solana-hackathon

name	solana-hackathon
description	Bootstrap a Solana hackathon project with current best practices and 2026 primitives. Triggers on "hackathon", "Colosseum", "Frontier", "hackathon project", "hackathon submission", "bootstrap Solana app".

Solana Hackathon Project Bootstrapper

Fast-track from idea to hackathon submission. Scaffolds a full-stack Solana dApp with current best practices and auto-integrates trending 2026 primitives (ZK Compression, Blinks, Agent Kit, SDP, Token-2022) based on your project category.

Why this matters now

The Colosseum Frontier Hackathon runs April 6 – May 11, 2026. ~10 teams from thousands of submissions make it to the accelerator with $250K pre-seed. Multiple concurrent Solana hackathons run year-round. Speed from idea to working submission is the difference between winning and not finishing.

When to use this skill

• "I'm doing the Colosseum hackathon, help me get started"
• "Bootstrap a Solana dApp for a hackathon"
• "I have a hackathon idea, set up the project"
• "Frontier submission setup"
• Starting any time-constrained Solana build

Build mode workflow

Step 1 — Define the project

Ask the founder:

1. What does it do? (one sentence — this becomes your pitch hook)
2. Which category? (see category table below)
3. Solo or team? (affects scope recommendations)
4. Deadline? (days remaining determines what to cut)
5. What's your Solana experience? (first project vs. experienced — affects scaffolding depth)
6. Which hackathon? (Colosseum Frontier, Superteam, Solana Foundation, other)

Step 2 — Pick the right primitives

Based on category, recommend which 2026 primitives to integrate:

Category	Recommended primitives	Why
DeFi	Token-2022, SDP Trading API, Blinks for distribution	Token extensions add compliance features; Blinks make swaps shareable
Consumer / Social	Blinks, ZK Compression, Agent Kit	Blinks for viral distribution on X; compression for mass user onboarding
AI + Crypto	Solana Agent Kit, Helius MCP, ZK Compression	Agent Kit for on-chain AI actions; compression for agent micropayments at scale
Infrastructure / DevTool	Solana Developer MCP, Helius MCP	MCP integration for AI-native developer tools
Payments / Fintech	SDP (Issuance + Payments), Token-2022	Enterprise-grade payment orchestration with compliance
Gaming	ZK Compression, Token-2022 (transfer hooks)	Compressed game assets at scale; transfer hooks for royalties
Physical World / DePIN	SDP, ZK Compression, Blinks	Real-world payments + cheap on-chain state for IoT/sensors

Step 3 — Scaffold the project

Generate a full-stack project structure:

hackathon-project/
├── programs/
│   └── your-program/
│       ├── src/
│       │   └── lib.rs          # Anchor program
│       └── Cargo.toml
├── app/
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── app/
│   │   │   ├── page.tsx        # Main page
│   │   │   └── layout.tsx      # Root layout with providers
│   │   ├── components/
│   │   │   └── WalletButton.tsx
│   │   └── lib/
│   │       ├── program.ts      # Program client (IDL-generated)
│   │       └── constants.ts    # Program ID, RPC config
│   ├── next.config.ts
│   └── package.json
├── tests/
│   └── program.test.ts         # Anchor test suite
├── Anchor.toml                 # Anchor config (devnet)
├── README.md                   # Submission README (see template below)
└── package.json

Stack choices:

• On-chain: Anchor (unless the founder is experienced with native Rust)
• Frontend: Next.js + App Router + Tailwind
• Wallet: @solana/wallet-adapter with Phantom, Solflare, Backpack
• RPC: Helius (free devnet tier, supports ZK Compression + DAS API)
• Testing: Anchor test framework + Bankrun for fast local tests

Step 4 — Configure devnet deployment

# Install Anchor
cargo install --git https://github.com/coral-xyz/anchor anchor-cli

# Build + deploy to devnet
anchor build
anchor deploy --provider.cluster devnet

# Get devnet SOL
solana airdrop 2 --url devnet

Step 5 — Build the submission package

Colosseum Frontier submission requires:

1. 3-minute pitch video — use the winning-pitch-deck skill from this collection
2. 3-minute demo video — screen recording of the product working on devnet
3. README with: problem, solution, how it works, tech stack, team
4. Working deployment — judges will try the product

Submission README template:

# [Project Name]

> One-line description

## Problem
[What pain point does this solve? Include a stat if you have one.]

## Solution
[What does your product do? One paragraph.]

## How it works
[3-step user journey or architecture diagram]

## Tech stack
- On-chain: [Anchor / Native Rust] on Solana
- Frontend: [Next.js / React Native]
- Key integrations: [ZK Compression / Blinks / Agent Kit / SDP]

## Demo
[Link to deployed app on devnet]

## Team
[Names + one outstanding achievement]

Step 6 — Time management (critical)

Scope based on days remaining:

Days left	Scope
7+	Full product — program + frontend + tests + pitch video + demo video
3–6	Core MVP — program + minimal frontend + demo video. Skip pitch polish.
1–2	Emergency mode — one working feature end-to-end. Record demo immediately.

What to cut first (in order):

1. Extra features beyond core flow
2. Polished UI (functional > pretty for hackathons)
3. Comprehensive tests (keep one happy-path test)
4. Multi-wallet support (just Phantom is fine)

What to never cut:

1. Working demo on devnet
2. Demo video showing the product actually works
3. Clear README explaining the product

Hard rules

1. Deploy to devnet early and often. Don't wait until the last day. Deploy on day 1, iterate in public.
2. One feature done > three features half-done. Judges evaluate completeness, not ambition.
3. Record the demo video before the deadline, not at the deadline. Recording always takes longer than expected.
4. Use Anchor unless you have a specific reason not to. Native Rust is faster at runtime but slower to build. Hackathons optimize for build speed.
5. Free tiers are your friend. Helius free tier, Vercel free tier, Supabase free tier. Don't spend the hackathon setting up infrastructure.

Pairs with other skills in this collection

• winning-pitch-deck — Build the 3-minute pitch video using the DePitch framework
• solana-agent — If your project involves AI agents on Solana
• solana-blinks — If your project needs shareable transactions on X
• solana-compress — If your project creates many token accounts
• solana-sdp — If your project involves payments or tokenization
• ui-ux-pro-max — Design guidance for making the frontend look professional

Reference links

• Colosseum Frontier Hackathon
• Solana Hackathon Hub
• Superteam Hackathons
• Anchor documentation
• Solana Cookbook
• Cyfrin Updraft Solana Course (free, 31 lessons)
• Helius free tier