What is a CodeHawks First Flight?
Overview
CodeHawks First Flights represents "a Cyfrin flagship initiative to introduce the next generation of web3 developers to smart contract security audits." The program transcends conventional learning by providing emerging auditors practical experience auditing actual web3 systems while receiving constructive evaluation on their vulnerability submissions.
Program Description
First Flights are auditing challenges featuring smaller codebases and distinct reward structures compared to standard competitions. They function as ideal practice environments for aspiring smart contract security specialists.
The community contributes codebases for these competitions. New challenges launch weekly and are hosted on the CodeHawks platform. Unlike regular competitions, First Flights provide no monetary prizes but award participants experience points through submission of findings.
Getting Started
Participants can join by:
- Creating an account at codehawks.cyfrin.io
- Subscribing to upcoming competitions via the platform interface
- Receiving launch notifications through email, the platform, Twitter, and Discord
- Analyzing the released codebase upon competition start
How They Function
The process involves four stages:
Discovery Phase: Teams receive guidelines and access to the codebase when contests launch.
Submission Phase: Participants identify vulnerabilities, develop proofs-of-concept, and submit findings through the portal.
Evaluation Phase: Judges review, test, and validate each submission, determining severity levels.
Recognition Phase: XP points are awarded to successful participants, enabling leaderboard progression.
Key Benefits
- Weekly challenges exposing participants to diverse scenarios
- Progressive skill development through increasing complexity
- Recognition and ranking on community leaderboards
- Direct feedback from professional judges
For those needing foundational knowledge, Cyfrin Updraft provides free smart contract learning resources.