OpenAI’s biggest developer event of the year returns on September 29, 2026, at Fort Mason in San Francisco. Applications are live now, space is limited, and the deadline is July 10. For the first time, DevDay is also going global.
Sep 29-Event date, 2026
Jul 10-Application deadline
$650-In-person registration cost
8-Global DevDay Exchange cities
QUICK ANSWER — OPENAI DEVDAY 2026
OpenAI DevDay 2026 takes place on September 29, 2026, at Fort Mason Center in San Francisco. Applications are open until July 10, 2026, at devday.openai.com/apply. The event is for technical builders — engineers, founders, and researchers building with AI. The opening keynote is free via livestream. In-person attendance costs $650 and is application-based with limited spots. For the first time, DevDay is expanding globally with satellite events called DevDay Exchanges in eight cities.
- What Is OpenAI DevDay 2026?
OpenAI DevDay 2026 is the company’s fourth annual developer conference, and by all accounts, its most ambitious yet. On September 29, OpenAI is bringing developers together in San Francisco to go deep in technical sessions, test what’s new, swap notes, and bring their best questions and ideas to the teams building OpenAI’s tools.
The event returns to Fort Mason Center — the same venue that hosted DevDay 2025 and has become the unofficial home of OpenAI’s developer community. It is designed for people who want to build, experiment, and get direct access to the engineers shaping tools like the API, Codex, and the Agents platform.
This year’s edition carries extra weight. The past twelve months have seen OpenAI roll out GPT-5, expand its agent ecosystem through AgentKit, and embed ChatGPT into third-party apps via its new Apps SDK. DevDay 2026 is where the next chapter gets announced — and where developers get hands-on access before anyone else.
- How to Apply for OpenAI DevDay 2026
Getting in is not automatic. Space is very limited, and submitting an application is a request to attend not a guaranteed ticket. OpenAI uses an application process to curate attendees who are actively building or planning to build with its tools.
1. Submit Your Application by July 10
Apply at devday.openai.com/apply. The form asks for basic information about you and what you’re building or hoping to explore. Be specific — vague answers reduce your chances.
2. Wait for a Decision by Late July
OpenAI reviews all applications and notifies applicants of their status in late July. Accepted applicants and waitlisted applicants are both informed.
3. Register Within 14 Days
If accepted, you have two weeks to complete your $650 registration. Miss the window and your spot goes to someone on the waitlist. No extensions.
4. Attend on September 29
Show up to Fort Mason Center in San Francisco, ready for technical sessions, demos, and direct access to OpenAI product teams.
- Who Should Apply?
DevDay is for developers and hands-on technical builders, including engineers, technical founders, researchers, creators, and technical leaders actively building with AI or ready to start. The program is technical and designed for people who want to build, experiment, compare notes with other developers, and spend time with the OpenAI teams building the tools.
If your day-to-day work does not involve the OpenAI API or its developer tools, this event may not be the right fit. DevDay is not a general AI conference or a marketing event. It rewards attendees who arrive with real questions, real projects, and a genuine interest in the technical details.
- Can You Watch Without Attending?
Yes. The opening keynote will be livestreamed on September 29, free and without any sign-up requirement. Other sessions will be recorded and made available on openai.com after the event. For developers outside the US or those who cannot attend in person, the livestream is a meaningful way to catch the most important announcements as they happen.
- The Biggest New Addition: DevDay Exchanges
The most significant structural change for DevDay 2026 is the introduction of DevDay Exchanges — a series of satellite events taking the conference global for the first time. For the first time, OpenAI is pairing the flagship conference with a global tour of satellite events called DevDay Exchanges. Later in 2026, OpenAI will bring DevDay Exchanges to Bengaluru, Tokyo, Seoul, Paris, Berlin, London, São Paulo, and Mexico City.
This is a meaningful shift — previous DevDays were single-city affairs, and the international expansion signals that OpenAI is actively trying to deepen its developer relationships outside the US market. Application sign-ups for Exchange cities are already open, with specific dates and application windows to be announced separately.
The geographic spread is deliberate. Bengaluru and Tokyo represent two of the world’s largest concentrations of software engineering talent. Seoul is home to a booming AI startup ecosystem. And São Paulo and Mexico City mark OpenAI’s first explicit acknowledgement of Latin America as a strategic developer market. The Exchanges suggest that DevDay is becoming less of an American event and more of a global developer infrastructure play.
- What to Expect at DevDay 2026
OpenAI has not yet released the full DevDay 2026 agenda. However, the format is well-established from previous editions, and the areas of focus can be predicted from where the platform is heading.
