Nov 12, 2026 · @Ari Waller

The Relate by Neo4j Hackathon (the "Contest") is an online building competition sponsored by Neo4j, Inc. ("Neo4j" or "Sponsor"), 400 Concar Dr, San Mateo, CA 94402, United States. Participants build new projects with Relate, Neo4j's lightweight graph database for agents and AI applications (the "Product").

The Contest runs from 6:00 PM PST on Wednesday, November 11, 2026 to 6:00 PM PST on Friday, December 11, 2026 (the "Contest Period"). Entries must be submitted, and must have been started, within the Contest Period. Submissions received after 6:00 PM PST on Friday, December 11, 2026 will not be accepted.

Judging will take place from Saturday, December 12 to Wednesday, December 16, 2026. Winners will be announced on Thursday, December 17, 2026. Neo4j may adjust these dates and will post any change on the Contest page.

The Contest is hosted on Devpost. The time shown on the Contest page is the official time. By entering, you also agree to Devpost's terms of use, which apply in addition to these Official Rules. If they conflict, these Official Rules control as to the Contest.

To enter, you must be at least 18 years old (or the age of majority where you live, if higher) and located in a place where the Contest is allowed by law. You may not enter if you are located in, or ordinarily resident in, a country or region subject to U.S. embargo or comprehensive sanctions, or if you are on a U.S. government restricted-party list. Your participation means you agree to be bound by these Official Rules. Void where prohibited by law.

The following people are not eligible to enter or win:

• Employees, officers, directors, agents, and representatives of Neo4j, its affiliates and subsidiaries, and their immediate family and household members.
• Employees, officers, directors, agents, and representatives of government agencies, and their immediate family and household members.
• Anyone who has helped plan, judge, or administer the Contest, and their immediate family and household members.

False or deceptive entries or acts make a participant ineligible. One person may not enter under more than one identity, and may not join more than one team.

Every project must be new, original, and built with the Product. Specifically:

• New projects only. The project must be started on or after Wednesday, November 11, 2026. Pre-existing projects will not be accepted. You may reuse your own earlier code or open-source libraries if you disclose them in your submission, and only work done during the Contest Period will be judged.
• Original work. Submissions must be the original work of you and your team. Third-party libraries, datasets, models, and assets are allowed if you have the right to use them and comply with their licenses.
• Use of the Product. The project must make meaningful use of Relate, for example through the CLI, embedded use, WebAssembly, MCP, Bolt or HTTP, hybrid retrieval, or a connection to Neo4j or Aura.
• Public repository. The project must be posted as a public GitHub repository, tagged with the topic relate-hackathon, and must remain public through the end of judging and the winner announcement. We encourage you to include an open-source license, such as MIT or Apache-2.0, in your repository.
• Team size and prizes. Entries may work as individuals or on a team of 1 to 4 participants. While more than one person may collaborate on a team, only one prize is awarded per winning entry, even if the entry has multiple team members.
• AI-assisted development. You may use AI coding tools and models. You remain responsible for the result, including its originality and license compliance, and must describe any significant AI use in your submission.
• Experimental Product. Some Product capabilities are experimental and may change or break. Neo4j has no obligation to fix issues or to keep any feature available during or after the Contest.

No purchase is necessary, and a purchase does not improve your chances of winning. To enter, register for the Contest on the Contest page and submit your project there on or before 6:00 PM PST on Friday, December 11, 2026. A team submits one entry, through one team member who lists the other members.

A complete submission includes:

• A project title and description of what it does and why it is useful.
• A link to the public GitHub repository described in Section 3.
• Setup instructions that let a judge install and run the project.
• A demo: a video of up to 2 minutes or a link to a working demo, plus screenshots if useful.
• A statement of which Product capabilities, third-party tools, and AI tools the project uses.

If you submit a video, it must be your own work, including filming, editing, and graphic design. Music, images, and other third-party material in the video must be used with permission. The video must be accessible to judges without a login or payment.

Submissions that are incomplete, late, unintelligible, or that do not meet these Official Rules may be disqualified. You may edit your submission until the deadline. Neo4j is not responsible for lost, late, delayed, misdirected, or incomplete entries.

There will be three winning entries, awarded first, second, and third prize. Winners will be chosen by a panel of Neo4j judges.

Judges will score each eligible entry on the following criteria, weighted equally. Neo4j's scoring is in its sole discretion.

• Creativity: how original the idea and approach are.
• Usefulness: how well the project solves a real problem.
• Completeness: whether it works end to end and can be run from the setup instructions.
• Clarity: the quality of the written explanation, demo, and visual presentation.
• Effective use of connected context: how well it uses the Product's graph, retrieval, and agent features.

