Mainframe/contest LAUNCHING APR 28 · 2026
$13,500 PRIZE POOL · 14 DAYS · PAT PICKS

$10,000.

110,681,157 APIs·13835× Zapier·100% AI-built
Build the best app on Mainframe in 14 days.

Any app. Any industry. Any size. Pat picks the winner personally. 1st place: $10,000. 2nd: $2,500. 3rd: $1,000. Top 10: lifetime Pro tier.

Start building → Read the rules
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until contest opens · April 28 · 9am ET
PRIZE POOL · $13,500
Real money. Paid in cash.
Winner wired within 48 hours. 2nd and 3rd paid 30 days after contest close. Wise, PayPal, or ACH — winner's choice.
1ST PLACE
$10,000
WIRED WITHIN 48H OF JUDGING
  • 30-min founder call with Pat
  • Featured in the Mainframe launch thread
  • Lifetime Tier-3 Pro usage cap ( equivalent)
  • "Certified Mainframe Builder" badge
2ND PLACE
$2,500
PAID 30 DAYS AFTER CONTEST CLOSE
  • Public shoutout on X + LinkedIn
  • Lifetime Tier-3 Pro usage cap
  • "Certified Mainframe Builder" badge
3RD PLACE
$1,000
PAID 30 DAYS AFTER CONTEST CLOSE
  • Public shoutout on X + LinkedIn
  • Lifetime Tier-3 Pro usage cap
  • "Certified Mainframe Builder" badge
TOP 10 · LIFETIME PERK
Lifetime Tier-3 Pro usage · equivalent, free forever
Every top-10 entry keeps a Tier-3 usage cap on Mainframe for life, so you can keep building client apps on our infra without paying us a dime. Bring your own API keys; we pick up the AI + adapter layer. Costs us $0 — it's our own product.
HOW IT WORKS
Build. Ship. Submit.
01
Open Mainframe
Go to treecommand.ai/mainframe. Type one sentence about what you want to build. No signup.
02
Build in the Studio
Mainframe wires the adapters and AI you need. Iterate in the chat. Publish to our infra or push to your own site.
03
Record + write up
2–5 min screen recording of your app working. 500-word writeup of what it does + who it's for + a clickable URL.
04
Submit
Post publicly on X or LinkedIn tagging @usemainframe, and email the link to contest@metercall.ai.
THE RULES
Read this once.

Who can enter

Anyone. Solo builders, small teams (≤3 people), freelancers, agencies. No age or geography restriction. Prize must be received via Wise, PayPal, or ACH — whichever works in your country.

When

Build between April 28 and May 11, 2026. Submissions close at 11:59pm PT on May 11. Judging takes 48–72 hours. Winners announced May 14, 2026 on X, LinkedIn, and YouTube.

What to build

Anything. A full app, a workflow, a client tool, a side-project, a SaaS replacement, an internal dashboard — any of it is fair game. The only requirement: it uses Mainframe to wire the APIs or AI calls. If you're unsure whether your idea counts, it counts. Build it.

Submission format (all three required)

  1. Screen recording · 2–5 min. Show the app actually working. Loom, YouTube unlisted, or a direct MP4 link.
  2. Writeup · max 500 words. What it does, which Mainframe adapters or models it uses, who it's for.
  3. Live URL or demo video. People have to be able to click something. Doesn't need to be bulletproof.

How to submit

  1. Post the recording + writeup publicly on X or LinkedIn.
  2. Tag @usemainframe.
  3. Email the link to contest@metercall.ai.

Both public post + email are required. No signup form on Mainframe's side.

Judging

Pat picks the winner personally. No panel, no committee. Three weights:

  • Utility — does it solve a real problem someone would pay for?
  • Creativity — did you do something we wouldn't have thought of?
  • Shareability — would you tweet this to a friend?

IP & licensing

You keep full ownership of your work. We ask for a non-exclusive license to feature your recording and writeup in Mainframe marketing (X, LinkedIn, YouTube, case studies). That's it. Your code stays yours. Your clients stay yours. Walk away any time.

Disqualifiers

  • Submitting work that existed before April 28, 2026
  • Using someone else's code without credit + permission
  • Spam, illegal, hateful, or deceptive content
  • Apps that exist only to submit to the contest with no actual use case
  • Submitting >3 entries as a single builder (we pick your best — don't flood the queue)

Payment

Winner: wired within 48 hours of announcement via Wise / PayPal / ACH — your pick. 2nd and 3rd: paid 30 days after contest close (gives us a month of contest-driven revenue to cover the runner-up pool before wiring). Tax forms (W-9 / W-8BEN) will be required before payout for US compliance.

Questions

Email contest@metercall.ai. We answer within 24 hours during the contest window.

WHAT WINS
Three things. That's it.
🛠
Utility
Real problem, real solution. If we showed it to a business owner and they said "I'd pay for that," it wins this column.
💡
Creativity
Did you stitch adapters in a way we wouldn't have pitched ourselves? Bonus if it made us say "oh, that's clever."
📣
Shareability
Would you screenshot it to a group chat? Would your non-builder friend get it in 5 seconds? That's the bar.
Ready to ship?
Open Mainframe, type what you want to build, and start. Email contest@metercall.ai once your submission is live.
Start building → Email an entry
— submissions so far
FAQ
Real answers. No fluff.
Can I enter if I'm not in the US?
Yes. We pay via Wise or PayPal — works in most countries. If your country blocks both, tell us in your submission and we'll figure out a rail (USDC, crypto, bank wire via a partner). We're not going to lose a winner over a payment rail.
Do I need to sign up for Mainframe first?
No. Mainframe has no signup — you just type what you want to build and start. Bring your own API keys for any upstream services (Stripe, Twilio, etc.) or use Mainframe's shared demo credentials for non-commercial stuff.
Can I submit something I already built?
Only the build has to happen during the contest window. If you had an idea sitting in Figma, bring it. If you had working code before April 28, no — build something new on top of Mainframe. We'll ask for git history for the top 3.
Can I submit as a team?
Up to 3 people. If you win, you split the prize however you agreed among yourselves — we wire it to one name. Include all team members in the writeup.
What counts as "using Mainframe"?
Your app has to actually route through Mainframe's AI layer or adapter gateway to do its job. A purely static site that mentions Mainframe doesn't count. A dashboard that pulls from Shopify via Mainframe's adapter — counts. A workflow that has our AI routing between 25 model providers — counts.
Who owns the code?
You. We get a non-exclusive license to feature your submission in our marketing. We don't touch your code, your users, or your revenue.
How many entries will you judge?
All of them. Top-10 gets a deep review. Top-3 gets a personal call from Pat. Everyone gets a response — even if it's short.
What if my entry is bad?
That's fine. You still learned Mainframe. You still have the screen recording. You still have a "Certified Mainframe Builder" claim if you end up selling integration work to clients. Zero downside to swinging.
16,758ADAPTERS
110,681,157ENDPOINTS
25+AI PROVIDERS
14DAYS
$13,500PRIZE POOL