Vultr Agent Rush Hackathon 2026

Vultr: Agent Rush is a hybrid AI hackathon run by the cloud provider Vultr on the lablab.ai platform. The build phase is online from 3 to 8 November 2026, with an optional on-site day in Salt Lake City, Utah on 8 November. First place wins US$5,000 (about ₹4.75 lakh) in cash plus US$3,000 in Vultr credits, and submissions close on 8 November 2026 at 11:00 PM UTC, which is 4:30 AM IST on 9 November. This is a short event, so the window to enter is tight.

It is a prize competition for individuals and small teams, not a grant or an investment. Nothing on the page suggests any equity is taken. You can take part fully online from India; travel and accommodation for the Salt Lake City day are not covered.

What the program offers

The competition prizes are US$9,000 in cash and US$5,000 in Vultr credits. First place gets US$5,000 cash and US$3,000 in credits, second place gets US$3,000 cash and US$1,000 in credits, and third place gets US$1,000 cash and US$1,000 in credits. Every participant also receives US$200 in free Vultr credits. To claim them you need an email address that has never been linked to a Vultr account. The credits stay active during the event; to keep your deployment running afterwards you must add a payment method in Vultr billing. The on-site day also has a raffle for physical prizes such as a games console or headphones, for people who attend in person.

Who can apply

The event page says the hackathon is open to everyone regardless of AI or coding experience, and teams have 1 to 6 members. People without a team can find one through the lablab dashboard or Discord. Your project must be original and compatible with the MIT License. The listing records an age minimum of 18 and a bar on people located in sanctioned countries or territories; the event page itself points to the lablab.ai terms for the full rules, so read those before you enter.

For an Indian developer or student team, this works well because the build is online. It suits builders who already know how to deploy a web app and call a language model. It is less suited to anyone who cannot ship a working, publicly hosted demo in six days, or who needs a grant for a long-term product.

How to apply

Register on the lablab.ai event page and join the lablab.ai Discord server, then read the hackathon guidelines, the getting-started guide and the rule book. Claim your Vultr credits, and choose one of two challenge paths. Blast Radius Zero asks for a web-based agent that does real work, such as writing and running code or operating a browser, with every action contained in an isolated sandbox on Vultr; it requires Vultr Serverless Inference for the model calls. Powering the Future of Work asks for an enterprise-style platform for workflows such as sales operations, finance, HR, support or procurement, with a Vultr virtual machine backend and a public web deployment. Vultr GPUs are not available for this event.

Your official entry must be submitted on lablab.ai before the deadline. It needs a title, short and long descriptions, tags, a cover image, a video presentation, slides, a public GitHub repository with setup notes, a live demo link, and a public README explaining which Vultr services you used. For the first path, your demo video must show at least one moment where the sandbox contains the agent. A practical tip: record the video early, because the deadline is soon after the build window ends.

How applications are judged and what happens next

Judges score projects on application of technology, presentation, business value and originality. The event page does not give a date for announcing winners. It says prize distribution may take up to 90 days. The listing records that lablab.ai pays in US dollars to individuals rather than to teams or companies, by international wire for winners outside the United States, and that tax may be withheld from non-US winners unless a tax treaty applies and the right form is filed. These payment points are not on the event page, which points to lablab.ai's terms; read section 16 and the rule book before you rely on them.

About Vultr and lablab.ai

Vultr is a cloud infrastructure provider offering cloud compute, a serverless inference service and an API, with one-click marketplace apps. lablab.ai is an AI hackathon and community platform that is part of the NativelyAI group.

Things to check before you apply

• The deadline is 11:00 PM UTC on 8 November 2026, which falls on 9 November in India.
• Rules, prizes and terms may change or be cancelled at the organisers' discretion.
• Prizes and opportunities depend on eligibility, availability and third-party sponsors.
• Payment is slow and may involve tax paperwork for non-US winners; confirm the details in the terms.
• You must register on both the platform and the Discord server.