ICFP Programming Contest 2026

The ICFP 2026 Programming Contest will run from July 24th to July 27th. We'll get icfpcontest2026.com updated with more information on the contest in the coming weeks :)

That's it! The ICFP 2026 Programming Contest has come to an end. We'll be working on writeup(s) about running the contest; we hope teams do their own writeups! We will link team writeups from the site. We're also planning to keep the little men around somehow :)

Just under 12 hours remain in this year's contest and the top five are all very close! Good luck in the last leg of the contest - we hope your little men behave themselves

The lightning round has ended! We are releasing two more pieces of content: * Semester 4 - 4 new hard problems - on the problem sets page * A new instruction called "split" Read more about split here: icfpcontest2026.com/split

This year's ICFP programming contest has begun! To get started, read the textbook: icfpcontest2026.com/textbook

The ICFP programming contest is next week! This year's contest will focus on the little men running around inside your computer icfpcontest2026.com has everything you need to participate

Pre-registration for this year's ICFP programming contest is open! You may register your team at your leisure at icfpcontest2026.com/signup The contest begins on July 24th - just under two weeks to go!

The winners have been announced! Congratulations to the teams Unagi and MOYOU for a joint first place finish in the ICFP Programming Contest 2025! icfpcontest2025.github.io/prizes.html

Now that the competition is over, Adso has penned his reflections. icfpcontest2025.github.io/afterword.pdf We also have many team write-ups here: icfpcontest2025.github.io/writeups.html Please let us know if you have some to add to the list!

That's it! Finita est! The ICFP 2025 Programming Contest is over! Be sure you have submitted your code. Also, please share writeups with us describing your solutions and your thoughts on the problems! These can be shared on discord and we will put links to them on the website.

The contest ends in less than 15 minutes! Please submit your code (according to instructions in the task description) to be considered for prizes

We have frozen the public leaderboards, because we are in the final two hours of the contest. Explore quickly!

We have fixed a bug that caused the random generator for the advanced levels to occasionally generate maps that were significantly harder to solve than intended. Sorry for the inconvenience!

The public leaderboards are now updating again. Hilariter hackate!

The lightning round is now over, and a new batch of problems have been released! Check our task description page to see how to solve them! icfpcontest2025.github.io

The lightning round ends in two hours! The public leaderboards have now been frozen to keep the lightning winners a mystery until our grand reveal at ICFP 2025 in Singapore. They will be back in 4 hours (i.e. two hours after the lightning round ends).

We have made a slight adjustment to the rules. Now route plans are limited in length. Please see the updated spec.

Incipit! The ICFP Programming Contest 2025 has begun. See our website for the task description. The aedificium awaits! icfpcontest2025.github.io

In eight hours, the contest begins. Praeparate vos!

Tempus breve est!

Unus dies superest! The ICFP Programming Contest begins in 24 hours!

Nomina vincta tenemus.

Calculum agite! Calculum agite!

Post quadraginta octo horas incipit.

This year's contest will be held from Friday 5th Semptember 2025 at 12:00 UTC to Monday 8th September 2025 at 12:00 UTC. There will be a lightning division, ending on Saturday 6th September 2025 at 12:00 UTC. Details at our website below!