NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano node
Pre-flashed with the NS-BOS kernel and shipped in a custom thermal enclosure. Yours to keep.
30 Days of Air-Gapped Intelligence. Build on the open NGARi stack, prove it runs with zero outbound calls, and win a node you own outright.
One winner per cycle, judged on the rubric below.
Pre-flashed with the NS-BOS kernel and shipped in a custom thermal enclosure. Yours to keep.
A hardware-anchored, publicly verifiable credential issued on your node.
Host a public community node and earn recurring revenue shares on what it routes.
Runners-up: one-year Sovereign Practitioner membership, Sovereign Hardware Credits, and entry into the monthly Mission Sprints. Every participant who completes the challenge earns 50% off their first year of Practitioner, or an equivalent hardware credit.
Pick the layer of the stack you want to sharpen. Each track exercises the open kernel, the models, or the data.
Extend the operating kernel and its Hardware Abstraction Layer for real edge conditions.
Build a multi-agent workcell that automates an end-to-end task with zero outbound calls.
Generate, validate, and document an open dataset for an underserved vertical.
From application to award, in four stages.
Submit your background, environment, and build concept. Accepted developers join as Tier 0 Scouts at no cost.
30 days on your own hardware, against the open stack. Weekly clinics, a midpoint check-in, and five customer-discovery interviews.
Your work runs under air-gap mode in a sandboxed pipeline. Any outbound call fails evaluation. Contributions require signed commits.
Finalists present live, air-gapped demos. One winner takes the grand prize; everyone else keeps their code and can roll into the sprints.
Scored out of 100. Every dimension is verifiable, not subjective.
| Dimension | Weight | What we check |
|---|---|---|
| Architectural sovereignty | 25 | Air-gap enforced. No third-party cloud dependencies or telemetry. Sensitive data encrypted at rest. |
| Kernel hardening and stack synergy | 25 | Direct use and extension of kernel modules: HAL, sandboxed tools, or entries in the audit ledger. |
| Edge efficiency | 20 | Memory footprint, inference latency, and stability within constrained compute budgets. |
| Market validation | 15 | Five completed customer-discovery interview logs with pain points and invalidated assumptions. |
| Open-source quality | 15 | Clean commit history, DCO 1.1 sign-off, documentation, Apache 2.0 licensing, reproducible setup. |
Leveled so a modest laptop and a workstation compete on the same terms.
x86_64, aarch64, or Raspberry Pi. Code written anywhere must run on Jetson through the kernel abstraction.
Submissions run with air-gap mode enabled. Any external network request during runtime fails evaluation.
Contributions via pull request with a Developer Certificate of Origin signature, licensed Apache 2.0.
A minimum of five stakeholder interviews confirming the problem is real, logged with your submission.
Rolling. Your 30 days start when you are accepted.
Apply and get accepted. Access the scaffolding repos, developer channels, and curated dataset splits.
Build and run customer-discovery interviews. Two live clinics cover the kernel and the interview method.
Feature freeze. Harden the sandbox, finalize pull requests with signed commits, publish any datasets.
Finalists present live. The winner is announced and ships their node; all participants roll into the sprints.
No. Entry is free and application-gated. An optional Start Today Pass ($99) fast-tracks review and grants priority compute access; it is never required.
Any machine that runs the kernel: an x86_64 laptop or desktop, an ARM board, or a Raspberry Pi. The abstraction layer keeps submissions portable to Jetson.
Pick the one you can finish in 30 days. A strong single-track submission scores better than three half-built ones.
Yes. Code is Apache 2.0 and datasets are openly licensed. Your hardware node, if you win, is yours outright.
Every finisher is invited into the monthly Mission Sprints, with credits toward membership or hardware.
Two distinct pathways. Pick the one that fits where you are.
| Sovereign Stack Challenge | The Program | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free to enter (optional $99 fast-track) | From $0 (tiers to $8,999 hardware) |
| Duration | 30 days from acceptance | Evergreen, rolling admissions |
| Commitment | Ship one build on the open stack | Build a venture or a systems career |
| Structure | 3 tracks: kernel, agents, data | 2 pathways: Innovator, Trainer |
| Outcome | Rubric score, grand prize, credential | Membership, monthly sprints, hardware you own |
| Best for | Developers who want to build and compete | Founders and operators who want an ongoing program |
| Enter the Challenge | Join the Program |
Own the stack. Prove it offline. Build something that outlasts the cloud.
Apply Now