Join the official WhatsApp group (only after registration of all team members): https://chat.whatsapp.com/HBudkY1sYmSEZSIitMRkHp?s=cl&p=i&mlu=4&ilr=4
Build real AI-powered media products. Win up to ₹1,20,000 in prizes.
This is a fully virtual hackathon open to developers, designers, and builders across India. You will use Cloudinary — one of the world's leading media management platforms — to build something real. Images, video, audio, AI generation, automated pipelines. Your stack, your idea, your build.
No credit card required to get started. Cloudinary's free tier has everything you need.
🥇 1st Place — Up to ₹1,20,000
₹30,000 per teammate for teams of up to 4 members. Distributed as Amazon.in gift cards.
🥈 Runner Up — ₹20,000 total
Divided equally among team members. Distributed as Amazon.in gift cards.
Total Prize Pool: Up to ₹1,40,000
To be eligible for prizes, every participant must complete the Cloudinary feedback survey at cld.media/hackathon-survey. This is mandatory. No survey, no prize consideration.
Pick one track. Build something real. Every project must use Cloudinary as a core part of the product, not just for storing images.
Track 1 — AI Media Pipelines
Build a workflow that automatically ingests, organizes, analyzes, optimizes, or delivers media using Cloudinary's AI Skills Pack.
What this means in plain English: build something where media goes in, Cloudinary's AI does something smart to it automatically, like auto-tagging what is in a photo, removing backgrounds, cropping to the right part of the image, or moderating content, and the output is useful.
Capabilities to use: Upload API, auto-tagging, background removal, content-aware cropping, moderation, image and video transformations, Search API, structured metadata, optimized delivery with f_auto and q_auto.
Good example ideas: An automatic content moderation tool for user-generated images. A smart photo organizer that tags and categorizes uploads automatically. A video processing pipeline that optimizes and delivers clips at the right format and quality.
Track 2 — Generative Content Workflows
Use Cloudinary's AI image generation workflow, including variations and model choice, inside an existing pipeline.
What this means in plain English: build something where AI generates or transforms images, and those images flow through a Cloudinary pipeline to be delivered, stored, or used in a product.
Capabilities to use: Cloudinary AI image generation, generative variations, model choice, AI Vision, upload and delivery APIs, image transformations.
Good example ideas: A product photography tool that generates multiple variants of a product image automatically. A marketing asset generator that creates social media visuals from a brief. An avatar or character creation tool for a game or app.
Track 3 — Your Media-Savvy Startup
Build a startup-style product where media is genuinely central to the user experience. This is an open track.
What this means in plain English: build an actual product, something you could pitch as a startup, where Cloudinary is doing real work managing, delivering, or transforming the media that the product depends on.
Capabilities to use: Any meaningful combination of media upload, management, transformation, optimization, video, audio, search, tagging, structured metadata, AI, or delivery.
Good example ideas: A marketplace where sellers upload product photos and Cloudinary automatically optimizes them. A creator platform where user videos are stored, transformed, and delivered by Cloudinary. An ed-tech tool where course thumbnails and media are managed through Cloudinary.
Regardless of track, your project must:
Use Cloudinary as an active part of the product, not just to host a static image
Upload, manage, transform, optimize, search, generate, or deliver media through Cloudinary
Include a live working demo where possible
Have a public GitHub repository with setup instructions
Include a README explaining your track, the problem, how you used Cloudinary, and how to test it
Include a 2 to 4 minute demo video showing the product and Cloudinary workflow in action
Complete the Cloudinary feedback survey at cld.media/hackathon-survey
Do not put API keys or credentials in your public repository.
The top 10 submissions shortlisted by HackIndia will be sent to Cloudinary's team for final judging. Winners and runner-ups are selected from this shortlist.
Step 1 — Register on HackIndia
Register your team on this page. All team members must register individually.
Step 2 — Create your free Cloudinary account
Go to cloudinary.com and sign up for free. No credit card required. You will get access to your cloud name and API credentials immediately.
Step 3 — Explore the Hackathon Toolkit
Everything you need to start building is at cld.media/hackathons including the React AI starter kit, Next.js starter kit, AI Skills Pack, VS Code extension, and AI Power Start prompt.
Step 4 — Join the Pre-Event Zoom Workshop
Cloudinary's team will walk you through the hackathon kits and answer all your questions before the build period starts. Details shared after registration.
Step 5 — Build
Build period starts.
Step 6 — Submit
Submit your project with a live demo link, GitHub repo, README, demo video, team details, and the completed Cloudinary feedback survey.
Everything you need is here. Bookmark these before you start building.
Hackathon Toolkit: cld.media/hackathons
Cloudinary Documentation: cloudinary.com/documentation
SDK and API Reference: cloudinary.com/developers
Upload API Guide: cloudinary.com/documentation/image_upload_api_reference
Image and Video Transformations: cloudinary.com/documentation/transformation_reference
Cloudinary AI Resources: cloudinary.com/documentation/ai_in_action
Community Discord: community.cloudinary.com
Feedback Survey (mandatory): cld.media/hackathon-survey
This hackathon is for you if you are a developer, designer, or builder who wants to ship something real using AI-powered media tools. You do not need to be a media or AI expert. If you can build a product and integrate an API, you are ready.
Teams of 1 to 4 members. All experience levels welcome.
Cloudinary is the world's leading media experience platform. Used by over 1.5 million developers and 10,000+ companies including Reddit, Peloton, and NBC, Cloudinary makes it easy to manage, transform, optimize, and deliver images, video, and audio at scale. The free tier gives you everything you need to build a production-ready media pipeline with zero upfront cost.
HackIndia is India's largest hackathon series with 50,000+ active developers, 250+ partner universities, and 52+ cities across the country. We run year-round virtual and in-person hackathons connecting India's best builders with the world's most innovative technology companies.
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Free entry · Rs. 1,40,000 prize pool · Virtual