Sheldon Aristide   •   9 months ago

Personal API Key Usage for Public Hackathon Submissions - Clarification Needed

The hackathon requires participants to "provide a public URL to your working app" for judge evaluation, but the Riot API documentation states that personal API keys "may not run your application for public consumption" and are intended for "personal projects" and "personal research."
This creates a potential compliance issue:

Personal keys are what most participants have access to within the hackathon timeline
Production keys require existing prototypes and lengthy approval processes incompatible with hackathon deadlines
Judge testing requires public accessibility to evaluate submissions

Questions:

Are personal API keys acceptable for hackathon submissions that will be publicly tested by judges?
Should participants apply for production keys despite the timeline constraints?
Is there a special approval process or exemption for hackathon participants?

The rate limit differences are also significant (100 requests/2min vs 30,000 requests/10min), which affects the feasibility of different technical approaches and demo capabilities.
Clarification would help participants make informed architectural decisions and ensure compliance with API usage policies.