🧨 Buildathon RFP: Unlocking Instagram DMs with AI
Hosted by Gala Labs - Powered by Build Club
💰 $10,000 in cash prizes
📅 Submission deadline: Friday 27 June 11:59PM PST
Gala Labs has open-sourced a new MCP (Multi-Channel Protocol) server that gives developers direct access to Instagram DMs via LLMs. You can now send messages to any Instagram account programmatically — unlocking a powerful new playground for AI automations, agents, and communication workflows.
To celebrate, we’re launching a global Buildathon to see what the most creative minds can do with this stack.
🔍 What You Can Build
Using the Instagram DM MCP server, build a project that leverages programmatic DMs in a new, useful, or ridiculous way.
Some build ideas from Gala Labs:
AI Dating Coach: slides into DMs with perfect pickup lines
Manychat Competitor: automates your entire Instagram sales funnel
Relationship Builder: maintains parasocial relationships for creators
Multi-agent chaos system: chains DMs with other channels like email, voice, or search
You’re welcome to go even further — remix, extend, or integrate with other tools.
🏆 Prize Pool
$10,000 in total cash prizes, three cash prizes up for grabs:
$5k - Breaking the internet (go viral AF)
$2.5k - Technical Sorcery (coolest technical implementation)
$2.5k - Holy Sh*t Award (make our jaws drop)
Winners will be selected by the Gala Labs team and expert advisors.
📥 How to Submit
All entries must be submitted via Campus platform on Build Club
To enter:
Go to this challenge page and connect your project
Create a new project
Include your GitHub repo (template repo here)
Add a demo video or screenshots if possible
Use “Gala Labs Instagram Buildathon” in your project name or description
Post your project on Twitter/X
Tag @gala_labs
Ensure your Build Club project is set to public
🛠 Tech Stack & Resources
MCP Server GitHub Repo: https://github.com/trypeggy/instagram_dm_mcp
Built with Node.js and supports any LLM (OpenAI, Claude, etc.)
Easily composable with other APIs, agents, or workflows
More features dropping throughout the week — stay tuned
📆 Key Dates
Deadline: Friday 27 June 11:59PM PST
Winners announced: The following week via @gala_labs and Build Club
🎯 Why Gala Labs Built This
Most automation platforms today are boring, expensive, or over-engineered. Gala Labs built this Instagram DM MCP server to explore what happens when developers are given direct access to high-signal messaging channels — with no artificial limitations.
We believe some of the most exciting applications of LLMs will come from real-time messaging, social interfaces, and agentic behavior.
Now it’s your turn.
Judges:
Ebaad Ur Rehman
Annie Liao
Tanmay