« All Events

SONiC Hackathon 2026

September 28 - October 14
  • Full Hackathon Program: September 28–October 14, 2026
  • Project Development Period: September 28–October 1, 2026
  • Location: Online

The SONiC Foundation invites developers, researchers, students, and other innovators to participate in the annual SONiC Hackathon. This virtual community event is an opportunity to develop and showcase new ideas, tools, and implementations that advance SONiC and open networking.

Teams will build their projects during the virtual hackathon, then upload a demonstration and presentation for review. Finalists will present their work live to the judges, and the winners will be announced during the SONiC Workshop at the 2026 OCP Global Summit.

Suggested Project Topics

Submissions may address topics including:

  • Networks for AI
  • AI agents for networking
  • AI-assisted debugging, root-cause analysis, and test-log analysis
  • Developer experience improvements, including builds and CI/CD
  • System and software security
  • Test reliability
  • CLI, configuration, and tracking improvements
  • New feature enablement
  • Other ideas that benefit SONiC and the open networking community

Participation Guidelines

  • The hackathon will be held virtually.
  • Each team may include up to five participants.
  • Each participating organization may enter no more than three teams.
  • Teams will upload a project demonstration and presentation to a shared online location.
  • This is a vendor-neutral community event. Product pitches, sales presentations, and proposals involving unlicensed or potentially closed-source technologies will not be accepted.

Key Dates

  • September 15: Team formation deadline and project abstract due
  • September 28 at 9:00 AM–October 1 at 11:00 PM PT: Hackathon participation period
  • October 2: Presentation upload period
  • October 6, 8:00 AM–12:00 PM PT: Live presentations
    Each team will receive four minutes to present, followed by two minutes of Q&A. A break will take place from 10:00–10:30 AM.
  • October 8 at 8:00 PM PT: Judge deliberation deadline
  • October 12: Winners finalized
  • October 14: Winners announced at the OCP Global Summit SONiC Workshop

By submitting, participants agree to follow The Linux Foundation’s Code of Conduct, the SONiC Foundation’s Vendor Neutrality Guidelines, and The Linux Foundation’s Inclusive Speaker Orientation and Inclusive Language Initiative.

Questions? Contact eventhelp@sonicfoundation.dev.

Details

  • Start: September 28
  • End: October 14