Rulebook
Competition rules
The mechanics that make the leaderboard mean something. Season-specific amendments are listed first; the rest applies to every season.
Season 3 — Ridgeline
This season's rules
- 0130 minutes on the clock, enforced by the platform. The submission form locks at the deadline.
- 02Everything you ship must be built during the build window. Scaffolding a project ahead of time is disqualifying.
- 03Disclose pre-existing code, templates, collaborators, and any work done before the start.
- 04Required-tool challenges must use the designated partner product in a load-bearing way.
- 05One submission per builder or team per challenge.
- 06Judges declare conflicts of interest and are reassigned automatically.
- 07Community votes are weighted and rate-limited. Vote manipulation forfeits the season.
Disclosure
What you must declare
Every submission form asks these questions directly. Judges see the answers alongside the score.
Pre-existing code
Any code written before the build window opened must be declared, with a note on what it was and how it was used. Undeclared use is a penalty if discovered after judging.
Templates and starters
Framework starters, boilerplate, and scaffolding tools all count as templates and must be named specifically, not just checked as a box.
Collaborators
Anyone who contributed to an individual submission must be listed by name, even for a five-minute assist.
Work before the start
Research, design mockups, or planning done ahead of the challenge is fine — it must simply be disclosed, not hidden.
Penalties
Undisclosed pre-existing code or template use, discovered after the fact, carries a points penalty applied by an administrator and recorded in the public audit trail. A genuine, promptly-corrected misunderstanding is treated differently from a deliberate omission — appeal through contact if you believe a penalty was applied unfairly.
Judging
Judging integrity
Judges cannot see each other's scores
Every score is entered independently. A judge's own submitted score is the only one visible to them before the panel closes.
Conflicts are declared, not adjudicated after the fact
A judge with a conflict of interest declares it before opening the submission. That score is excluded from the average automatically.
The rubric is published before the challenge
Weights and criteria are visible on the challenge brief before the build window opens. Nothing is scored on a criterion you haven't seen.
Every scoring change is logged
Corrections, penalties, and appeal outcomes leave a public audit entry naming the actor, the reason, and the original value.
Community
Voting rules
- Community voting runs for 48 hours after judging closes on a challenge.
- Signed-in votes carry full weight. Anonymous audience votes are weighted lower.
- Duplicate-account and coordinated-voting detection runs continuously; invalidated votes are announced publicly and standings are recalculated.
- Vote manipulation, including asking others to create accounts to vote, forfeits the season for every account involved.
Teams
Team (cabin) rules
Team challenges assign builders to cabins of three. One submission per cabin, and commit history must show contributions from every member. On challenges marked either, builders may submit solo or as a cabin — not both.
Deadlines
Late submissions
The submission form locks automatically at the deadline — there is no grace period by default. Exceptions require an administrator to grant them explicitly, and every exception is flagged on the submission and recorded in the public audit trail alongside the reason.
Appeals
Disputes
If you believe a score, penalty, or disqualification was applied in error, raise it through contact. Every dispute gets a written resolution, and upheld disputes are corrected publicly in the audit trail — nothing is adjusted quietly.
Raise a dispute