My Experience at Wikimedia Hackathon 2025

Image Credits: Gnoeee, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

My Wikimedia Hackathon in Istanbul in 2025 was one of those experiences that reminded me why I love being part of this community. Istanbul itself was a dream. The mix of old streets, warm lights, and the Bosphorus cutting through the city made it feel like history and modern life were blending right in front of me. The moment I landed, I could feel the buzz. The hackathon venue was filled with developers from all corners of the world. Everyone was friendly, curious, and genuinely excited to help one another. It didn’t take long to feel at home.

This time, I teamed up with Sanjay Thiyagarajan (Techwizzie) and Jayanth Vikash Saminathan (JayanthVikashS) to build something we’d been discussing for a while. It’s a MediaWiki extension called Springboard (after the third rename) that lets wiki administrators easily manage, install, enable, and disable extensions and skins directly from the interface. If you’ve ever worked with MediaWiki, you know how painful it can be to handle that manually through files and configurations. We wanted to make that process as simple as flipping a switch.

Of course, building it wasn’t all smooth sailing. We ran into the classic hackathon challenges like permissions, version compatibility, dependency handling, and of course, time. Making sure that only the right users had access without breaking the site was tricky. MediaWiki’s permission system is powerful but not always forgiving. We also had to test across different versions to make sure the extension wouldn’t just work on our setup but be stable for others too.

One of the biggest lessons for me was realizing how much thought goes into making a tool safe for everyone. It’s not just about “getting it to work”; it’s about ensuring that when others use it, they can trust it. We spent a good amount of time on small things like clear warnings, intuitive buttons, and smooth error handling. That’s the kind of polish you often underestimate until real users start testing it.

What I really loved, though, was the community vibe. Everyone at the hackathon was so open and supportive. If you hit a roadblock, there was always someone nearby who had probably faced something similar and was happy to help. I remember chatting with a few fellow developers over coffee about how to improve extension management workflows that turned into a mini brainstorming session that helped shape some of Springboard’s design choices. We pushed ourselves hard, and by the end of the event, we had a working prototype. It wasn’t perfect, but it was real. And seeing it actually run on a test wiki felt incredibly rewarding.

Outside the hackathon, Istanbul was just the perfect place to unwind. Evening walks near Galata Tower, grabbing a simit by the water, getting lost in the narrow alleys. It was the kind of city that keeps your creative energy alive. We also went on a boat ride in the Bosphorus strait along with the fellow wikimedians, food and music.

Looking back, this hackathon wasn’t just about building Springboard. It was about learning to collaborate better, to design with empathy, and to appreciate the collective spirit that makes Wikimedia special. I came back home tired but inspired, with a working project, new friends, and a renewed love for open knowledge.