Welcome

Join us in person or online March 11-13, 2026, for the nf-core hackathon! 🗓️

Hybrid format: In-person hubs and online

This hackathon follows a hybrid format with in-person local hubs and online participation.

Online

Online participation allows you to join from anywhere:

• Core team members, maintainers, and other community leaders will be present throughout the event
• Dedicated online platform and communication tools for collaboration (more details coming soon)
• Project leaders designated as “online” will be available to work with remote participants

In-person local hubs

In-person local hubs allow you to join in person:

• Hosted at various locations around the world
• Sponsored by Seqera (as in previous years)
• Projects at each hub will have designated leaders present on-site
• Provide space for face-to-face collaboration and networking

Staying Connected

There are a few platforms you’ll use during the hackathon:

Slack

Slack is our main communication tool. Join via nf-co.re/join and make sure you’re in these channels:

• #hackathon-mar-2026 - Main hackathon communication
• #github-invitations - Request access to the nf-core GitHub organization

WorkAdventure

This year we’re using our own nf-core/hackathon WorkAdventure instance as our online collaboration space. It’s similar to Gather Town - you can walk around, have proximity chats, and join dedicated project rooms.

To access WorkAdventure:

1. You must be a member of the nf-core GitHub organization
2. Go to app.hackathon.nf-co.re
3. Log in with your GitHub account

When you’re in a project room with many people, click the Jitsi link to join a larger video call.

Plan B: Slack Huddles

If WorkAdventure has issues, fall back to Slack Huddles - click the headphones icon in the top-right of any channel. Use whatever works best for your group (Zoom, etc.).

Registration

Schedule

We’ve kept the main schedule intentionally light to accommodate different time zones and allow for flexibility. While we have a few key syncs and social events planned, individual sites may be following their own schedules as well. We’d love to see as many of you as possible at the daily wrap-ups and quiz—they’re a great chance to connect with the community, share progress, and have some fun. Happy hacking!

• Daily wrap-up
  • APAC: 5 pm NZDT / 3 pm AEDT
    • Join on Zoom, link will be posted in Slack
  • EMEA: 5 pm CET / 4 pm GMT
    • Join on Zoom, link will be posted in Slack
  • AMER: 5 pm ET / 2 pm PDT
    • Join on Zoom, link will be posted in Slack
• Quiz social
  • Thursday, March 12th, 4 pm CET / 11 am ET / 8 am PDT

How the Hackathon Works

Workflow

1. Pick a project - Browse the projects below and find one that interests you
2. Join the Slack channel - Say hello, introduce yourself, share your goals
3. Find a task - Check the GitHub project board for issues
4. Assign yourself - Claim the issue in GitHub (one at a time to avoid duplicating work)
5. Hack! - Write code, chat with your group, ask questions
6. Open a pull request - When you’re done, submit your changes
7. Celebrate! - Share your progress with your group and at the daily wrap-up

For Project Leads

Kick-off meetings: Record a short intro video explaining your project’s goals and post it in your Slack channel. This helps people who join later get up to speed quickly.

Daily wrap-ups: Prepare 1 slide per location with a high-level summary, photos, or memes (max 1 minute). The sillier the better! Post memes to #nf-core-memes.

Collaboration Tools

Pair programming: VS Code Live Share lets you code together in real-time - great for getting started or working through tricky problems. Get the extension.

Pull request reviews: Need a review? Post your PR in #request-review and find a “review buddy” to swap reviews with.

Projects

We’ll work in projects during the hackathon. Projects can be anything from:

• Adding new features to existing pipelines
• Adding and improving components (modules / subworkflows)
• Improving the website and nf-core tooling
• Creating entirely new pipelines
• Discussion and planning community initiatives
• Working on special interest group topics
• …anything else

You can bring your own favourite topic or choose from a list of open issues in the community. Each project has a lead person who can point you in the right direction.

If you are joining online, reach out to the online project leaders.

Submit a project

If you have an idea for a project that you think would be fun to do during the hackathon, please add it to the website by submitting a pull-request to the nf-core/website repository.

You need to add a new markdown file to the sites/main-site/src/content/hackathon-projects/hackathon-march-2026 directory.

Important: When submitting your project, specify its primary location (a specific in-person hub or “online”). This helps participants choose projects that match where they’ll be attending.

See existing files for examples, if you’re unsure about anything please ask in Slack or in the pull-request.

