About the challenge
The YouTube Automation Hackathon is a build event for anyone who wants to build something for creators in order to have them spend less time on repetitive creator busywork and more time actually making content. Over the course of the event, you'll design and build a tool, script, or workflow that automates some part of the YouTube content pipeline, thumbnail generation, metadata and SEO, upload scheduling, analytics reporting, comment moderation, clip generation, you name it. Bring a team or fly solo, pick a problem you've actually run into as a creator or editor, and ship something that works by the end.
This hackathon is an independent, community-run event. It is not sponsored, endorsed, or affiliated with YouTube or Google in any way ,"YouTube" is used here only to describe the subject matter of the challenge.
Build a tool that automates any part of the YouTube creator workflow. That's intentionally broad past ideas that fit this mold include auto-generating thumbnails from video frames, batch-scheduling uploads with optimized posting times, pulling analytics into a dashboard that flags underperforming videos, auto-captioning and translating videos, or using AI to draft titles and descriptions from a transcript. If you're working with the official YouTube Data API, stay within its terms of use this is about building smart tools on top of the platform, not scraping or circumventing it. Projects will be judged on creativity, technical execution, and how useful the tool would actually be to a real creator.
Get started
- Form a team (1–4 people) or register solo
- Brainstorm your idea early. If you want feedback before the event, send an email
- Build for the duration of the event. Don't hesitate to ask for help.
- Submit your project before the deadline either with a short demo video (optional) and a link to your repo.
Requirements
What to Build
Build a working tool, script, or application that automates some part of the YouTube creator workflow. This can be a standalone tool, a browser extension, a bot, a dashboard, or a script, as long as it does real work, not just a mockup or slide deck. Your project should:
- Solve a genuine pain point in the YouTube content pipeline (uploading, editing, scheduling, analytics, SEO, moderation, captioning, thumbnails, etc.)
- Actually run and produce a real result. A UI is a bonus, but a working script counts
- If it uses the YouTube Data API, stay within its terms of service and rate limits
- Be built during the hackathon window (you can plan and design beforehand, but code should be written during the event)
Solo projects and team projects (up to 4 people) are both welcome.
What to Submit
By the deadline, each team submits:
- Project repo — a link to your code (GitHub, GitLab, etc.), with a README that explains what the tool does and how to run it
- Demo video (optional) — a short video (2–4 minutes) walking through your project and showing it actually working
- Short write-up — a few sentences covering: the problem you solved, how your tool works, and what tech you used
- Team info — names of everyone on the team and who built what (helps judges and helps us give credit fairly)
Prizes
1st place - Best Overall
2nd Place
3rd Place
Devpost Achievements
Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:
Judges
Liam Bor
Software Engineer
Judging Criteria
-
Functionality
Does the tool actually work? Does it do what it claims to do, reliably? -
Creativity
How original or clever is the approach to the problem? Bonus points for tackling a pain point that isn't already well-solved. -
Technical execution
Quality of the code, thoughtfulness of the architecture, and how well the team used their tools and time. -
Real-world usefulness
Would an actual YouTube creator or editor want to use this? Does it save meaningful time or effort?
Questions? Email the hackathon manager
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