USC | Build with Trae and MiniMax

• Open to currently enrolled college students (undergraduate, graduate, or PhD) at any accredited university. You must be able to show a valid student ID at check-in.
• No age restriction beyond university enrollment, but all participants must be 18 or older.
• Students from any major are welcome — you do not need to be a CS student.
• Organizers, judges, sponsors, and volunteers are not eligible to compete.

• Team size: 1–4 people. Solo Dev allowed. No teams of 5 or more.
• Teams can be pre-formed before the event or formed during the team matching session.
• At least one team member must be able to write code.
• All team members must be individually registered on Luma and individually registered on Devpost.
• All team members must physically check in at TCC Franklin Suite on March 28. If any team member does not check in, that person must be removed from the submission. Teams with fewer than 2 checked-in members are disqualified.
• You may only be on one team. You cannot submit multiple projects.

Theme: AI Agents for Productivity & Life Hacks. Your project must be an AI-powered agent that solves a real productivity problem or life hack — something that automates, simplifies, or improves a task people deal with in daily life.

• Your project must use TRAE AI as your primary development environment.
• Your project must integrate at least one Minimax API (text generation, vision, speech, or video) as the core intelligence behind your agent.
• You may use additional tools, libraries, frameworks, and APIs beyond TRAE AI and Minimax, but the two above are mandatory.
• Photon Bonus Track: Teams that deploy their agent into a real messaging platform (iMessage, WeChat, etc.) using Photon's SDK are eligible for a separate $1,000 side prize + Photon Residency Program access. Photon's iMessage SDK requires macOS — at least one team member needs a Mac. This is optional.

• All projects must be started from scratch after the official start time (6:30pm PT, March 27, 2026). No pre-built projects, no reusing prior hackathon submissions, no forking existing repos and modifying them.
• Your first GitHub commit must be timestamped after 6:30pm PT on March 27. Judges will check commit history. Projects with commits before the start time will be disqualified.
• You may use open-source libraries, public APIs, starter templates provided by sponsors, and publicly available boilerplate code. You may NOT use code you or your team wrote before the hackathon.
• Design assets (logos, mockups, wireframes) may be created before the hackathon, but all functional code must be written during the event.
• Pre-existing machine learning models (including Minimax's models and any public models) may be used. You may NOT use models you personally trained before the event specifically for this project.

• Hacking begins: 6:30pm PT, March 27 (virtual kickoff via Discord/Zoom).
• In-person day: TCC Franklin Suite opens at 9:00am, March 28.
• In-person check-in cutoff: 11:00am, March 28. All team members must check in before this time.
• Code freeze: 6:30pm PT, March 28. All coding must stop. All Devpost submissions must be finalized.
• Total hacking time: 24 hours.

The first ~15 hours (March 27 evening through March 28 morning) are remote. You can hack from anywhere. The final ~9 hours (March 28, 9:00am–6:30pm) are in-person at TCC Franklin Suite.

You are not required to hack for all 24 hours. You may start at 6:30pm March 27 or arrive fresh on March 28 morning — that's your choice. But all teams must be checked in by 11:00am March 28 regardless of when they started.

• Physical check-in at TCC Franklin Suite by 11:00am on March 28 is mandatory for your submission to be judged.
• Every team member listed on the Devpost submission must be individually checked in. If a member cannot attend, remove them from the submission before code freeze.
• Check-in requires a valid student ID and your Luma registration QR code.
• Teams that do not complete check-in will not be eligible for any prizes, including the Photon bonus prize and People's Choice.
• No exceptions.

All submissions must be completed on Devpost by 6:30pm PT, March 28. Late submissions will not be accepted.

Every team must submit:

• Project name and tagline — one sentence describing what your agent does.
• Description — 2–3 paragraphs explaining: what problem it solves, how it works, and which Minimax API(s) you used.
• Demo video (required) — 2-minute maximum screen recording showing your agent in action. This is your backup if live demo fails during presentations. Upload to YouTube (unlisted) or include a direct video file.
• GitHub repository link — must be public. Judges will review commit history to verify the project was built during the hackathon.
• Slide deck (optional but recommended) — max 5 slides for your 3-minute presentation.
• "Built with" tags — tag: TRAE AI, Minimax, and Photon if applicable.
• Photon bonus track applicants: include a screenshot or short video showing your agent running inside a real messaging conversation.

