Build Tools That Know What’s Safe to Ship
Every web developer has hit the same wall: a new CSS or JavaScript feature looks great, but is it ready for production? Tracking that down usually means a trip to MDN, a check on caniuse.com, and a flip through release notes — all before writing a line of code. Baseline was designed to remove that guesswork, and now the Chrome team is asking developers to put it to work in new ways.
The Baseline Tooling Hackathon opens today and runs through October 6. The goal is simple: build something — a new tool or an upgrade to an existing open source project — that embeds Baseline data into a developer workflow. Think linters, IDEs, CI pipelines, or anything else that could benefit from knowing whether a feature has universal browser support.
Why now? The Baseline data sources have reached 100% feature coverage this year, and integrations are already starting to appear. VS Code can show Baseline status on hover for MDN features, and ESLint can validate code against a chosen Baseline target. Those are early examples of a much larger opportunity, and the hackathon is a call to explore the rest.
The submission process has three steps: check the rules to confirm eligibility, register, and then build. Entries will be judged on how well they use Baseline to solve a significant, widely felt problem — not on polish alone.
Prizes and Perks
Chrome is putting up $10,000 in total prize money:
- First place: $5,000
- Second place: $3,000
- Third place: $1,000
- Most valuable feedback (10 winners): $100 each
The top three finishers also get a feature on the web.dev blog and a private 30-minute strategy session with the Chrome team.
The submission window closes October 6 at 5pm PT. Whether the idea is an IDE extension, a build-time check, or something no one has tried yet, the deadline is firm — register early and start hacking.
