hackBuddy

HackBuddy: Building an Open-Source AI Event Concierge After Receiving 500+ Hackathon Registrations --- title: HackBuddy: Building an Open-Source AI Event Concierge After Receiving 500+ Hackathon Registrations published: true tags: devchallenge, hf26challenge, ai, opensource --- This is a submission for the Hacktoberfest Open-Source AI Challenge Week 2: Side Hustle. > HackBuddy is an open-source AI event concierge built with .NET, Microsoft Agent Framework, Ollama, and Arduino. It was inspired by a real challenge: running Hacktoberfest Hack Day Mumbai, where more than 500 registrations had to be narrowed down to approximately 50 attendees due to venue capacity and swag logistics. What I Built HackBuddy is an AI-powered event concierge designed for hackathons, meetups, conferences, college festivals, and community-driven events. The idea emerged while organizing Hacktoberfest Hack Day Mumbai. Like many community organizers, we spend significant time answering the same questions repeatedly: - When does the event start? - What should I build? - How do I submit my project? - Which technologies should I use? - Which sponsors should I explore? - Where can I find the event schedule? As our event registrations crossed 500, it became obvious that many of these interactions could be streamlined through a dedicated event AI assistant. HackBuddy acts as a digital event concierge that helps both attendees and organizers. For Attendees - Event FAQ assistant - Project idea generator - Hackathon guidance - Challenge discovery - Sponsor recommendations - Technology recommendations For Organizers - Reduced support burden - Event-specific knowledge base - Attendee interaction insights - Frequently asked question analysis - Technology interest tracking - Sponsor engagement visibility Rather than being another generic AI chatbot, HackBuddy focuses on a specific market: Community event operations. Potential customers include: - Hackathons - Developer communities - Student organizations - Conferences - Startup events - Internal innovation days A future pricing model could look something like: - Community Edition: Free - Starter: $19 per event - Professional: $49 per event - Enterprise: Custom pricing Demo GitHub Repository indcoder/hackBuddy Demo Video Coming soon Planned Event Usage HackBuddy was built specifically for use at Hacktoberfest Hack Day Mumbai. The event attracted more than 500 registrations and required significant attendee communication, coordination, and curation. Our goal was simple: > Build something we would actually use ourselves. Screenshots Add screenshots here once available. - Home Page - AI Concierge - Project Recommendation Engine - Sponsor Discovery - Organizer Dashboard - Arduino Integration Code GitHub Repository: indcoder/hackBuddy Technology Stack Application - .NET - ASP.NET Core - Blazor Server - Entity Framework Core - SQLite AI - Microsoft Agent Framework - Microsoft.Extensions.AI - Ollama - Gemma / Qwen Hardware - Arduino UNO Q How I Built It The primary goal was to build something practical, affordable, and deployable by community organizers. Local AI First Instead of relying on expensive cloud APIs, HackBuddy runs against local models through Ollama. This allows organizers to: - Control costs - Preserve privacy - Operate without vendor lock-in - Run the application locally Supported models include: - Gemma - Qwen - Llama Event Knowledge Base Event-specific information is stored as Markdown files. Examples include: - FAQ - Schedule - Venue information - Sponsors - Challenge tracks - Submission instructions These files are ingested into a searchable knowledge store and used by the agent when responding to attendees. This helps keep responses grounded in actual event information rather than generic knowledge. AI Agent HackBuddy uses Microsoft Agent Framework to orchestrate interactions between: - Event knowledge - Project recommendation logic - Sponsor discovery - Future organizer workflows The goal is to create an extensible platform rather than a single-purpose chatbot. Arduino Integration One of the unique aspects of this project is the integration with an Arduino UNO Q. The Arduino functions as a physical interaction layer. Current status indicators include: - 🔵 Blue: Ready - 🟡 Yellow: Processing - 🟢 Green: Response Complete - 🔴 Red: Error Future versions could support: - RFID event badges - NFC attendee interactions - Physical event kiosks - Check-in systems - Interactive sponsor booths Why Does Open Innovation Matter? Community events typically run on limited budgets. Many are organized entirely by volunteers. Traditional AI products often require recurring API costs that can quickly become prohibitive for community-led initiatives. Open-source AI changes that equation. Lower Costs By running open models locally through Ollama, organizers can avoid per-request API charges. This makes the business model viable even for small meetups and student communities. Privacy Attendee questions and event data remain under organizer control. Sensitive data does not need to leave the local environment. No Vendor Lock-In HackBuddy can switch between different open-weight models as better options emerge. Today it may use Gemma. Tomorrow it could use Qwen or Llama. The organizer remains in control. Community Ownership Community-generated knowledge belongs to the community. Open-source AI enables organizers to build useful experiences without surrendering their data and workflows to proprietary services. My Agent Session HackBuddy was developed using AI-assisted development workflows and coding agents. The project evolved through several iterations: 1. Event operations problem identification 2. Product design 3. Technical architecture definition 4. AI workflow design 5. Hardware integration planning 6. MVP implementation Agent session link to be added. My First User The first user was actually us. As organizers of Hacktoberfest Hack Day Mumbai, we wanted to build a solution for challenges we were actively experiencing ourselves. This project follows a simple philosophy: > Drink your own champagne. Instead of creating a hypothetical product for hypothetical users, we built something intended for a real event. Hacktoberfest Hack Day Mumbai provided an ideal testing environment because: - More than 500 registrations were received - Attendance had to be curated - Participants needed project guidance - Organizers needed operational visibility - Repetitive attendee questions were common Some of the questions we hope to answer through HackBuddy include: - Which technologies generate the most interest? - What questions are asked most frequently? - How much organizer time can be saved? - Which sponsor categories attract attention? - Would event organizers pay for these insights? Those answers will directly influence future development. Prize Categories I am entering: - Best Use of Arduino - Overall Hacktoberfest Open-Source AI Challenge HackBuddy combines local AI, community operations, and Arduino hardware to create a practical event-focused product that extends beyond the browser and into real-world event experiences. Future Roadmap Near-Term Improvements - Team matching - Enhanced project recommendations - Sponsor lead capture - QR code attendee support - Event-specific analytics Hardware Roadmap - RFID attendee badges - NFC interactions - Event kiosks - Smart check-in stations Long-Term Vision The long-term vision is to evolve HackBuddy into an operating system for community events. Imagine a single platform that can: - Support attendees - Assist organizers - Power event kiosks - Generate operational insights - Preserve community knowledge HackBuddy started as a Hacktoberfest project. The goal is for it to eventually become a tool that communities around the world can use to create better event experiences while retaining ownership of their data, workflows, and knowledge.