Code freeze is 6:30pm PT, March 28. This means:

• No more commits to your repo.
• No more edits to your Devpost submission.
• No more changes to your demo or slides.

This is strictly enforced. Judges will check your last commit timestamp. Commits after 6:30pm will result in disqualification.

You may continue to prepare your verbal presentation and practice your pitch after code freeze. You just cannot change any code, assets, or submission materials.

• Presentations are opt-in. When submitting on Devpost, indicate whether your team wants to present live.
• Format: 3 minutes to present + 2 minutes of judge Q&A. Hard cutoff enforced by timer.
• You may demo live or present from your slide deck and demo video. We strongly recommend having your demo video as a backup in case of technical issues.
• All presentations happen on a shared presentation laptop connected to the projector. Upload your slides and demo materials during the demo prep window (6:30–6:50pm).
• Presentation order is randomized.
• If more than 20 teams opt in, organizers reserve the right to run a preliminary screening round based on Devpost submissions, with the top teams selected for live demos.

Projects will be evaluated on the following criteria:

• Product Completeness (25%) — Does it work? Can you demo it? Is it a functional agent, not just a concept?
• Use of TRAE AI (20%) — Did the team use TRAE AI as their development environment and leverage its AI-assisted features?
• Use of Minimax (20%) — How deeply is Minimax integrated? Did the team use its models creatively? Multiple modalities?
• Innovation & Creativity (20%) — Is the idea novel? Does it solve a real problem in a clever way? Would someone actually use this?
• Presentation Quality (15%) — Was the demo clear, engaging, and well-structured? Did the team communicate their vision?

Photon Bonus Prize is judged separately by Photon's evaluator on: quality of messaging agent experience, creative use of Photon SDK, and agent usability inside the messaging platform.

People's Choice is voted on by all attendees via QR code poll during judge deliberation. The most popular project wins regardless of judge scores.

• A team may win both a main prize and the Photon bonus prize.
• A team may win both a main prize and People's Choice.
• Prize money is per team, not per person. Teams decide how to split internally.
• Prizes will be distributed within 14 days after the event. Payment method will be confirmed at the awards ceremony.

• You own what you build. All projects remain the intellectual property of the team that created them.
• Sponsors (TRAE AI, Minimax, Photon) do NOT acquire any ownership or rights to your project by sponsoring the event.
• By submitting, you grant BIA@USC and event sponsors the right to use your project name, description, demo video, and team photos for event recap content (social media, blog posts, presentations). They will not use your source code.
• Open-sourcing your project is encouraged but not required.

Treat all participants, organizers, sponsors, judges, and volunteers with respect.

Harassment, discrimination, intimidation, or hostile behavior of any kind will result in immediate disqualification and removal from the venue. This includes but is not limited to: unwelcome comments about gender, race, sexual orientation, disability, appearance, or religion; deliberate intimidation; stalking; unwanted photography; sustained disruption of talks or events.

If you experience or witness any violation, report it to any BIA@USC organizer immediately. Reports will be handled confidentially.

All participants must comply with USC campus policies while on university property.

Violations may result in: warning, disqualification, removal from venue, or ban from future events, at the organizers' sole discretion.

You will be disqualified if:

• Any team member is not checked in at TCC Franklin Suite by 11:00am, March 28.
• Your GitHub commit history shows work before 6:30pm PT, March 27.
• Your project does not use TRAE AI and at least one Minimax API.
• Your Devpost submission is incomplete or submitted after 6:30pm PT, March 28.
• You commit code after the 6:30pm code freeze.
• You plagiarize code, submit a pre-existing project, or misrepresent your work.
• You violate the Code of Conduct.

Organizers' decisions on disqualification are final.

• BIA@USC reserves the right to modify these rules at any time before or during the event. Any changes will be announced via Discord and in-person.
• By participating, you agree to be photographed and filmed for event documentation and promotional content.
• BIA@USC, TRAE AI, Minimax, and Photon are not responsible for any loss of personal property, data loss, or equipment damage during the event.
• Free food will be provided on March 28 (breakfast, lunch, snacks, dinner). March 27 evening meals are your own responsibility.
• WiFi will be available at the venue. Bring your own laptop, charger, and any peripherals you need.