Hackathon registration form: teams, skills and sign ups

A hackathon starts with strangers and a deadline. If you know their skills before the doors open, you can form balanced teams on day one, not by guesswork. I would collect that in one link, along with food needs and the rules.

Who it is for

Organisers of student hackathons, company build weekends and community game jams who want to know who is coming and what they can do.

What each question is for

Contact and profile link: a way to reach people and a quick look at their work.
Team status and team name: whether someone has a team, wants one or comes alone.
Skills and experience: so teams are balanced and first timers get support.
Idea notes: what people want to build, which helps you pick mentors.
Food needs and t-shirt size: for the catering and swag orders.
Code of conduct: a required tick before submitting.

What a participant's AI would ask

"Do you already have a team?" Then "Which skills do you bring?" Then "Is this your first hackathon?" The AI shows every answer and sends them only after a yes. Learn about agent-fillable forms.

Before you use it

Set max_responses to your venue capacity and close sign ups a few days early, so you have time to form teams. For an online kickoff, a webinar registration form works well. A pre-event skills session suits a workshop registration form. See forms for events and forms for SaaS and startups.

Questions

How do I match people who need a team?

Filter the CSV on team_status for people who want to join a team, then group them by the skills column. Each new team then gets a mix, such as backend, frontend and design.

Can I make the code of conduct compulsory?

Yes. The code of conduct question is a required tick box, so nobody can submit without agreeing. Paste a link to your own rules into the form description.

Does it show who actually turns up?

No. It records sign ups only. On the day, run an attendance or sign in form and compare the two CSV files to see who came.

Or paste the JSON

Give this to your AI. It needs the AI Form API MCP server or an API key. It makes the form and sends you the link.

text

Create this form with the AI Form API create_form tool (or POST https://aiformapi.com/v1/forms with my API key). Then reply with the public_url.

{
  "title": "Join the hackathon",
  "description": "Tell us what you can build and whether you have a team. We use your answers to balance teams and order food.",
  "fields": [
    {
      "id": "full_name",
      "label": "Your name",
      "type": "short_text",
      "required": true,
      "max_length": 120
    },
    {
      "id": "email",
      "label": "Email",
      "type": "email",
      "required": true
    },
    {
      "id": "profile_link",
      "label": "Link to your GitHub, portfolio or LinkedIn",
      "type": "url"
    },
    {
      "id": "school_or_company",
      "label": "School or company",
      "type": "short_text",
      "max_length": 150
    },
    {
      "id": "team_status",
      "label": "Do you have a team?",
      "type": "single_choice",
      "required": true,
      "options": [
        "I have a team",
        "I want to join a team",
        "I am joining alone",
        "Not sure yet"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "team_name",
      "label": "Team name, if you have one",
      "type": "short_text",
      "max_length": 100
    },
    {
      "id": "skills",
      "label": "Which skills do you bring?",
      "type": "multi_choice",
      "required": true,
      "options": [
        "Frontend",
        "Backend",
        "Mobile",
        "Data and AI",
        "Design",
        "Hardware",
        "Product and pitching"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "hackathon_experience",
      "label": "How many hackathons have you done?",
      "type": "single_choice",
      "options": [
        "This is my first",
        "A few",
        "Many"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "idea_notes",
      "label": "What would you like to build?",
      "type": "long_text",
      "max_length": 800
    },
    {
      "id": "food_needs",
      "label": "Food needs",
      "type": "single_choice",
      "options": [
        "No requirements",
        "Vegetarian",
        "Vegan",
        "Halal",
        "Kosher",
        "Gluten free",
        "Other"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "shirt_size",
      "label": "T-shirt size",
      "type": "single_choice",
      "options": [
        "XS",
        "S",
        "M",
        "L",
        "XL",
        "XXL"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "own_laptop",
      "label": "I will bring my own laptop and charger",
      "type": "checkbox"
    },
    {
      "id": "conduct_agreed",
      "label": "I agree to follow the code of conduct",
      "type": "checkbox",
      "required": true
    }
  ]
}

