I joined a 24-hour ‘vibe coding’ hackathon and helped build an app – here are my biggest takeaways

I like to spend most of my weekends taking workout classes with friends, exploring new restaurants or vegging out on the couch with a movie on. The past weekend, however, was unique. Instead of the usual routine, I chose to immerse myself in a 24-hour ‘vibe coding’ hackathon.

I attended one of Singapore’s biggest in-person hackathons ever, which was sponsored and supported by AI heavyweights from around the world including OpenAI, Cursor, Anthropic, Google DeepMind and more.

The event took place on a university campus from about 9 a.m. on Saturday to Sunday noon. Over 400 people participated, ranging from highly experienced engineers to first-timers. The goal was simple: build something from scratch with the help of artificial intelligence.

“Use your imagination... build something unhinged. Build something wacky,” said Agrim Singh, one of the event’s organizers and the co-founder of Niyam AI.

Several teams really took that advice to heart.