What's the challenge
Build a Databricks App on Free Edition with a Genie Agent at its core.
Build a Databricks App, create and configure your own Genie Agent, connect it to your App, and use it to power a meaningful, useful, or unexpected experience. The problem, audience, data, interface, and solution are up to you.
Build app →Configure Genie Agent →Connect →Deploy →Create a demo →Submit 👈
Key dates
Two weeks to build.
Launch
Aug 17
Submissions close
Aug 31
Winners announced
Sep 10
The theme
Genie at the Core.
Genie at the Core means the Genie Agent should be central, meaningful, and effective in your application. Your app should use Genie to power its main experience or outcome. For example, people might ask questions about data in natural language and receive answers, insights, or results through the app.
The gut check
If Genie were removed, would the main experience or outcome of your app change significantly?
If the answer is yes, you are thinking in the right direction.
Choose your track
Two ways in. Pick one.
Track A
Real-World Problem Solver
Build an app that solves a practical problem for a real audience, an internal data app that helps people explore business information, spot operational trends, or answer the questions they ask again and again.
The focus is usefulness - show how Genie moves a user from a question to a data-backed answer inside the app.
Track B
Creative Thinking
Use Genie in an imaginative or unexpected way. The idea can be unconventional, playful, or exploratory, as long as Genie plays a meaningful role and the app shows what it can do with real data.
The focus is originality - surprise us with the experience and the questions your app lets people ask.
How to participate
Five steps to enter.
1
Build a Databricks App with a Genie Agent at its core, in Free Edition.
2
Choose your track - Real-World Problem Solver or Creative Thinking.
3
Share your project story in Community Articles. For exactly what to include, see the Project story checklist below.
4
Create a demo of your app - a short video or walkthrough that shows Project in action.
5
Submit your entry through the challenge registration form.
Project story
Help the community learn from your build.
A clear explanation of your Project setup will help other builders. Make these clear in your write-up:
→ What problem, opportunity, or creative idea does your app address?
→ Who is it designed for?
→ Describe your application architecture and data flow.
→ What can users ask the Genie Agent?
→ How does Genie power the app’s main experience?
→ What did you learn while building and testing the app?
How it is judged
Scored out of 40 points.
Justice to the theme - Genie at the Core
20 pts
How central, meaningful, and effective is the Genie Agent? Does it power the main experience?
Track execution
10 pts
Track A: how effectively does the app solve a real-world problem? Track B: how creative and distinctive is the idea and its use of Genie?
App experience
10 pts
How intuitive, polished, and effective is the overall app experience?
Total 40 points
Recognition
More than a badge.
🏆 Winners
Top 4
The top four entries will be recognized as challenge winners and will get swags.
🎤 Spotlight
Top 2
The top two entries will be selected as Bricktalk speakers.
All participants will be awarded a Contributor badge in recognition of their entry.
Getting started
New to Genie or Apps? Start here.
Free, self-paced courses and the exact docs you will need to get building.
Databricks Academy
• Building Reliable Conversational Agents with Genie
• Databricks Apps
• Building Enterprise Applications with Databricks Apps
• Deploying and Monitoring Agent Applications on Databricks
Product documentation
• Add a Genie Agent resource to a Databricks App
• Get started with Databricks Apps
• Create and manage a Genie Agent
• Add resources to a Databricks App
• Curate an effective Genie Agent
Submit your entry →
Choose your track. Put Genie at the core. 🚀
Show us what you can create. Drop a 💬 in the comments with what you are thinking of building, and like the entries you love.
Databricks
Advanced Learning Festival
📅 September 16 – October 14, 2026
🎉 Join us for a four-week event dedicated to learning, upskilling, and advancing your career in data engineering, analytics, machine learning, and generative AI. Whether you are new to the field or aiming to deepen your knowledge, this is a great opportunity to invest in your professional development alongside a global community.
🎟️ Finish all modules in at least one learning pathway during the event window to receive:
50% OFF any Databricks Certification
20% OFF a yearly Databricks Academy Labs subscription
💬 Incentives distributed: to the email associated with your Customer Academy account on October 19, 2026, after the event concludes.
⚠️ Important: ensure every component of a course is marked complete (including any introduction sections) within the eligibility window so your pathway is properly recorded.
🔑 Registering to redeem your voucher
When you register for your WebAssessor account, please use the same email address associated with your Databricks Customer Academy account. Vouchers for this event are scoped to that email and can only be redeemed by it. If you already have a WebAssessor account under a different email, you can add your Academy email as a secondary email on your existing account.
Choose Your Learning Pathway
Start exploring your options below and enroll through Customer Academy.
🛠️ Associate Data Engineering
Complete all 4 modules from the Data Engineer Learning Plan:
Data Ingestion with Lakeflow Connect
Deploy Workloads with Lakeflow Jobs
Build Data Pipelines with Lakeflow Spark Declarative Pipelines
DevOps Essentials for Data Engineering
⚙️ Professional Data Engineering
Complete all 4 modules from the Data Engineer Learning Plan:
Advanced Techniques with Spark Declarative Pipelines
Databricks Data Privacy
Databricks Performance Optimization
Automated Deployment with Declarative Automation Bundles
📊 Data Analysts
Complete both modules from the Data Analyst Learning Plan:
AI/BI for Data Analysts
SQL Analytics on Databricks
🤖 Associate ML Practitioners
Complete all 4 modules from the Machine Learning Practitioner Learning Plan:
Data Preparation for Machine Learning
Machine Learning Model Development
Machine Learning Model Deployment
Machine Learning Operations
🧠 Professional ML Practitioners
Complete both modules from the Machine Learning Practitioner Learning Plan:
Machine Learning at Scale
Advanced Machine Learning Operations
✨ Generative AI Engineering
Complete all 4 modules from the Generative AI Engineering Learning Plan:
Building RAG Agents with Databricks
Building Agentic Applications on Databricks
Agent Evaluation on Databricks
Deploying and Monitoring Agent Applications on Databricks
🔥 Apache Spark™ Developer
Complete all 4 modules from the Apache Spark™ Developer Learning Plan:
Introduction to Apache Spark™
Developing Applications with Apache Spark™
Stream Processing and Analysis with Apache Spark™
Monitoring and Optimizing Apache Spark™ Workloads on Databricks
🏛️ Data Warehousing Practitioner
Complete all 4 modules from the Data Warehousing Practitioner Learning Plan:
SQL Programming and Procedural Logic in Databricks
Data Modelling Strategies
Building Semantic Models in Databricks with UC Metric Views
Architecting Data Warehouses for Large-Scale Deployments
Read the full FAQ →
Happy learning! 📚🎓🧑💻
