A virtual PKU Commons hackathon that kicks off from Team Phebe's table at the NPKUA Community Conference in Chicago (July 16 to 19), then runs online through the end of July. We take feedback from families in the room and improve the open phe-estimation tools in real time, while a community of developers builds alongside us, anywhere.
Most hackathons happen far from the people they're meant to serve. This one runs differently: our base of operations is a table on the NPKUA conference floor, and the feedback loop takes minutes.
The first four days run in parallel with the NPKUA "Living Our Best PKU Life" Community Conference at The Westin Chicago Lombard; the hackathon then continues online through July 31.
Build from anywhere. Team Phebe anchors in person at our conference table, collecting real-time feedback and hacking on it live.
The phe-estimator Skill, the living food list, and the Bluetooth scale integration. Every improvement scores on the public accuracy benchmark.
We're in the room the whole time, turning what families tell us into working changes you can watch land. Team Phebe is running the hackathon and does not compete in it.
PKU parent, lawyer, and full-stack / infrastructure developer. Founder of Phebe and PKU Commons.
Developer on Team Phebe, shipping the real-time changes as feedback comes in at the table.
Chef living with PKU, grounding every estimate in how real low-protein food is actually cooked and portioned.
Two ways in, build remotely, or find us at the table.
A founding prize pool of $2,000, put up by Phebe, goes entirely to community builders. Team Phebe does not compete.
| Prize | Award |
|---|---|
| Winner | $1,000 |
| Runner-up | $500 |
| Merit prizes (×5) | $100 each |
This is infrastructure that no single developer, and no single company, can build alone. That's exactly why it's worth sponsoring: the standard belongs to the whole community.
Sponsors get their logo on the open accuracy standard and a seat on the judging panel. Expand the pool, add a named prize, or send a clinician, dietitian, or developer to build with us.
The hardest problems in phe estimation appear away from the lab, in a grocery aisle, in a home kitchen, at a birthday party. By building at the table, feedback from a family becomes a tested change the same day, and the next family to stop by sees it working.