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DX-Ray
> scan --target developer-experience_

DX-Ray

X-ray your developer experience. Expose hidden friction. Build the fix.

46Days
:
20Hours
:
07Min
:
48Sec

March 27-30, 2026 · Online · Free · $1,800 in prizes
dx-ray>scan --explain dx-ray --verbose_

What is DX-Ray?

Every developer team has invisible friction — slow builds that nobody questions, flaky tests everyone reruns, onboarding docs that went stale six sprints ago. These problems hide in plain sight because nobody has time to look.

DX-Ray is a hackathon built around one metaphor: the diagnostic X-ray scan. Just like a medical X-ray reveals what's hidden beneath the surface, DX-Ray challenges you to build tools that scan development processes and reveal the friction nobody talks about.

Pick a track. Scan a real pain point. Build a tool that makes invisible problems visible — and fixable. You have 72 hours.

CRITICAL
3 found

Slow CI/CD pipelines

Average build times exceed 15 minutes, blocking developer flow

Flaky test suites

23% of test failures are not related to actual code changes

Context switching tax

Developers switch tools 30+ times per hour during debugging

WARNING
3 found

Stale documentation

40% of internal docs haven't been updated in 6+ months

Onboarding bottlenecks

New developers take 3+ weeks to make their first meaningful commit

PR review lag

Average time-to-first-review exceeds 24 hours

INFO
2 found

Dependency confusion

Teams average 847 transitive dependencies with unknown security status

Environment drift

"Works on my machine" accounts for 15% of bug reports
$scan --audience_

Who Should Participate

Built for engineers who ship production code and care about the tooling around it

💻

Mid-Level & Senior Engineers

Tackle the friction you face daily. Build something your team will actually deploy on Monday.

Track ATrack BTrack F
🏗️

Tech Leads & Architects

Architect solutions for systemic DX problems. Turn years of accumulated frustration into working tools.

Track ETrack FTrack G
⚙️

DevOps & Platform Teams

Your domain expertise is the secret weapon. Build the observability tools you wish existed.

Track ATrack HTrack E
🚀

Startup CTOs & Eng Managers

Prototype the internal tools your team needs but never has time to build. Ship in 72 hours what takes quarters.

Track FTrack DTrack A
🎨

Designers & PMs

DX is UX for developers. Bring your user-centered perspective to dev tool design.

Track DTrack FTrack G
🌐

Open Source Maintainers

Build contributor experience tools. Reduce friction for your community at scale.

Track CTrack GTrack D
dx-ray>run --protocol_

Diagnostic Protocol

Five steps from sign-up to shipping — follow the procedure

01INTAKE

Register & Assemble

Sign up on Discord, find teammates, form your squad of 1-4.

02TRIAGE

Pick Your Track

Choose from 8 tracks. Identify the DX pain point you'll diagnose.

03EXPOSURE

Build for 72 Hours

Write code, run scans, build the diagnostic tool. All new work.

04ANALYSIS

Demo & Judging

5-minute live demo to judges. Show the problem and your fix.

05RESULTS

Ship & Share

Winners announced, repos go public, community votes.
#scan --list-tracks_

8 Tracks

Each track targets a specific area of developer experience friction

SCAN MODE: ACTIVE8 TARGETS LOADEDLIVE
A

Build & CI Scanner

Diagnose and fix slow, flaky, or opaque CI/CD pipelines. Make build performance visible.

Ideas:

  • →Build time heatmap dashboard
  • →CI bottleneck detector
  • →Flaky step identifier with retry analysis

DevOps engineers, platform teams

SCAN: Track A

Problems Detected:

  • !15-min average builds
  • !No visibility into bottlenecks
  • !Flaky pipelines with no root cause

Suggested fixes: 3 ideas

B

Test Health X-Ray

Scan test suites for flakiness, coverage gaps, and slow tests. Make test reliability visible.

Ideas:

  • →Flaky test detector with pattern analysis
  • →Coverage gap visualizer
  • →Test execution profiler

QA engineers, full-stack developers

SCAN: Track B

Problems Detected:

  • !23% flaky test rate
  • !Unknown coverage gaps
  • !Slow test suites blocking CI

Suggested fixes: 3 ideas

C

Docs Freshness Scan

Detect stale, missing, or misleading documentation. Build tools that keep docs in sync with code.

Ideas:

  • →Doc staleness dashboard
  • →Code-to-doc drift detector
  • →Auto-generated API changelog

Technical writers, developer advocates

SCAN: Track C

Problems Detected:

  • !40% of docs are stale
  • !No link between code and docs
  • !Onboarding friction from bad docs

Suggested fixes: 3 ideas

D

Onboarding Diagnostic

Measure and improve the new-developer experience. Reduce time-to-first-commit.

Ideas:

  • →Onboarding progress tracker
  • →Environment setup validator
  • →Interactive codebase map for newcomers

Team leads, HR tech, educators

SCAN: Track D

Problems Detected:

  • !3+ weeks to first commit
  • !Tribal knowledge dependencies
  • !Setup scripts that break

Suggested fixes: 3 ideas

E

Dependency X-Ray

Scan dependency trees for security risks, bloat, and update fatigue. Make supply chain visible.

Ideas:

  • →Dependency risk scorer
  • →Supply chain visualizer
  • →Smart update advisor with breaking change detection

Security engineers, package maintainers

SCAN: Track E

Problems Detected:

  • !847 avg transitive deps
  • !Unknown vulnerability exposure
  • !Update fatigue and breaking changes

Suggested fixes: 3 ideas

F

Developer Flow Scan

Measure context switches, tool fragmentation, and focus time. Make developer productivity visible.

