Do I have to use Kiro? Yes. Kiro is the required IDE for this event. The whole challenge is built around what Kiro's spec-driven workflow looks like when it's paired with a real verification layer — without Kiro in the loop, the closed-loop story doesn't land. If you've never used Kiro before, that's fine — it's a familiar IDE if you've used Cursor or Windsurf, and we'll have setup help on the day.

Which other AI tools can I use alongside Kiro? Anything that helps you ship. Kane CLI is the required verification layer. Kiro is the required IDE. Beyond that — Claude, GPT, your own custom agent, an MCP server, whatever you want. Kiro itself runs on Claude under the hood, so if you're already familiar with Claude Code, you'll feel at home.

Do I need a paid Kane CLI plan to enter? No. Everyone selected gets free Kane CLI Pro access for the duration of the event. Winners get an additional three months on top.

Do I need a paid Kiro or AWS account? Kiro has a free tier that's more than enough for the day. Sign up at kiro.dev before you arrive.

Can I bring a project I've already started? You can build on existing work, but the Kiro setup and the Kane CLI integration must happen during the day. State at demo time what existed at 10 AM and what got added during the event. Judges will weight the new work.

Can I work solo? Yes. Solo entries are welcome. So are teams of up to four.

Do I need to know Playwright or Selenium? No. Kane CLI is plain English — you describe the flow, Kane runs it. If you do know Playwright, the Playwright export feature is built in and useful for the writeup, but it isn't required.

Should I use Kiro spec mode or vibe mode? Either. Spec mode pairs especially well with Kane — your spec describes intended behavior, Kane verifies the behavior matches. Vibe mode is faster for exploratory builds. Many strong submissions will use both: vibe to prototype, spec to lock in the contract once it works.

What if my project breaks during demos? Test thoroughly before 5 PM. Submissions lock at the deadline — you can't push fixes during demos. If your project depends on a third-party service, include a fallback (a recorded run, a backup deploy) so the judges can still see what you built.

Where do I ask questions during the event? TestMu engineers and dev.to staff will be on the floor all day. There's also a #kane-hackday-sf Discord channel for fast questions.

Can I submit more than one project? One submission per team. If you want to build two things, build them with two teams.

Can I use Kane CLI alongside Playwright or Selenium? Yes. Kane sits next to existing test setups. Many strong submissions will use Kane for flows that never made it into a Playwright suite — the quick checks, the one-offs, the things that didn't justify framework setup. Playwright export is built in if you want to lock a flow in as code.

Do I need to publish on dev.to? A dev.to writeup isn't required for prize eligibility, but it's strongly encouraged. Every team gets credited in the joint TestMu + dev.to event recap, and standout posts get amplified.

• Docs and quickstart — testmuai.com/kane-cli

• AI agent integration guide — testmuai.com/kane-cli/agents.md

• Example projects — github.com/testmuai/kane-cli-examples

• GitHub repo — github.com/LambdaTest/kane-cli

• Office hours — weekly live Q&A with the Kane CLI team in the run-up to the event (calendar link in your confirmation email)

• Questions — kane-hackday@testmuai.com