We had a problem. We were hosting the Palmer Trinity High School AI Buildathon on February 8, 2026, with 75+ students building AI-powered tools in a single day. We wanted to give every participant a verifiable digital badge. But the existing badge platforms were either too expensive, too clunky, or too locked down.
So we did what any self-respecting buildathon organizer would do: we built our own.
The Most Meta Demo Possible
Badge Kit (badge.purplehorizons.io) was born during the very event it was designed to serve. While students were building AI tools for their schools and communities, we were building the system that would recognize their achievements. By the end of the day, every participant walked away with a verified digital credential, issued by a platform that did not exist that morning.
That is the whole point of a buildathon. You do not just talk about building things. You build them.
What Badge Kit Actually Does
Badge Kit is a full digital credentialing platform built on the OpenBadges 3.0 standard, the open specification maintained by 1EdTech that makes badges verifiable, portable, and interoperable across platforms.
Here is what it includes:
- OpenBadges 3.0 Compliance: Every badge issued is a verifiable credential that recipients can share on LinkedIn, add to digital portfolios, or verify independently.
- AI-Generated Badge Art: Each badge gets a unique, AI-generated background, so no two badges look exactly the same.
- Verification System: Anyone can verify a badge is authentic through our public verification endpoint.
- Automated Email Delivery: Recipients get their badges delivered straight to their inbox with instructions for sharing.
- Analytics and Reports: Issuers get full visibility into badge distribution, claims, and engagement.
