CreateAThon

Overview

CreateAThon, hosted by Hacker's Unity, is an online hackathon challenging participants to develop production-ready integrations for Cognee, an open-source memory layer designed for AI agents. Instead of creating a temporary project, all contributions merge directly into the Cognee product codebase, which is utilized by developers globally. This initiative aims to enhance the functionality of AI agents by providing them with real-world context through an interconnected knowledge graph. The event runs for the entire month of October and is structured for individual contributions, making it accessible to participants worldwide without any cost. Cognee addresses the limitation of AI models that start without context on each call by ingesting various data types like documents, chats, code, and other data sources. It transforms this information into a cohesive knowledge graph, enabling AI agents to reliably remember and reason across multiple sessions. Participants can engage in two primary ways: either by selecting and addressing an existing integration-related issue labeled on the Cognee GitHub repository (e.g., for platforms like GitLab, Linear, Elasticsearch, AWS S3), or by proposing and developing a brand-new integration not yet supported by Cognee. Alongside their code contributions, participants are required to publish a short blog post explaining the real-world application and functionality of their integration on platforms such as Substack, Dev.to, or Medium. The prize pool totals over $5,000, including a top contributor prize of $2,000, which can be taken as cash or a choice of an iPhone Duo or MacBook Pro. Additionally, twenty randomly selected individuals who successfully submit a merged Pull Request will each receive a $100 cash prize. The event emphasizes practical, merged contributions that directly benefit the open-source community.

What to build

Participants are required to build production-ready integrations for Cognee, an open-source memory layer for AI agents. Contributions merge directly into the Cognee product codebase. There are two paths for contribution: 1. Path A (Pick an Existing Issue): Choose an open issue labeled 'INTEGRATIONS' on the Cognee GitHub repository. Examples of integrations include GitLab, Linear, Elasticsearch, Postman, AWS S3, and ClickUp. 2. Path B (Propose a New Integration): Propose a brand-new integration that Cognee does not yet support by opening a new GitHub issue. A maximum of 5 new issues can be proposed. Alongside each Pull Request (PR), contributors must publish a short blog post (on platforms like Substack, Dev.to, or Medium) explaining how the integration works in a real-world context.

Prizes

Key dates

• Duration StartOctober 1, 2026
• Deadline for SubmissionsOctober 31, 2026 @ 5:00pm EDT

Eligibility

Participants must be above the legal age of majority in their country of residence.

How to enter

1. Pick an Issue: Browse open integration issues on the Cognee GitHub repository. Comment with your proposed approach and get assigned by @NMZivkovic before starting work.
2. Build & Open PR: Follow the Cognee integration guidelines and open your Pull Request during October.
3. Write a Blog Post: Create a guide or real-world use case for your integration and publish it.
4. Submit: Fill out the submission form on WeMakeDevs with your PR link and blog post link (up to 5 active PRs allowed at a time).

Submission requirements

• Build integrations for Cognee, an open-source memory layer for AI agents.
• Contributions must be production-ready and merge directly into the Cognee product codebase.
• Choose an existing 'INTEGRATIONS' labeled issue on the Cognee GitHub repository, or propose a new integration (up to 5 new issues max).
• Publish a short blog post (Substack, Dev.to, Medium, etc.) explaining how the integration works in the real world, alongside each Pull Request (PR).

Judging criteria

• Innovation
• Technical Implementation
• Presentation

Resources

• Official Cognee Discord