dkNET-AI · Apache Texera Agent Hackathon
May 14–18, 2026 · UC Irvine
We are thrilled to celebrate the successful conclusion of the recent dkNET-AI · Apache Texera Agent Hackathon! Brought together by the NIH dkNET project and hosted by the Apache Texera team, this intensive, in-person event challenged participants to build the future of human-AI collaborative data science.
Over a dynamic four-day sprint from May 14 to May 18, 2026, at UC Irvine, the event united researchers, students, and data enthusiasts to build intuitive, visual workflows where advanced AI agents co-author data pipelines alongside humans.
01The Hackathon by the Numbers
The dedication and productivity displayed by our community over the weekend were truly remarkable:
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23
active participants (combining newcomers and 1-on-1 paired Texera Mentors)
|
46
hours of non-stop hacking
|
35
total project submissions generated, with 33 accepted for formal evaluation by our expert judging panel
|
02Final Award Winners & Highlights
Our distinguished panel of judges—Dr. Xi Lu (University at Buffalo), Dr. Zuozhi Wang (Snowflake), and Dr. Yicong Huang (Databricks)—evaluated the submissions based on craft, real workflow leverage, and human-in-the-loop design. Top-performing projects and runners-up were recognized with individual gift card awards ranging from $50 to $100.
Here is the official summary of the winning teams and their projects:
Best Human-Agent Collaboration
| Winner | xuang7 – Interactive Onboarding Tours with AI Tutor PR #5104 |
| Runner-Up | yangzhang75 – BioFlow Genesis PR #5122 |
| Honorable | zyratlo – Workflow Auto-Documentation Agent PR #5088 · kz930 – AI Workflow Wizard PR #5095 |
Best Data Experience
| Winner | PG1204 – Workflow Performance Profiler PR #5098 |
| Runner-Up | tanishqgandhi1908 – Smart File Source (LLM-powered) PR #5105 |
| Honorable | eugenegujing – DataGuard PR #5101 · nathant27 – News-API Streaming Operators PR #5103 |
Best Productivity Enhancement
| Winner | tanishqgandhi1908 – Smart File Source · AI Image-Native Workflows PR #5107 |
| Runner-Up | jaeyun0503 – Floating Agent PR #5093 |
| Honorable | aglinxinyuan – Mobile App for Texera PR #5099 |
Best Texera Innovation (Overall Award)
| Winner | EmilySun621 – AI-Powered Data Science Ecosystem for Texera |
| Runner-Up | claire687 – Global Texera AI Agent · Multi-Agent · Cross-Tab Actions PR #5087 |
| Honorable | Xiao-zhen-Liu – AI-Augmented Macro Operators PR #5115 |
03Judges’ Special Awards
★ Special Recognition
| Special | Theospe – Sports-Betting Pipeline PR #5110 |
| Special | mengw15 – UDF Copilot PR #5081 |
04Keep Building Post-Hackathon
While the official hacking hours have closed, the momentum continues! Participants retain their Premium Claude Code seats for the remainder of May. The Apache Texera team is actively reviewing these pull requests to evaluate landing them upstream into the production system.
Explore the Open-Source Repository
You can explore the full codebase, review the open pull requests, and star the official open-source repository on GitHub.
Congratulations again to all our brilliant participants and winners for pushing the boundaries of what is possible in the open-source data ecosystem!