Or call the API

bash

curl -X POST https://aiformapi.com/v1/forms \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $AIFORMAPI_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"title":"Join the hackathon","description":"Tell us what you can build and whether you have a team. We use your answers to balance teams and order food.","fields":[{"id":"full_name","label":"Your name","type":"short_text","required":true,"max_length":120},{"id":"email","label":"Email","type":"email","required":true},{"id":"profile_link","label":"Link to your GitHub, portfolio or LinkedIn","type":"url"},{"id":"school_or_company","label":"School or company","type":"short_text","max_length":150},{"id":"team_status","label":"Do you have a team?","type":"single_choice","required":true,"options":["I have a team","I want to join a team","I am joining alone","Not sure yet"]},{"id":"team_name","label":"Team name, if you have one","type":"short_text","max_length":100},{"id":"skills","label":"Which skills do you bring?","type":"multi_choice","required":true,"options":["Frontend","Backend","Mobile","Data and AI","Design","Hardware","Product and pitching"]},{"id":"hackathon_experience","label":"How many hackathons have you done?","type":"single_choice","options":["This is my first","A few","Many"]},{"id":"idea_notes","label":"What would you like to build?","type":"long_text","max_length":800},{"id":"food_needs","label":"Food needs","type":"single_choice","options":["No requirements","Vegetarian","Vegan","Halal","Kosher","Gluten free","Other"]},{"id":"shirt_size","label":"T-shirt size","type":"single_choice","options":["XS","S","M","L","XL","XXL"]},{"id":"own_laptop","label":"I will bring my own laptop and charger","type":"checkbox"},{"id":"conduct_agreed","label":"I agree to follow the code of conduct","type":"checkbox","required":true}]}'

JSON definition

json

{
  "title": "Join the hackathon",
  "description": "Tell us what you can build and whether you have a team. We use your answers to balance teams and order food.",
  "fields": [
    {
      "id": "full_name",
      "label": "Your name",
      "type": "short_text",
      "required": true,
      "max_length": 120
    },
    {
      "id": "email",
      "label": "Email",
      "type": "email",
      "required": true
    },
    {
      "id": "profile_link",
      "label": "Link to your GitHub, portfolio or LinkedIn",
      "type": "url"
    },
    {
      "id": "school_or_company",
      "label": "School or company",
      "type": "short_text",
      "max_length": 150
    },
    {
      "id": "team_status",
      "label": "Do you have a team?",
      "type": "single_choice",
      "required": true,
      "options": [
        "I have a team",
        "I want to join a team",
        "I am joining alone",
        "Not sure yet"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "team_name",
      "label": "Team name, if you have one",
      "type": "short_text",
      "max_length": 100
    },
    {
      "id": "skills",
      "label": "Which skills do you bring?",
      "type": "multi_choice",
      "required": true,
      "options": [
        "Frontend",
        "Backend",
        "Mobile",
        "Data and AI",
        "Design",
        "Hardware",
        "Product and pitching"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "hackathon_experience",
      "label": "How many hackathons have you done?",
      "type": "single_choice",
      "options": [
        "This is my first",
        "A few",
        "Many"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "idea_notes",
      "label": "What would you like to build?",
      "type": "long_text",
      "max_length": 800
    },
    {
      "id": "food_needs",
      "label": "Food needs",
      "type": "single_choice",
      "options": [
        "No requirements",
        "Vegetarian",
        "Vegan",
        "Halal",
        "Kosher",
        "Gluten free",
        "Other"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "shirt_size",
      "label": "T-shirt size",
      "type": "single_choice",
      "options": [
        "XS",
        "S",
        "M",
        "L",
        "XL",
        "XXL"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "own_laptop",
      "label": "I will bring my own laptop and charger",
      "type": "checkbox"
    },
    {
      "id": "conduct_agreed",
      "label": "I agree to follow the code of conduct",
      "type": "checkbox",
      "required": true
    }
  ]
}

A hackathon registration form that helps you build teams