# Quick Start

Welcome to Cyfrin CodeHawks! Here's a quick and easy guide to get you started as an auditor and submit your first vulnerabilities.

### **1. Create an account on CodeHawks**

First, create a new account by visiting  [codehawks.cyfrin.io](https://codehawks.cyfrin.io) and clicking the "sign up" button in the top right corner:

<figure><img src="/files/dvgJQ4W7EcYNPelxcs2t" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

### 2. Subscribe to your first CodeHawks competition

Navigate to the competitions page and look for "Live" or "Upcoming" contests:

<figure><img src="/files/qmcDIqNbOYGSHq19EyNZ" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

{% hint style="success" %}
**Don't want to miss any of our competition announcements?**&#x20;

Make sure to follow us on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/CyfrinAudits?s=20) and join our [Discord](https://discord.gg/cyfrin) server!
{% endhint %}

Clicking on a competition will open its details page, with important information such as:

* [Prize pool](/hawks-auditors/payouts.md) severity breakdowns
* Start and end dates
* [nSLOC](/glossary.md) and scope
* Scoring
* Link to the GitHub repository (if the competition is live)

<figure><img src="/files/J7K0rbn9oGSdgqKBeRNx" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

Every contest also comes with details that will help you understand:

* The codebase
* Scope
* compatibilities
* How to get the codebase up and running

New contests are announced almost every week. When you find a contest that fits your skills, click on the subscribe button to join it:

<figure><img src="/files/XRx7VJ6G9jiTNoeAqCSv" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

### 3. Submit your first finding vulnerability

Once you've found your first vulnerability, navigate to the competition page, and click on the submit "submit a vulnerability" button:

<figure><img src="/files/Oeu3MQx7h58kKYtxYI7d" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

To submit your vulnerability, you'll be asked to insert:

* Title - a <250 character descriptive title of your submission
* Severity - a matrix of likelihood and impact characterizing your finding. Read [How to Evaluate a Finding Severity](/hawks-auditors/how-to-evaluate-a-finding-severity.md)for a full explanation.
* Description - a detailed description of the vulnerability found and how to reproduce it.

Learn more on [How to Present Your Findings](/hawks-auditors/how-to-write-and-submit-a-finding.md)on the dedicated guide.

### 5. Await for the judging results&#x20;

**After the auditing period ends, judges will evaluate each submission carefully to determine its validity, severity, and overall quality.**

**Judging is done in two steps:**

* [Community Judging](/judging/how-community-judging-works.md) - a period where all [eligible community judges](/judging/community-judging-eligibility.md) can evaluate others' submissions
* [Lead judging](/judging/the-judging-process.md) - a period where the lead judge confirms or not the community judges' decisions and issue the final pre-appeal judgments.

Every phase will be communicated on the platform and via announcements on [Discord](https://discord.gg/cyfrin).

Learn more about [the judging process](/judging/the-judging-process.md).

### 6. Appeal to the judge's results

For 48 hours following judging, [appeals](/hawks-auditors/appeals.md) will be accepted to contest judgments. This period will be clearly announced across all channels.

\
During the 48 hours, interactions will be enabled on your GitHub submissions. During this time, you may leave comments detailing your escalation for re-assessment.

### 7. Get rewarded

Once the final report is released, results will be announced, and [payouts](/hawks-auditors/payouts.md) will be sent to the winners.

{% hint style="warning" %}
Rewards are paid out in USDC through the ZKsync chain. Crediting the reward won't be possible without a ZKsync wallet connected to the user profile.
{% endhint %}


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# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://docs.codehawks.com/hawks-auditors/quick-start.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.