The CLAD Summer Hackathon

Build the future of spatial experiences with CLAD

Register nowLearn more
Current themeOrganize
Time left—
TaskBuild a spatial experience with CLAD in Lens Studio

The CLAD Summer Hackathon is a four-week virtual challenge where you’ll use CLAD, a new AI-assisted development workflow in Lens Studio, to quickly prototype useful spatial experiences. Each week introduces a new theme—Organize, Guide, Connect, and Create—giving you four chances to build, submit, and win.

Whether you’re an XR designer, AR creator, developer, or creative technologist, this hackathon is your opportunity to explore what’s possible with AI-assisted building. No Spectacles hardware is required—bring your idea, build with CLAD in Lens Studio, and show us how spatial experiences can make everyday life more useful, intuitive, and creative.

Your Task

Build a useful spatial experience with CLAD. Keep in mind that your Lens should be built for SPECS, but you do not need the device to build with CLAD or participate in this hackathon.

Each weekly hackathon will have a different theme and prompt:

  • Week 1: OrganizeBuild a spatial experience that helps people organize, plan, or be more productive.
  • Week 2: GuideBuild a spatial experience that guides people to learn, complete, or improve a real-world task.
  • Week 3: ConnectBuild a spatial experience that connects people, platforms, or everyday communication workflows.
  • Week 4: CreateBuild a spatial tool that helps people create something faster, easier, or more intuitively.

What is CLAD?

Closed loop agentic development (CLAD) is a suite of agents and skills which allow AI to create in Lens Studio, optimized for SPECS. In short, it enables you to design, develop, test, and publish your Lenses easier and faster.

  • Closed means that CLAD allows AI to build autonomously. A single prompt is usually sufficient for the AI to deliver a working Lens that fulfills the request.
  • Loop means that CLAD can work through design, building, and testing, repeating these phases until tests pass.
  • Agentic means that CLAD can break down complex tasks into smaller pieces that agents specialize in.
  • Development means that CLAD works as your co-developer. From writing code to writing music, it supports the full development experience.
  1. 01Prompt
  2. 02Build
  3. 03Test & fix
  4. 04Refine

In practice, CLAD lets you describe the AR experience you want to create and have an AI assistant build it with you directly in Lens Studio. Starting with your idea or prompt, the AI can help create the project from the ground up—setting up objects, writing scripts, adding interactions and visual effects, testing features, fixing errors, and refining the experience as you go.

You do not need advanced AR development or coding experience to use CLAD, making it approachable for first-time builders. Experienced developers can also use it to move faster, explore more complex ideas, and extend what they create. You can use CLAD to generate an initial Lens from a prompt, then continue collaborating with it step by step until your experience is complete.

How CLAD WorksAgents and skills

Key Points

  • CLAD works with Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and other AI tools.
  • CLAD can be extended with your own tools and skills.
  • Use it to create new projects or iterate on existing ones.
  • CLAD is optimized for the SPECS platform.
  • CLAD can “one-shot” Lenses, but it can also build alongside you as a co-developer.
Full CLAD DocumentationConvert Existing Project to SPECS

How to Get Started

  1. Download Lens Studio. Lens Studio version 5.22 or later is required.
  2. Set up Lens Studio — create a SPECS project for CLAD.
  3. Set up AI — connect Claude Code, Codex, or Cursor.
  4. Prompt AI, for example:
    • “Build a Periodic Table experience for SPECS”
    • “Add music and VFX to my Lens”
    • “Add a shader to make this sphere glow like lava”
    • “Add tests to my Lens”
Lens Studio Setup InstructionsSet up AI

Have Questions or Need Support?

For CLAD setup questions or Lens Studio troubleshooting issues, go to the official SPECS Subreddit.

Ask SPECS Team

For questions about the hackathon logistics, rules, or schedule, please email the Lenslist team.

Ask Lenslist

Prizes

Each week we’re giving out 3 prizes:

1st$1,000
2nd$500
3rd$200

Learn more about the prizes and prize payment process in the challenge Terms & Conditions.

How to Join

  1. Register for the Hackathon using the form below.
  2. Download Lens Studio to build and publish your spatial experience using CLAD.
  3. Prepare your submission, which must include:
    • Public project repo linkShare a public link to your project repository.
    • Demo videoSubmit a demo video using file sharing platforms like Google Drive, Dropbox or WeTransfer. Your video should include a walkthrough of your spatial experience, its key features, and how it uses CLAD.
    • CLAD prompt logInclude a text file, transcript, or document showing the prompts and AI-assisted workflow used to help create your project with CLAD.
    • Project descriptionBriefly describe what you built, how it responds to the weekly theme, and who it is for.
  4. Submit your project and you’re all set! In case you don’t receive a confirmation email, please reach out to us at [email protected].

Hackathon Schedule

This activation includes 4 separate week-long hackathons. Each hackathon starts Monday morning and ends Sunday night (PST), with winner announcements rolling out every Thursday.

Weekly ThemeStartEndWinners Announcement
Hackathon #1:
Organize		Aug 10Aug 16Aug 20
Hackathon #2:
Guide		Aug 17Aug 23Aug 27
Hackathon #3:
Connect		Aug 24Aug 30Sep 3
Hackathon #4:
Create		Aug 31Sep 6Sep 10

Register now, complete your CLAD setup, and get ready to build! You only need to register once to participate in all four weekly hackathons.

Have Questions or Need Support?

For CLAD setup questions or Lens Studio troubleshooting issues, go to the official SPECS Subreddit.

Ask SPECS Team

For questions about the hackathon logistics, rules, or schedule, please email the Lenslist team.

Ask Lenslist

Judging Criteria

Submissions will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

50%CLAD Execution

How meaningfully and effectively CLAD was used to build the project, including the quality, ambition, and impressiveness achieved through AI-assisted development.

25%User Experience

How clear, intuitive, and engaging the spatial experience is for the intended user.

25%Creativity & Usefulness

How original, thoughtful, and useful the idea is as a spatial experience.

FAQ

Who can take part?
  • You must be at least the age of majority in your country, state, province, or jurisdiction of residence at the time of entry;
  • This Challenge is open globally, but with exceptions (see the question below);
  • Employees of Snap Inc., Specs Inc., and Lenslist (both Lenslist and Lens That) and their immediate family are not eligible to participate.
Residents of which countries can NOT take part?

Individuals who are residents of, or entities/organizations domiciled in countries noted in the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions: American Samoa, Anguilla, Dominica, Fiji, Guam, Palau, Panama, Samoa, Trinidad and Tobago, US Virgin Islands, Vanuatu, Seychelles, as well as any country that is under any trade or economic sanction or on any program or country list designated by the United States Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, or where the laws of the United States or local law prohibits their participation or receipt a prize in any contest and specifically excludes Russia, Belarus, Crimea, Donetsk, and Luhansk regions of Ukraine, Cuba, North Korea, Iran, and Syria.

Is there any Submission Fee to take part in this Challenge?

There is no submission fee, you can take part free of charge.

Will I receive confirmation that my project has been submitted correctly?

Yes, you should receive a confirmation email after submitting your project. If you don’t see it in your inbox, please check the spam folder and for further information contact us at [email protected].

Can I still join a weekly hackathon if it has already started?

Yes. You may still register for the current week as long as you submit your project before that week’s submission deadline.

Can I participate in more than one weekly hackathon?

Yes. You may participate in multiple weekly hackathons and submit to more than one challenge. (One project per challenge)

Can I submit the same project to multiple weekly hackathons?

No. Each weekly hackathon has a different theme, so each submission should be a new project created for that specific week’s challenge.

Registration Form