QUEST 02: Build The Alarm

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Description

Quest 02: Build the Alarm

Quest 02 is the second challenge from hackFront India, and it runs Quest 01 backwards.

In Quest 01 we gave you a problem and asked for a prompt. This time we give you a finished product, and you have to write the prompt that would build it.

The rules are simple. You get one problem statement. You get thirty minutes. And you get exactly one prompt, sent to the web version of any AI tool you like, ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, whatever you prefer. No follow up messages. No editing your prompt once you have seen the output. No second tries. Whatever that one prompt produces is what you submit.

This sounds easy. It is not. Your instinct will be to describe what you can see, and describing gets you something that looks right and does nothing. The product we show you is full of decisions, and decisions do not show up in a screenshot. To rebuild it you have to work out why it was built that way, which means solving the problem it was designed to solve before you write a single word.

Three ways to get disqualified

Your prompt must be written by you. Not written by an AI, not expanded by an AI, not polished or rephrased by an AI. If an AI wrote your prompt, then an AI understood the problem and you did not, and there is nothing left for us to judge.

Use the website, not your code editor. Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Windsurf, the assistant panel in VS Code, none of them are allowed, because they cannot export a conversation as a public link.

No open chat link, no entry. A submission without a working link is disqualified automatically, however good the output is. Generate your link, open it in an incognito window to check it loads for someone who is not you, then post it.

How it runs

The problem statement goes public fifteen minutes before the clock starts. Use that window to read it properly, because once the thirty minutes begin you want to be thinking, not reading.

How to submit

Three things. Your full prompt exactly as you sent it. A screenshot of what it built. And your open chat link.

When you will know the results

Winners are announced Tuesday across Discord, LinkedIn, and Instagram. Judging takes a couple of days because we read every prompt line by line.

What the top 3 walk away with

Official hackFront India merchandise, shipped to your doorstep
A dedicated shoutout across hackFront India's LinkedIn and Instagram
Recognition as a Quest 02 Champion inside the hackFront India Discord

One thing to remember

Quest 02 is not about who writes the longest prompt or who knows the most CSS. Anyone can describe a screen. Very few can explain why it exists. The winner will be whoever reads the problem the deepest, then gets that understanding into one prompt.

Your thirty minutes start fifteen minutes after the problem statement drops. Good luck.

Eligibility

Stages & Timeline

Aug

Phase 1: Registration

Online

Ended

Start on:

19 Aug '26, 12:30 PM IST

Ends on:

22 Aug '26, 1:30 PM IST

Aug

Phase 2: Submission

Online

Ended

Start on:

22 Aug '26, 1:00 PM IST

Ends on:

16 Sep '26, 10:30 AM IST

Guidelines

1. One prompt only You get exactly one prompt. Not two, not one with edits, not a prompt followed by "make it better". Whatever you type first is what counts. If you send a second message in the same chat, your submission is disqualified.

2. Web AI tools only Use ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, Grok, or any other AI tool you are comfortable with. Free tier or paid, both are fine. Use the website, not AI built into a code editor. Cursor, Copilot, Windsurf and the assistant panel in VS Code cannot produce a shareable chat link, which means we cannot verify your entry. The tool does not decide the winner. Your prompt does.

3. Forty five minutes, hard stop The problem statement is shared fifteen minutes before the clock starts. Use that window to read it properly. You then get thirty minutes to write your prompt, run it, and submit. Submissions close exactly when those thirty minutes are up. Late submissions will not be reviewed, no exceptions.

4. Submit all four items Your submission must include your full prompt (copy paste it, do not paraphrase), the complete AI output, a shareable chat link, and one line naming the design decision that was hardest to work out. Missing any of the first three and your entry does not qualify.

5. The chat link is mandatory This is how we verify the single prompt rule. Every major AI tool has a share option in the chat settings. Open your link in an incognito window before posting to confirm it loads for someone who is not you. A link that only works for you is the same as no link.

6. Solo participation Quest 02 is an individual challenge. You can discuss the problem with your team beforehand, but the prompt you submit must be your own work. One person, one prompt, one submission.

7. Original prompts, written by you Do not copy prompts from templates, prompt libraries, or other participants. Do not ask an AI to write, expand, or polish your prompt for you. If an AI wrote your prompt, then an AI understood the problem and you did not, and there is nothing left for us to judge. Judges read every submission and both repeated and AI generated prompts get flagged.

8. Honest use of AI Do not fabricate the AI output. Do not edit the output after receiving it. Submit exactly what the AI gave you, formatting and all.

9. Judging is final Winners are decided by the hackFront India review team based on how well your prompt shows you understood the problem, how closely the output matches the target in substance, and how economically you got there. Shorter prompts break ties. Decisions are final and will not be reopened.

10. Have fun with it This is a challenge, not an exam. Take risks with your prompt. Try approaches you have not tried before. The submissions that win will not be the safe ones.

Resources

DOCUMENT 1 — The group chat:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FB7OqMPaDBF_T3OQhReCZfnr9BON8U_fhpJ8_JhEe1Q/edit?usp=sharing

DOCUMENT 2 — GroupSync:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bC4NKGx2GHxBYTJXtEk8wwh4jVr0f3eq/view?usp=sharing

Problem Statement

Problems

1 Problem Statement

Quest 02: Build the Alarm

The situation

Five students. One DBMS mini project. Six days.

They submitted 1 hour 53 minutes late. The professor deducted 10%.

Below is their group cha...

FAQs

No. Quest 02 is one attempt. Judges read every prompt, and a rehearsed one always shows, because it pre-empts mistakes you could only have seen after a first try. If your tool errors out and returns nothing, that is a technical failure, not an attempt.

No. The only message you send to any AI is your one prompt. No brainstorming, no analysing the problem, no drafting. Working it out yourself is the challenge.

Use a tool that does. Generate your link, then open it in an incognito window to check it loads. A link that only works for you counts as no link, and no link means no entry.

No. You are judged on your prompt, not on what you can build. First year and non technical participants start level here.

Yes, exactly as it came back. Judges read your prompt first. A rough output from a prompt that understood the problem beats a polished one from a prompt that only described it.

Start on: 19/08/2026 12:30 IST

Ends on: 16/09/2026 10:30 IST

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QUEST 02: Build The AlarmInnovation

Quest 02: Build the Alarm

Three ways to get disqualified

How it runs

How to submit

When you will know the results

What the top 3 walk away with

One thing to remember

DOCUMENT 1 — The group chat:

DOCUMENT 2 — GroupSync:

The situation

The situation

QUEST 02: Build The Alarm