If entries tie, the judging panel will re-judge the tied entries using the same criteria. Judges with a conflict of interest, such as a family, employment, or business relationship with a team, must recuse themselves from scoring that entry. Entries that Neo4j finds incomplete or ineligible will not be scored.

Odds of winning depend on the number of eligible entries received. All decisions about the Contest, including winner selection, are made by Neo4j and are final.

This is a skill-based contest. Winners are not chosen by chance.

There are three prizes, one for each winning entry. Values are approximate U.S. retail values and total $6,197.

Prize terms:

• Prizes are awarded "as is" and are non-transferable, non-assignable, and non-refundable. No substitution for cash or another prize may be made, except that Neo4j may substitute a prize of equal or greater value, or a comparable model, if a prize becomes unavailable.
• Each prize is a single item awarded per winning entry. If a winning entry has multiple team members, only one prize is awarded for that entry, regardless of the number of team members. Prizes will not be duplicated or split. The team must name one recipient to receive the prize and is responsible for deciding how to share it among members. Neo4j is not responsible for disputes within a team.
• Prizes are hardware and will be shipped to one address provided by the named recipient, in a country where Neo4j can lawfully ship and where the Contest is permitted. Neo4j will arrange shipping at its cost. The recipient is solely responsible for all applicable taxes, import duties, customs fees, and any other costs not listed above, and must provide applicable tax documentation.
• If a winner is disqualified or cannot accept the prize, Neo4j may select an alternate winner or void the prize.
• Prizes are not exchangeable for cash.

Neo4j will announce potential winners on Thursday, December 17, 2026 and will contact them by email, using the address on their Contest registration, within 2 business days after the announcement. A potential winner must respond within 7 days and may be required to sign an affidavit of eligibility and a liability and publicity release. All winners are subject to verification of eligibility. If a potential winner does not respond in time, cannot be reached, fails to follow the prize redemption procedures, or is found ineligible, Neo4j may disqualify them and select an alternate winner or void the prize.

By entering, and by accepting a prize, you grant Neo4j and its affiliates permission to use your name, username, photograph, likeness, biographical information, country or region, project name, and prize information for advertising and promotional purposes related to the Contest and similar programs, without additional compensation or approval, to the extent permitted by applicable law. Where the law of your location requires your separate consent for this use, you give that consent by accepting a prize, and you may withdraw it for future uses by contacting Neo4j through the Contest page.

A list of winners will be available after Thursday, December 17, 2026 on the Contest page. Winners are subject to verification as described above.

• Ownership. You and your team keep ownership of your project and its code. Entries do not become the property of Neo4j.
• License to Neo4j. By submitting, you grant Neo4j and its affiliates a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual license to use, reproduce, display, and distribute your submission materials (title, description, screenshots, demo video, and a link to your repository) in connection with the Contest and in Neo4j promotions, advertisements, and showcases. The code itself is licensed by the open-source license you choose.
• Your promises. You confirm that your submission is your original work or that you have the right to submit it, has not been copied from others, and does not violate the privacy, intellectual property, or other rights of anyone. You will not disclose or use confidential or proprietary information of an employer or other third party in any entry. If you worked on the project as part of your job, you confirm that your employer permits your entry.
• Feedback. If you give Neo4j feedback, ideas, or suggestions about the Product, Neo4j may use them freely, with no obligation to you. Neo4j may also build products or features similar to a submission, without compensation, provided it does not copy your code in breach of its license.
• The Product. The Product is made available under the Apache License 2.0, which governs your use of it. Nothing in these Official Rules transfers any rights in the Product, its documentation, or Neo4j's names, logos, or mascot, except as stated here.
• Marks. You may use the Relate name, logo, and mascot, and other Neo4j names and logos, in your submission only to identify the Product, in line with the Neo4j brand guidelines made available on the Contest page. You may not suggest that Neo4j endorses your project or its commercial use.

The Contest is governed by these Official Rules and sponsored by Neo4j, Inc., 400 Concar Dr, San Mateo, CA 94402, United States. All federal, state, provincial, and local laws apply.

Neo4j is not responsible for: (i) lost, late, delayed, misdirected, stolen, unintelligible, or incomplete entries or email; (ii) electronic, hardware, software, network, Internet, or computer malfunctions, failures, or difficulties, including failures of the Contest platform, GitHub, or any third-party service; (iii) errors in transmission; or (iv) any condition caused by events beyond Neo4j's control that may affect the Contest.

The Product and all Contest resources, including documentation, starter projects, and sample data, are provided "as is" and "as available," without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, durability, or non-infringement. You are responsible for your own data, and you should not use the Product with sensitive, regulated, or production data during the Contest. Neo4j does not warrant that the Contest platform or Product will be error-free, uninterrupted, or free of bugs or viruses.

