// Broadcasting
Build something that haunts. It creeps into something real, your files, your browser, your calendar, your house, and actually works. One week, solo, any AI model. The Champion wins $50, the one-of-one Champion hoodie, and picks what Yard #6 is about.
The Occupant is a zero-permission psychological horror web experience built solo for Hackyard Yard #5: Haunted. It asks for no camera, no microphone, and no geolocation permissions. It starts as an almost empty black screen with faint 35mm film grain, heavy analog radio static, and a single pale line that slowly types itself out, complete with human hesitations and backspaced typos: "Hi, Marcus. I see you." As you scroll into the dark, your fear levels will creep up
Ember keeps the last line you were reading, then haunts real things with it. Your browser: the line becomes the tab title and icon, so it rides in your tab bar. Your desktop: with permission it speaks the line as a real notification when you come back. Your files: one button writes it to a real file on disk. Ask the bulb to turn off and it drops to an ember, sits, then warms back up. One HTML file, no network, no dependencies, reversible with one button.
Ghost in the Repo is a dead-code hunter that turns cleanup into a Halloween ghost hunt. It scans any Python repo and reports 4 ghost species: wraiths (uncalled functions), specters (unused imports), poltergeists (unreachable code), shades (unread variables). Each ghost becomes a spooky GitHub issue; exorcism removes it safely with diff preview and undo. 8 real ghosts found and banished in testing. Built with Muse Spark.
// Open spots · late join
25 / 40 claimed
The Yard is live, but it isn't full. You can still join until Wed, Oct 21 · 18:00 UTC. Joining now counts as your check-in; you just have less time than the people who started Monday.
// The lineup
25 of 25 checked in
18:00 UTC in your time zone
11:00 AM PDT · 2:00 PM EDT · 7:00 PM BST · 8:00 PM CEST · 11:30 PM IST · 3:00 AM Tue JST · 5:00 AM Tue AEDT
Theme: Haunted. Build something that haunts: it scares, surprises, or creeps into something real. It has to work on real stuff. A spooky page playing a canned demo doesn't count; something that actually haunts your desktop, inbox or calendar does. Keep it harmless. Opt-in, reversible, on your own stuff only. Nothing that deletes data, spreads, or touches anyone else's device. The idea can be old. The code cannot. Write it all during the build week, Monday 18:00 UTC to Friday 18:00 UTC. Bring any AI model you like. It's open. Capped at 40 builders. Check in before kickoff or your spot releases at the bell. Solo builders only. Open-source your repo. Ship a demo video. The Champion wins $50 cash and the one-of-one Champion hoodie, and picks Yard #6's theme: Cancel It, Offline, or Voice Only. That's it.
// The reward
Put up by Hackyard. The community vote sets the order, the same vote that crowns the Champion. Nobody else touches it. Paid out after the crown.
1st
$50
Winners get featured on the home page. The whole yard sees your work.
Champion, Top 3, and Shipped badges live on your profile forever.
We publish a writeup on the winning build, what it is, how it works.
The champion takes home a one-of-one, custom Hackyard hoodie: heavyweight and blacked-out, with your handle, “Champion,” and the Yard on the back. Ship the best build, take it home.
The win doesn't fade after a week. For 365 days Hackyard puts its platform behind you: pinned to the home page, boosted on our X, first dibs on every future Yard, and a permanent Champion badge. We grow, you grow.