Unleash the power of eBPF 🐝

eBPF Summit: Hackathon Edition invites developers, tinkerers, and open source enthusiasts from all backgrounds to get hands-on with this cutting-edge kernel technology that’s being used to build the future of cloud native networking, observability, and security.

Your mission: From first-time contributions to production-grade ideas, we welcome all forms of creativity. We want to see original, useful, and creative projects that explore eBPF and/or Cilium. For example, you might:

  • Build a CLI tool that automates Cilium policy testing or converts firewall rules 
  • Create an observability dashboard powered by Hubble and Grafana
  • Write a blog post demystifying Tetragon tracing for security teams
  • Craft your first XDP program to monitor DNS traffic
  • Create a tutorial making eBPF more accessible to new contributors
  • Showcase Cilium in a novel real-world production scenario
  • Port something to eBPF (like Doom!)

Whether you’re hacking on new tools, writing your first eBPF program, or crafting a tutorial to help others get started, this is your opportunity to learn, contribute, and connect — all while showcasing the potential of open source technologies like eBPF, Cilium, and its subprojects like Tetragon, Hubble, and Pwru. This is your chance to show the eBPF community what you can do! 

What are eBPF and Cilium? 

eBPF is a revolutionary technology originating in Linux that allows loading custom programs into the kernel, to safely extend the capabilities of the operating system. It's an ideal platform for implementing observability, security and networking functionality - and more!  

Fueled by eBPF, Cilium is the cloud native standard for connecting workloads, with deep observability provided by Hubble. Cilium's Tetragon project uses eBPF for powerful, yet incredibly low-overhead, runtime security. Pwru is a tool for tracing packets as they pass through the kernel's network stack. 

About eBPF Summit

Since 2020, eBPF Summit has gathered the eBPF community together for a virtual summit that explores and celebrates the open source eBPF ecosystem. With everything from deep dives to hands-on challenges, eBPF Summit brings together everyone building, using, or interested in using eBPF as a platform. This year we're doing something different by hosting this eBPF Hackathon! 

Requirements

WHAT TO BUILD:

Create a project that showcases, extends, or contributes to the eBPF ecosystem. We have three different categories:

eBPF Starter Track for Beginners - Share your first steps experimenting with eBPF! This category is for newcomers with little or no previous experience with the technology.

Cilium technologies - In this category you can use, integrate, enhance or educate about any of the projects under github.com/cilium, including Cilium, Tetragon, Hubble or pwru.

Using eBPF - Create, enhance,use or teach about any eBPF-based projects other than Cilium.

For all of these categories your project can take many forms:

  • A code-based tool, demo, or utility
  • A tutorial, blog post, or educational resource
  • An improvement to documentation or testing
  • A creative integration or use of existing features and capabilities

Any code for your project should be open source. 

WHAT TO SUBMIT:

  • A link to your public GitHub repository, blog post, or resource. Include a README or explainer in your repo with usage instructions and relevant code walkthroughs or diagrams. The code repository must be public with an approved OSI Open Source License.
  • A short text description of your project: what it does, who it’s for, and how it uses eBPF and/or Cilium. For the eBPF Starter Track, tell us about any previous experience you have with eBPF and/or Cilium, and share what inspired you to get involved with this technology. If you used AI tools to assist with your project, briefly explain how.  
  • A demo video of 3 min or less to showcase your project.

A note about AI tools

Let's show off what humans can do - please don't create AI Slop! AI tools can provide useful assistance, but we really want to see work that you have invented, coded, or written yourself - and most importantly, what you have learned along the way. That's why we're insisting on a video to accompany each submission - it's your chance to talk us through your work, tell us about your experiences, and show that you conceived and understand the work you're submitting. 

Hackathon Sponsors

Prizes

3 non-cash prizes
eBPF Starter Track (Beginner-Friendly)
1 winner

- Credly Badge "eBPF Summit: Hackathon Edition 2025 Winner" delivered by Isovalent at Cisco
- Linux Certification 50% Voucher offered by the CNCF
- eBPF and Cilium eBooks
- eBPF Hackathon swag kit
- 30 mins online 1:1 meeting with eBPF Expert or Isovalent leader
- Opportunity to present the submission on the eCHO Livestream at a mutually-agreed date

Using eBPF
1 winner

- Credly Badge "eBPF Summit: Hackathon Edition 2025 Winner" delivered by Isovalent at Cisco
- Linux Certification 50% Voucher offered by the CNCF
- eBPF and Cilium eBooks
- eBPF Hackathon swag kit
- 30 mins online 1:1 meeting with eBPF Expert or Isovalent leader
- Opportunity to present the submission on the eCHO Livestream at a mutually-agreed date

Cilium Technologies
1 winner

- Credly Badge "eBPF Summit: Hackathon Edition 2025 Winner" delivered by Isovalent at Cisco
- Linux Certification 50% Voucher offered by the CNCF
- eBPF and Cilium eBooks
- eBPF Hackathon swag kit
- 30 mins online 1:1 meeting with eBPF Expert or Isovalent leader
- Opportunity to present the submission on the eCHO Livestream at a mutually-agreed date

Devpost Achievements

Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:

Judges

Liz Rice

Liz Rice
Chief Open Source Officer, Isovalent at Cisco

Daniel Borkman

Daniel Borkman
Distinguished Software Engineer, Isovalent at Cisco and co-creator of eBPF and Cilium

Bill Mulligan

Bill Mulligan
Community Pollinator, Isovalent at Cisco

Constanze B. Roedig

Constanze B. Roedig
Independant Researcher

Duffie Cooley

Duffie Cooley
Field CTO, Isovalent at Cisco

Dylan Reimerink

Dylan Reimerink
Senior Software Engineer, Isovalent at Cisco

John Fastabend

John Fastabend
Senior Director, Software Engineering Isovalent at Cisco and creator of Tetragon

Neha Aggarwal

Neha Aggarwal
Principal Software Engineer Manager, Microsoft

Nimisha Mehta

Nimisha Mehta
Senior Software Engineer, Confluent

Teodor J. Podobnik

Teodor J. Podobnik
SRE, Prewave

Joe Stringer

Joe Stringer
Cilium Co-maintainer

Liz Rice
Chief Open Source Officer, Isovalent at Cisco

Judging Criteria

  • Relevance to eBPF technologies
    How well does the project align with the goals of the hackathon? Does it use or contribute to technologies like eBPF, Cilium, Tetragon, or Hubble? Is it rooted in the ecosystem we’re aiming to grow?
  • Technical Depth
    Does the project demonstrate solid engineering and problem-solving?
  • Creativity
    Does the project demonstrate a creative use of technology? It doesn't need to be complex — originality and thoughtful design count just as much.
  • Clarity of Documentation/Presentation
    Is the project well-explained? Can judges understand how it works, what it does, and how to use it? Clear READMEs, videos, or walkthroughs make a big difference.

Questions? Email the hackathon manager

Tell your friends

Hackathon sponsors

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.