BUILD FOR THEORA

Build one thing you'd use every day on glasses with no keyboard and a three-line display. Pick any shape:

  • A glance: a HUD card the agent pushes to the emulator. What do you want to see when you look up?
  • A tool: one new capability for the agent, from something you already use.
  • A device: connect anything on your network through the device protocol.

Submission: public repo, a five-minute video, runs locally on FERAL.

Judging: it works, you'd use it tomorrow, it stays local.

Prize: ElevenLabs API credits for the winner. The first ten builders receive a Theora dev-kit. The top three receive a dev-kit, glasses, and access to build on the Theora platform. Hardware rewards ship after production, not during the challenge. Everyone who ships joins the Theora developer cohort.

DATES

Opens:
Saturday 12 September 2026
Closes:
Sunday 20 September 2026
Winners announced:

START HERE

Theora is a general wellness product. It is not a medical device, and it does not diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

ABOUT THEORA

Theora makes smart glasses for everyday wear, with on-device sensing and a three-line monochrome display. They run on an open, local-first agent runtime, so the sensing and the memory stay on hardware you control.

FERAL is Theora's open runtime: a local-first AI agent that runs on your own machine, keeps its own memory, and talks to hardware, released under Apache-2.0 and built by the Theora team.

WHAT YOU NEED

A laptop. Python. The starter template. The emulator.

No hardware.

TRACKS

Pick any one.

  • Glance: a HUD card pushed to the emulator.
  • Tool: one new capability for the agent.
  • Device: connect anything on your network through the device protocol.

RESERVE A PLACE

Everyone who ships gets glasses at cost. Reserve a place in the queue:

https://theora.io/developers#reserve

One reservation per person. This is a queue position, not a delivery commitment.

Reserve glasses at cost, no payment now

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

  • A public repository.
  • A five-minute video demo.
  • Runs locally on FERAL.
  • One paragraph: what it does and why you'd use it tomorrow.

JUDGING CRITERIA

Equal weight.

  • It works.
  • You'd use it tomorrow.
  • It stays local.

PRIZES

Winner:
ElevenLabs API credits.
First ten builders:
A Theora dev-kit each.
Top three:
A dev-kit, glasses, and access to build on the Theora platform.
Everyone who ships:
Theora developer cohort membership, glasses at cost when they ship, six months of subscription, and first consideration when the team grows.

TIMELINE

Registration open:
Saturday 12 September 2026
Submissions close:
Sunday 20 September 2026
Judging:
________
Winners:
________

FAQ

Do I need the glasses?
No. Everything runs on a laptop with the emulator.
Do I need to pay anything?
No.
Can I use my own stack?
Yes, if it runs locally on FERAL.
Is this medical?
No. Wellness-level information only.

REGISTRATION

Every registrant is asked two things. Both are optional and both start unticked: join the Theora developer cohort at https://theora.io/developers and reserve a place in the queue for glasses at cost.

Registration alone is not cohort membership. Shipping a build in the challenge is.

Submit

One repo, one video.

Until the Build for Theora listing on DoraHacks is public, submit by email: your track, the public repo, and the video link.

Email your submission