Ideas:

  • →Focus time tracker
  • →Tool-switching heatmap
  • →Meeting impact analyzer for dev teams

Engineering managers, productivity researchers

SCAN: Track F

Problems Detected:

  • !30+ tool switches per hour
  • !Invisible context switching tax
  • !No metrics for flow state

Suggested fixes: 3 ideas

G

Code Review Radar

Expose bottlenecks in the review process. Reduce time-to-merge and improve review quality.

Ideas:

  • →Review time dashboard
  • →Smart reviewer assignment
  • →PR complexity scorer with split suggestions

Team leads, open-source maintainers

SCAN: Track G

Problems Detected:

  • !24h avg to first review
  • !Uneven reviewer load
  • !Large PRs with no structure

Suggested fixes: 3 ideas

H

Environment Integrity Check

Detect environment drift, config mismatches, and "works on my machine" issues.

Ideas:

  • →Environment diff tool
  • →Config drift detector
  • →Reproducibility score for dev setups

Platform engineers, SREs

SCAN: Track H

Problems Detected:

  • !15% of bugs from env drift
  • !Config mismatches between envs
  • !No parity verification tools

Suggested fixes: 3 ideas

SENSITIVITY: HIGHSCAN: 8/8 COMPLETEANOMALIES: 24
eval>scan --criteria_

Judging Criteria

How projects are evaluated

Problem Diagnosis

25%

How clearly does the tool identify and visualize a real DX problem?

Solution Impact

25%

Does the tool provide actionable insights that lead to measurable improvement?

Technical Execution

20%

Code quality, architecture decisions, and reliability of the implementation.

User Experience

15%

Is the tool intuitive? Would a developer actually use it in their workflow?

Presentation & Demo

15%

Clear demo, compelling narrative, and honest discussion of limitations.

Bonus Challenges

Real Data Demo

medium+5

Demo your tool with real (anonymized) data from an actual codebase.

Before & After

hard+5

Show measurable improvement — metrics before and after applying your tool.

Open Source Ready

medium+3

Publish your tool as an open-source package with docs and CI.

Cross-Track Integration

hard+3

Build a tool that meaningfully connects insights from 2+ tracks.
who>scan --panel_

Judges

Industry experts evaluating your diagnostic tools

🔬

[REDACTED]

Lead Platform Engineer

To be announced

Specializes in CI/CD infrastructure and build system optimization at scale.

🩻

[REDACTED]

Developer Experience Lead

To be announced

Passionate about developer tooling, internal platforms, and reducing friction in engineering workflows.

🔍

[REDACTED]

Open Source Maintainer

To be announced

Maintains popular open-source developer tools with millions of monthly downloads.

📊

[REDACTED]

Engineering Manager

To be announced

Focuses on developer productivity metrics, team health, and removing invisible blockers.

🛡️

[REDACTED]

DevRel & Community Lead

To be announced

Builds developer communities and advocates for better documentation and onboarding experiences.

Judge profiles will be revealed as they are confirmed. Stay tuned.
>scan --compliance_

Rules

Project requirements for a valid submission

compliance-check.sh0/6 verified
$cat schedule.md_

Timeline

All times UTC. Sleep optional, caffeine recommended.

Pre-Event
Before March 27

Registration Opens

Mar 10

Sign up and join the Discord community.

Team Formation

Mar 24

Find teammates on Discord or register as solo.

Hackathon
March 27-30 (72h)

Kickoff & Hacking Begins

Mar 27@10:00 UTC

Opening ceremony, track assignments confirmed.

Code Freeze

Mar 30@10:00 UTC

Final commits. Polish your demo.

Demo Presentations

Mar 30@14:00 UTC

Live demos to judges and community.

Winners Announced

Mar 30@17:00 UTC

Awards ceremony and closing.

Post-Event
After March 30

Repos Go Public

Mar 31

All submissions published on GitHub.

Community Voting

Apr 1 – Apr 5

Vote for your favorite projects from fellow participants.

Community Choice Winner

Apr 6

Community-voted winner announced.

Recap & Highlights

Apr 8

Blog post with winner spotlights and key takeaways.
$$$scan --prizes_

Prizes

$1,800 total prize pool

1st Place

$800

Best overall DX diagnostic tool.

2nd Place

$400

Runner-up with exceptional execution.

3rd Place

$200

Strong entry with creative approach.

Best X-Ray Effect

Most compelling visualization of a hidden problem.

$100

Community Choice

Voted by fellow participants.

$300
?>scan --faq_

FAQ

Yes! DX-Ray Hackathon is completely free. Open to professional developers, platform engineers, and anyone building developer tools.
No. You can participate solo or form a team of up to 4 people. Use our Discord to find teammates before or during the event.
DX-Ray is designed for working professionals who build and maintain software. You should be comfortable shipping code independently. Every track assumes you can architect and implement a working tool in 72 hours.
Yes. You can use Copilot, ChatGPT, Claude, or any AI tool. Just be transparent about it in your submission. The judging focuses on the problem you solve, not how you write the code.
Any language, framework, or platform. CLI tools, web apps, IDE plugins, browser extensions — whatever best solves the problem. The only requirement is that it runs locally with a single setup command.
Fully online. Join from anywhere in the world. All communication happens on Discord, and demos are presented via video call.
You can research, plan, and design before the event. All code must be written during the 72-hour hackathon window (March 27-30).
All projects are published as open-source on GitHub. Winners are featured in our recap blog. Many past hackathon projects have grown into real tools used by dev teams.
DIAGNOSIS COMPLETE — ACTION REQUIRED

Ready to X-Ray Your DX?

Join 200+ professional developers and platform engineers building tools that expose hidden friction in developer workflows. March 27-30, 2026. Online. Free.

Activate DX-Ray

Free to participate · 72 hours · Ship something that matters