Registered projects

There are currently 41 registered projects across 5 categories!

online

Docs v2

Seqera Containers migration

nf-core/modules topics migration

Preparing mspepid for first (dev) release

nf-core/sarek language updates

nf-core/scnanoseq

nf-core/taxprofiler updates

Barcelona (CRG) and online

nf-core/proteinfold

nf-core/spatialxe

Berlin

nf-core/rangeland

Brest (GGB) and Online

nf-core/phaseimpute updates

Brussels (Google offices) and online

Updating the LRSomatic pipeline

Working on nextflow/plugins/nf-google & nf-k8s

nf-test development

Cambridge, MA, USA

nf-core/phyloanalysis

Heidelberg and online

nf-core/variantbenchmarking

Helmholtz Munich and Online

nf-core/scrnaseq

in-person

Seqinspector improvements

Istanbul and online

Reviewing the Turkish translations of the training websites

Enhancing the nf-core/scdownstream pipeline with new analyses and modernization

London and online

Working on nf-core/genomeqc

Madrid (ISCIII) And Online

nf-core/bacass updates

nf-core/viralrecon updates

Medellin and online

Create and publish new nf-core modules

Online

Build your nf-core pipeline dashboard with Depictio

nf-core/chipseq updates

online/NC

Preparing funcprofiler for first release

Seoul and Online

Optimizing Korean LLM Prompts for training.nextflow.io

Skopje (Loka Office)

Antibody Optimization Pipeline

nf-core/proteinfold Extension

Sydney (University of Sydney)

Nextflow for HPC Training Materials

nf-core/tools config builder

Tübingen and online

Working on nf-core/ampliseq

Working on nf-core/lsmquant

Preparing nf-core/tcrpmhcbinding

nf-co2footprint plugin: HTML report visualizations & integration

Wellcome Genome Campus, Cambridge, Hinxton, UK

nf-core/proteinannotator updates

nf-core/proteinfamilies updates

nf-core/seqsubmit

ZS Copenhagen

Improving and fixing issues in nf-core/hic

QuantMS pipeline (DIANN, nf-core updates, documentation, benchmarking)

Hosting a local hub

We are now accepting registrations from organisers interested in hosting local hackathon hubs!

Anyone is welcome to host a hub - you don’t need to be an expert or have prior experience with hackathons.

What you’ll need:

• Access to a dedicated space during your local working hours (e.g., 09:00-17:00)
• Decent Wi-FI and a bunch of extension cables
• Enthusiasm!

Any space will do: be it a meeting room for 5-10 people through to larger spaces to accommodate more.

In previous years, Seqera has sponsored pizza. We’re not yet sure how much funding will be available in 2026 or what shape it will take, so please don’t plan around this.

Submit a hub

There is no closing date for local site registration, however the sooner you register your interest the better. We use the site names in the main registration form and it really helps with planning. Also if we know about your site we’ll have more time to help advertise and get folks to join!

The steps to host a hub are:

1. Open a pull-request to add your hub-specific page to this website
   • Create a new hub-specific .md file (it will be automatically added to the map and the table).
2. Advertise (locally and online)
3. Ensure you have one (or more) project leader available to your hub
   • See In-person local hubs for more details
4. Act as a contact point with the hackathon organisers during the event

If you have any questions, jump into the #hackathon-mar-2026 channel on the nf-core Slack and we’ll be happy to help.

Registered hubs

There are currently 29 local sites in 20 countries!

Social Activities

During the hackathon, we will have a bit of light-hearted fun and games for you to play! Special prizes are up for grabs for the winners!

• Scavenger hunt - Challenges posted in #hackathon-march-2026-scavengerhunt. Snap creative photos and post them in the thread!
• Online quiz - Thursday, join on Zoom for nf-core themed multiple-choice questions. Answer on your phone/laptop. APAC folks: async version will be provided.
• Connect game - Post your high scores in #connectgame
• Easter eggs - Hidden games at summit.nextflow.io (pong, pixel art…)
• Pizza & snacks - Seqera is sponsoring food at local sites. Talk to your site coordinator.

Safety & Etiquette

• Ask before taking screenshots or photos of people
• Don’t troll
• Take breaks!
• Review and follow our Code of Conduct

Pre-hackathon checklist

Ensure you have read/signed up/joined/installed the following resources before the hackathon.

• Check you agree with the Code of Conduct of the event
• Set up a GitHub account and join the nf-core GitHub organization
• Join the nf-core Slack and the #hackathon-mar-2026 channel
• Log into WorkAdventure (requires nf-core GitHub org membership)
• Install Nextflow, nf-core/tools, and one of Docker, Singularity, or Conda/Mamba on your computer
  • Or use GitHub Codespaces for a cloud-based dev environment
• Familiarize yourself with the documentation and training materials

Hackathon playlist

A community Spotify playlist was created during the first ever nf-core hackathon, and many songs have been added since. Feel free to tune in and enjoy the somewhat eclectic mix!

Resources

Whether you’re new to Nextflow or just need a refresher, these resources can help:

• Nextflow Training - Comprehensive courses including Hello Nextflow (beginners) and Hello nf-core. Available in multiple languages.
• nf-core YouTube - Bytesize talks and tutorials on specific topics
• Seqera Blog & Podcast - Community posts and discussions

What’s Next

Nextflow Summit Boston - April 28 - May 1, 2026

• April 28-29: nf-core hackathon and Nextflow training
• April 30 - May 1: Nextflow Summit (talks in person and live-streamed)

The call for abstracts is open - we’d love to hear what you’re working on!