- WHAT DEVDAY EVENTS TYPICALLY INCLUDE
* An opening keynote with major platform announcements and product launches
*Deep-dive technical sessions on specific APIs, tools, and frameworks
*Hands-on workshops and live demos with access to unreleased features
*Direct time with OpenAI product and engineering teams
*Developer-to-developer networking and project showcases.
- Topics Likely to Feature in 2026
Based on the trajectory of OpenAI’s platform development, several technical areas are strong candidates for significant announcements at DevDay 2026. Agents and autonomous workflows remain the most active area — AgentKit, launched at DevDay 2025, is still maturing, and follow-up tooling is almost certain. Codex and AI-assisted development are also likely to feature prominently, given OpenAI’s own engineers reported completing 70% more work weekly using Codex internally.
Multimodal capabilities — voice, image, and video through the API — saw rapid expansion in 2025 with the release of gpt-realtime-mini and Sora 2. Further developments in this space, particularly around cost and real-time performance, are expected. The Apps SDK, which turned ChatGPT into a platform for third-party applications, is also evolving rapidly and will likely receive updates.
DevDay Through the Years — A Track Record
To understand what DevDay 2026 might deliver, it helps to look at what each previous edition actually announced. OpenAI has maintained a pattern of using DevDay to drop significant developer-facing updates, not consumer features.
The 2025 edition set the bar high. The event highlighted infrastructure as the groundwork for future innovations. Developers on stage had processed from 10 billion up to over a trillion tokens with OpenAI’s platform. The gap between idea and execution is shrinking rapidly — and DevDay 2026 is expected to show just how much further that has gone.
What DevDay 2025 Tells Us About 2026
The 2025 event positioned OpenAI less as a model company and more as a platform company. The most headline-grabbing announcement was the introduction of apps inside ChatGPT — OpenAI launched a new SDK allowing developers to build and integrate third-party apps directly within ChatGPT, effectively transforming ChatGPT from a conversational AI into a platform ecosystem.
That shift has a direct implication for 2026. Now that the platform layer exists, DevDay 2026 is likely to focus on the depth of that ecosystem — more sophisticated agents, richer app integration, expanded enterprise tooling, and potentially new hardware or on-device AI directions hinted at by the Jony Ive collaboration.
We’re building the next layer of computing — one that understands you, helps you, and acts for you.”
— Sam Altman, OpenAI CEO, at DevDay 2025
DevDay is not just about the keynote. For many developers, the most valuable part is what happens in the hallways — conversations with OpenAI engineers that clarify how a feature actually works, or early access to tooling that does not make it into the public release notes until weeks later.
OpenAI has structured DevDay to attract the people building the most interesting things with its tools. The application asks what you are building, and the selection process rewards specificity. If you are a solo developer with a compelling project, your application may stand out more than someone from a large company without a clear use case.
For those who cannot attend in person, the post-event recording archive has become increasingly valuable. OpenAI has committed to posting session recordings on openai.com after the event. Previous DevDay recordings have included technical deep-dives on context management, API pricing strategy, and agent evaluation — content that is genuinely hard to find elsewhere.
Frequently Asked Questions
- When is OpenAI DevDay 2026?
OpenAI DevDay 2026 takes place on September 29, 2026, at Fort Mason Center in San Francisco, California. The opening keynote will be livestreamed for free on the same day - How do I apply for OpenAI DevDay 2026?
Submit your application at devday.openai.com/apply before the July 10, 2026 deadline. The form asks for basic personal information and details about what you’re building or hoping to explore. Decisions are communicated in late July. - How much does it cost to attend OpenAI DevDay 2026?
In-person registration costs $650. This is charged after acceptance — not at the application stage. The opening keynote is free to watch via livestream with no registration required. - Is DevDay 2026 only for experienced developers?
DevDay is described as being for engineers, technical founders, researchers, creators, and technical leaders who are actively building with AI or ready to start. You don’t need years of AI experience — but the event is technical and hands-on, so a baseline of building with the OpenAI API helps. - What are OpenAI DevDay Exchanges?
DevDay Exchanges are satellite developer events happening later in 2026 in eight global cities: Bengaluru, Tokyo, Seoul, Paris, Berlin, London, São Paulo, and Mexico City. They are a new addition for 2026, making this the first year DevDay has expanded beyond San Francisco. Sign-ups for Exchange notifications are available at devday.openai.com. - Will DevDay 2026 sessions be recorded?
Yes. Beyond the free keynote livestream, other sessions will be recorded and posted on openai.com after the event. This makes DevDay accessible to global developers who cannot attend in person. - Can Nigerian and African developers apply for OpenAI DevDay 2026?
Yes. The application process is open globally without geographic restrictions. Nigerian and African developers can apply at devday.openai.com/apply. Standard travel and visa requirements for the US apply. The free keynote livestream on September 29 is available to anyone worldwide with no sign-up required.