Open Hackathons API

A simple API that provides up-to-date information about open hackathons from various platforms.

🔗 API Endpoints

Access the latest hackathon data through multiple endpoints:

All Hackathons

https://WebDevHarsha.github.io/open-hackathons-api/data.json

Online Hackathons

https://WebDevHarsha.github.io/open-hackathons-api/data-online.json

Offline/In-Person Hackathons

https://WebDevHarsha.github.io/open-hackathons-api/data-offline.json

Featured Hackathons

https://WebDevHarsha.github.io/open-hackathons-api/data-featured.json

Sorted by Prize Amount

https://WebDevHarsha.github.io/open-hackathons-api/data-by-prize.json

📊 Data Format

The API returns a JSON object with the following structure:

{
  "last_updated": "2025-11-10T06:00:00Z",
  "count": 1,
  "hackathons": [
    {
      "_id": "6911476d29da70dc2da0be0f",
      "id": 27203,
      "url": "https://innovation-challenge-2026.devpost.com/",
      "title": "Innovation Challenge 2026",
      "thumbnail_url": "//d112y698adiu2z.cloudfront.net/photos/production/challenge_thumbnails/003/953/790/datas/medium_square.png",
      "featured": false,
      "organization_name": "Thapar University",
      "isOpen": "open",
      "submission_period_dates": "Nov 09 - 20, 2025",
      "displayed_location": "Patiala, Punjab",
      "registrations_count": 6,
      "prizeText": "₹ 135,000",
      "time_left_to_submission": "11 days left",
      "themes": [
        {
          "id": 23,
          "name": "Beginner Friendly"
        },
        {
          "id": 6,
          "name": "Machine Learning/AI"
        },
        {
          "id": 13,
          "name": "Social Good"
        }
      ],
      "start_a_submission_url": "https://innovation-challenge-2026.devpost.com/challenges/start_a_submission",
      "source": "devpost"
    }
  ]
}

🔧 Setup Instructions

1. Fork/Clone this Repository

git clone https://github.com/WebDevHarsha/open-hackathons-api.git
cd open-hackathons-api

2. Configure GitHub Secrets

Add your MongoDB connection string as a GitHub secret:

1. Go to your repository Settings
2. Navigate to Secrets and variables → Actions
3. Click New repository secret
4. Name: MONGODB_URI
5. Value: Your MongoDB connection string (e.g., mongodb+srv://username:password@cluster.mongodb.net/dumpy)

3. MongoDB Setup

The API fetches data from:

• Database: dumpy
• Collection: hackathons

Update scripts/fetch_data.py if your database/collection names are different.

• Adjust the query filters if you want to fetch specific hackathons only

4. Enable GitHub Pages

1. Go to repository Settings
2. Navigate to Pages
3. Under Source, select Deploy from a branch
4. Select the master branch and / (root) folder
5. Click Save

Your API will be available at: https://WebDevHarsha.github.io/open-hackathons-api/

5. Test the Workflow

You can manually trigger the workflow:

1. Go to the Actions tab in your repository
2. Select Update Hackathons Data workflow
3. Click Run workflow

⏰ Update Schedule

The data is automatically updated every day at 12:00 AM UTC (midnight) via GitHub Actions.

You can modify the schedule in .github/workflows/update-data.yml:

schedule:
  - cron: '0 0 * * *'  # Daily at 12:00 AM UTC (midnight)

📊 Available Endpoints

Endpoint	Description	Use Case
data.json	All hackathons	Get complete list of hackathons
data-online.json	Online hackathons only	Filter for remote hackathons
data-offline.json	In-person hackathons	Filter for local/physical hackathons
data-featured.json	Featured hackathons	Highlighted or promoted hackathons
data-by-prize.json	Sorted by prize amount	Find high-value competitions

🚀 Usage Examples

JavaScript/TypeScript

// Fetch all hackathons
fetch('https://WebDevHarsha.github.io/open-hackathons-api/data.json')
  .then(response => response.json())
  .then(data => {
    console.log(`Total hackathons: ${data.count}`);
    console.log(`Last updated: ${data.last_updated}`);
    data.hackathons.forEach(hackathon => {
      console.log(`${hackathon.title} - ${hackathon.organization_name}`);
    });
  });

// Fetch only online hackathons
fetch('https://WebDevHarsha.github.io/open-hackathons-api/data-online.json')
  .then(response => response.json())
  .then(data => {
    console.log(`Online hackathons: ${data.count}`);
  });

Python

import requests

# Fetch all hackathons
response = requests.get('https://WebDevHarsha.github.io/open-hackathons-api/data.json')
data = response.json()

print(f"Total hackathons: {data['count']}")
print(f"Last updated: {data['last_updated']}")

for hackathon in data['hackathons']:
    print(f"{hackathon['title']} - {hackathon['organization_name']}")

# Fetch hackathons by prize
prize_response = requests.get('https://WebDevHarsha.github.io/open-hackathons-api/data-by-prize.json')
prize_data = prize_response.json()
print(f"Top prize: {prize_data['hackathons'][0]['prizeText']}")

cURL

# All hackathons
curl https://WebDevHarsha.github.io/open-hackathons-api/data.json

# Online only
curl https://WebDevHarsha.github.io/open-hackathons-api/data-online.json

# Offline only
curl https://WebDevHarsha.github.io/open-hackathons-api/data-offline.json

📝 Data Fields

Field	Type	Description
_id	string	MongoDB ObjectId
id	number	Hackathon ID
url	string	Hackathon URL
title	string	Hackathon title
thumbnail_url	string	Thumbnail image URL
featured	boolean	Whether hackathon is featured
organization_name	string	Organizing entity
isOpen	string	Status (e.g., "open", "closed")
submission_period_dates	string	Submission period
displayed_location	string	Location (Online, or City/Country)
registrations_count	number	Number of registrations
prizeText	string	Prize information
time_left_to_submission	string	Time remaining
themes	array	Hackathon themes/categories
start_a_submission_url	string	Submission URL
source	string	Data source (e.g., "devpost")

🎯 Features

• ✅ 5 API Endpoints - All, Online, Offline, Featured, By Prize
• ✅ Daily Updates - Automatic data refresh at 6:00 AM UTC
• ✅ MongoDB Integration - Direct database connection
• ✅ GitHub Actions - Automated workflow
• ✅ GitHub Pages - Free hosting
• ✅ RESTful JSON - Clean, structured data format
• ✅ No Authentication - Public API, free to use

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

📄 License

MIT License - feel free to use this API for your projects!

⚠️ Notes

• The data is cached and updated daily, so it may not reflect real-time changes
• Ensure your MongoDB connection string has read permissions
• The API is rate-limited by GitHub Pages (not by this application)
• All hackathons in the database are currently open (active)

🐛 Troubleshooting

Workflow fails with "MONGODB_URI not set"

• Ensure you've added the MONGODB_URI secret in GitHub repository settings

Data is not updating

• Check the Actions tab for workflow run status and error logs
• Verify MongoDB connection string is correct and has read permissions

404 error on GitHub Pages

• Ensure GitHub Pages is enabled and pointing to the master branch
• Wait a few minutes after enabling GitHub Pages for the first time

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Made with ❤️ by WebDevHarsha