open source for creativeengineering

A builder community. We make things and put the code online. Pick a project, ship it, move to the next.

Apply to Orcas v2.0 See the program

1,500+ builders in the community
30 projects shipped · v1.5
33 on the v2.0 waitlist
100% open source

/ 01 — About

We don't teach.
We ship.

Build every day.

One project a day. It goes online when it's done, finished or not.

Start with what you own.

A laptop and a webcam is enough to build real things. You don't need a lab.

If it runs, it counts.

Done beats perfect. If it doesn't work today, finish it today.

Read other people's code.

Most of what you'll learn is already in repos online. Go read them.

/ 02 — Programs

One program live.
More on the way.

Orcas v1.5 · 30 Days · Wrapped

Cohort complete · 30 projects shipped

Orcas.

30 days, 30 projects, no hardware needed. Everything ran on a laptop with a webcam and Python.

Mac, Windows, Linux.
All AI ran locally.

buildcored / orcas v1.5

Week 01Days 1 – 7

Use your webcam, mic, and gestures as input. Build things you control with your body.

Body as Input

Week 02Days 8 – 14

AI that runs on your laptop. No cloud bill, no API keys, no internet required.

Local AI Core

Week 03Days 15 – 21

How real hardware works. FFTs, oscilloscopes, signals, busses, all in software.

Signals & Systems

Week 04Days 22 – 30

Put it all together. The final project pulls from the best of the 30 days.

Full Systems

Projects30 daily builds CostFree StackPython + your laptop

See the full curriculum

Orcas v2.0 · Hardware

Same cadence, real boards, with Nazarx Robotics. 10 days, free.

Applications open · closes June 20

/ 03 — Project DB

Thirty projects.
One a day, all shipped.

v1.5 was 10 builders and 30 projects.
v2.0 is open to anyone.

Loading projects…

Admin · Project DB

Pick a project

Edits save automatically. When Supabase is wired up they save live; in fallback mode they save to your browser and export to JSON.

/ 04 — Voices

From the v1.5 builders.
In their words.

“When eyes are scared, hands are doing.”

— v1.5 builder

“Before Buildcored, I was a Python newbie — I only knew for and while from class. By the end I’d learned a lot about Python, Ollama, and vibe-coding.”

v1.5 builder · Tashkent

“30 days. 30 AI projects. One per day. No breaks. Music that plays when you look down. A drawing canvas controlled by hand gestures. A voice transcription tool running fully local. A RAG agent that reads a PDF and answers your questions. None of these are perfect. Some barely worked. This was day 1 of something longer.”

v1.5 builder · via LinkedIn

“I saw the announcement scrolling through Telegram. When I read the curriculum, I swear I didn’t know any word there. But I’m curious — so I joined. The hardest day was setting up the environment: I use my neighbour’s wifi, so I sat outside in the corner of the house for hours installing everything. Worth it.”

v1.5 builder · Buildcored Telegram

/ 05 — Notes