submission without further permission or payment.
Every member accepts this individually. After registering, each member receives their own acceptance link with the full clause and a signature field. Your team is not verified until all members have accepted. A team leader cannot accept on anyone else's behalf.
You also warrant that you own or have the right to assign everything you submit, and that you have complied with Section 8. If a third party later claims rights in your submission, you agree to indemnify LofiStack. For participants under 18, this warranty and indemnity are given by the guardian who signs the consent form.
What you keep:
- The right to show your submission in your portfolio and to say publicly that you built it.
- Ownership of pre-existing code and open-source components you brought in, under their original licences.
- Your name on your work. We credit you wherever a submission is used or published.
Plainly: if you build something here and we later turn it into a product, that is ours to do. If that is not acceptable to you, please do not register. We would rather you decide now.
11. Violations
| Violation | Consequence |
|---|
| Failing to appear within 3 minutes of a camera check | Warning, then disqualification |
| Refusing a screen share of your build environment | Immediate disqualification |
| Someone present who is not a registered team member | Immediate disqualification |
| Pre-written code for a released problem | Immediate disqualification |
| Sharing problems or solutions with another team | Both teams disqualified |
| Submitting work that is not yours, or breaching Section 8 | Immediate disqualification |
| Harassment or abuse of any participant or staff | Immediate removal |
Disqualifications are communicated privately to the team concerned. We do not publish the names of disqualified teams or individuals.
Decisions are made by the event lead. Appeals may be raised within 48 hours of results and are decided by someone who was not involved in the original decision.
12. Prizes
| Award | Value |
|---|
| Winner | BDT 30,000 |
| Runner-up (two teams) | BDT 10,000 each |
The full prize is paid to the registered Team Leader's account, by direct bank transfer. Distribution within the team is the team's own arrangement, and LofiStack takes no part in it. Decide this among yourselves before you register.
Prize amounts are stated gross. Any deduction at source required by Bangladesh tax law will be applied, and a certificate issued.
Payout requires a national ID copy from the receiving member and a signed receipt. This is standard accounting practice and non-negotiable. If the Team Leader is under 18, payment is made to a guardian's account against the guardian's ID and signature. Payment within 5 working days of complete documentation.
13. Internship offers
Up to three individuals are offered a 3-month internship at LofiStack.
- Selection is individual, not team-based. Proctors record observations on every participant throughout the event. A strong individual on a team that placed nowhere is fully eligible, and yes, this means the four hours are also an interview. We would rather say that plainly than have you find out afterwards.
- Month 1 is a structured training period. Months 2 and 3 are paid, subject to performance.
- Full terms come with the offer letter. An offer is an offer, not an obligation on either side.
- Participants under 18 are not eligible for internship offers.
14. Results
- Submissions close at 22:00 on 30 August. Automatic scores are computed that night.
- Results are announced approximately one week later, around 6 September. We took the extra week deliberately: 4-hour builds deserve to be read properly rather than skimmed on a Monday morning.
- Every submitting team receives a personalised results email with their score breakdown by category and the judges' notes. Not a form letter.
- Every submitting team appears on a public results page with their project name and live URL, whether they placed or not.
- Every verified participant who submits receives a certificate.
15. Your data, and the recording
- Pod rooms may be recorded, and periodic screenshots of the pod grid are taken, for integrity review and dispute resolution only.
- Recordings and screenshots are retained for 30 days, then deleted. They are not published and not used for marketing.
- Access is restricted to a small named group. Do not screenshot or record other participants.
- If your home environment is a concern, use background blur or a virtual background. That is expected and completely fine. Your microphone stays muted except when speaking to your proctor.
- Full detail is in the Recording and Data Notice on this site.
16. Code of conduct and reporting
The full Code of Conduct is published separately and applies in every event space.
To report anything, including something about a proctor, a judge, or an organiser, email [email protected]. That address is deliberately not the proctor and not the event lead. Reports are handled privately.
17. Changes
We may correct errors or clarify ambiguity in this rulebook up to 27 August. Any change is announced in the Community and by email. Clauses may be amended at any time where required for legal compliance. If that happens, every registered participant is notified and may withdraw and have their data deleted.
After 27 August the rules are frozen.
Questions: ask in the Community, not by DM. Answers given publicly stay fair for everyone.