Pre-Event Work
Project development carried out before the official hackathon window opens. Class A events prohibit it; Class B events may permit it with disclosure; Class C events expect it.
Pre-event work is project development carried out before the
official hackathon window opens. Class A events prohibit it
outright as a structural defense of the fair-fight commitment;
Class B events may permit it with disclosure depending on the
specific rules; Class C events expect it as part of what the
event is for. Devpost-listed projects like
.gitcheck automate timeline audits by analyzing
GitHub commit history against the official hackathon window to
detect pre-existing or suspicious development activity, and MLH's
standard rules language explicitly requires the no-pre-event-work
rule for events in the league's network. See
no-ringers-without-disclosure and
ringer-team.