Vibeathons - AI driven hackathons in practice

Vibe coding is a term coined by Andrej Karpathy in February 2025. It describes the process of software development in which users harness the power of generative AI tools to translate ideas into software programs. Over the past year, we have seen an explosion of vibe coding projects, startups, and applications in industry. Much of the focus within the educational community has been in exploring AI's impact on the classroom, assessment, and generation of curricular artifacts. Relatively unexplored is how this shift also creates new possibilities for hackathons. Hackathons have traditionally been a way for computing disciplines to engage prospective and current students to support recruitment, retention, and skill-building efforts.

In March 2026, Winthrop held its first vibe coding hackathon or "vibeathon", bringing together participants with varying levels of technical experience to explore AI-assisted development in a 24-hour event format. This work reflects on the design and implementation of the vibeathon as well as the challenges of evaluating projects. It also offers a participant perspective of the vibeathon.

This work contributes practical insights for educators and organizers considering vibeathons as a mechanism for broadening participation. It also raises questions about how the community might look at evaluation of this particular type of hackathon format within the broader context of research.