42 Berlin x Needle: Build What Works - Hackathon Challenge

No demos for the sake of demos. In 24 hours, you build something real on Needle's platform. Something that runs. Something you can show. Something that solves an actual problem. The best build wins.

This May, as part of Mai ist für AI 2026, 42 Berlin is partnering with Needle, a Berlin-based AI platform built for teams that actually have to ship, to host a hands-on hackathon open to 42 Berlin students and the wider Berlin tech community.

You'll spend 24 hours building features and integrations directly within the Needle platform, across four challenge tracks. The Needle team will be on-site for the entire event to mentor and support participants. A 42 Berlin alumna with industry software engineering experience will also be available throughout.

You ship something. You demo it. A jury decides who built the best thing.

Over €500 in prizes to win, food, drinks, and a direct line into Needle’s team for anyone who impresses them. Winners will be considered for fast-track interviews.

Some coding experience required. Curiosity about AI tools and automation: mandatory.

Teams will form on-site at the start of Day 1. Participants can of course come with a team already in mind, but it’s not required.

Participants should bring their own laptop. We’ll have external monitors to connect to, but please bring your own USB-C adaptor, if needed.

Needle is a Berlin and San Francisco-based AI platform for enterprise search, agent development, and workflow automation. Founded in 2024 by Jan Heimes and Onur Eken, the platform unifies data across tools like Confluence, Slack, Gmail, GitHub, and Dropbox, and uses retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) to power accurate, context-aware AI agents and applications.

Backed by 468 Capital and Presight Capital, Needle works with teams who care about security, precision, and shipping real AI systems into production. Its platform, APIs, and MCP support make it one of the most builder-friendly AI infrastructures coming out of Berlin right now.

Pick one of four tracks to build in:

UX/UI and Page Design — Build or redesign interfaces within the Needle platform.

Workflows and Collections — Create automated workflows and structured data collections.

Build Using APIs — Develop integrations and extensions using Needle's API.

Build MCP Servers — Build Model Context Protocol servers that connect to the Needle application.

Day 1 – May 21

09:00 · Doors open, coffee, settle in

10:00 · Official kickoff: welcome from 42 Berlin and intro from Needle

10:30 · Challenge briefing: tracks, tools, and Q&A

11:00 · Hacking begins

13:00 · Lunch

18:00 · Informal check-in with mentors

20:00 · Dinner

21:00 · Campus closes, continue building off-site

Day 2 – May 22

09:00 · Campus reopens

14:00 · Submissions close

14:30 · Team presentations and demos

16:00 · Jury deliberation

16:30 · Winners announced and prizes awarded

17:00 · Networking and drinks

• 42 Berlin students ready to ship something real
• Developers and builders from the Berlin tech community
• Anyone curious about AI infrastructure, RAG, MCP, and agent development
• Engineers who'd rather build than sit through another keynote
  

• Focused building on a production-grade AI platform
• On-site mentorship from the Needle team and a 42 Berlin alumna
• Meals, drinks, and a place to work through the night
• Prizes for the strongest builds
• Fast-track consideration for interviews at Needle for standout participants

Some coding experience. Bring your laptop, your charger, and a willingness to build. We'll handle the rest.

📍 42 Berlin Campus, Harzerstraße 42, 12059 Berlin

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