By participating, you release and hold harmless Neo4j, its affiliates, and its and their officers, directors, employees, agents, and service providers from any and all losses, damages, rights, claims, and actions of any kind arising from the Contest or from the acceptance, possession, or use of any prize, including property damage and claims based on publicity rights, defamation, or invasion of privacy, to the fullest extent permitted by law. Nothing in these Official Rules excludes or limits liability that cannot be excluded or limited under the law that applies to you.

Any attempt to deliberately damage any website, tamper with judging, or undermine the legitimate operation of the Contest violates criminal and civil laws. Neo4j may seek damages from any person who makes such an attempt, to the fullest extent permitted by law.

The Contest is dedicated to a safe, comfortable, and harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, political views, previous hackathon experience, lack of computing experience, or choice of programming language or tech stack. Harassment of participants, judges, or Neo4j staff in any form is not tolerated, in the Contest platform, the repository, or any community channel such as Discord. Sexual language and imagery are never appropriate.

Your submission and conduct must comply with the Neo4j Code of Conduct and Devpost's community standards. A submission may not contain content that Neo4j determines, in its sole discretion, is obscene, offensive, violent, defamatory, disparaging, or illegal, that promotes alcohol, illegal drugs, or tobacco, or that may reflect negatively on the goodwill of Neo4j.

Projects must not be designed to harm others, to attack or gain unauthorized access to systems, or to collect personal data without consent.

Neo4j may disqualify any person who tampers with the Contest, breaks these Official Rules, or acts in an unsportsmanlike or disruptive way, and may remove content or participants from Contest channels at any time.

Neo4j collects and uses the personal information you provide to run the Contest, which may include your name, email address, country, GitHub username, and submission content. For this information, Neo4j acts as the party responsible for deciding how it is used, and uses it to administer the Contest, judge entries, verify eligibility, and deliver prizes, according to the Neo4j privacy policy at https://neo4j.com/privacy-policy/. Devpost handles information you give it under its own privacy policy and may share registration data with Neo4j. Neo4j will send you marketing communications only if you opt in.

Your information may be processed in the United States and other countries where Neo4j or its service providers operate. Where required, Neo4j relies on appropriate safeguards for cross-border transfers, as described in its privacy policy.

Winners' names and project details may be made public as described in Section 7. Do not include personal data of other people in your submission without their permission.

As a condition of participating, you agree that any dispute, claim, or cause of action that cannot be resolved between the parties and that arises out of or relates to the Contest, any prize, or the choice of winners will be resolved individually, without any form of class action, exclusively by binding arbitration under the Commercial Arbitration Rules of the American Arbitration Association then in effect and its expedited procedures. The arbitration will be heard by a single arbitrator and limited to the dispute between you and Neo4j. The award is binding and may be entered as a judgment in any court of competent jurisdiction. Either party may bring an individual claim in small claims court instead of arbitration if it qualifies.

In any such dispute, you may not recover punitive, incidental, or consequential damages, attorneys' fees, or any damages beyond your actual out-of-pocket expenses of entering the Contest, and you waive any right to have damages multiplied or increased, in each case to the extent permitted by law.

If you live in a place where the law does not allow you to waive your right to bring claims in court, to join a class action, or to recover certain damages, then those waivers and the mandatory arbitration requirement do not apply to you, and the mandatory consumer protection laws of your place of residence continue to apply.

These Official Rules, and your and Neo4j's rights and obligations in connection with the Contest, are governed by the laws of the State of California, U.S.A., without regard to conflict of laws rules. Subject to the paragraph above, proceedings will take place in San Mateo County, California, or remotely if the parties agree.

Neo4j may cancel, suspend, or modify the Contest or any part of it, and these Official Rules, if fraud, technical failure, or any other factor beyond its control affects the Contest's integrity, and may end the Contest at any time without prior notice, in which case prizes may not be awarded. Material changes will be posted on the Contest page.

Neo4j's names and logos, including Neo4j and Relate, are trademarks or registered trademarks of Neo4j, Inc., 400 Concar Dr, San Mateo, CA 94402, United States. All other names are trademarks of their respective owners.

If any part of these Official Rules is found unenforceable, the rest remains in effect. Neo4j's failure to enforce any provision is not a waiver. These Official Rules are written in English, and the English version controls over any translation.

Technical help. Ask technical questions in the Contest channel in the Neo4j Community Discord, linked from the Contest page. Report Product issues in the Relate GitHub repository's issue tracker, also linked from the Contest page. Help from Neo4j staff is offered as a courtesy and is not a guarantee of any outcome.

Contest questions. Contact the organizers through the Contest page on Devpost. Sponsor: Neo4j, Inc., 400 Concar Dr, San Mateo, CA 94402, United States.