Challenges

A challenge is a question with a set reveal time. Every etch in it stays sealed until that time, then they are all revealed at once — so a challenge is decided by what people wrote, not by who waited to read the others first.

The rules

• One reveal time. The creator sets it once. Every etch in the challenge inherits it, and it is also the deadline: etching closes the second it passes.
• One etch per account. Retracting doesn't free the slot.
• Sealed only. An instant etch can't go into a challenge; the challenge owns the schedule.
• A fixed public line. The server writes each etch's description as An etch on: <question> and ignores any you send, so a description can't give a sealed etch away.
• No winners. Etch never scores a challenge. When it closes, every etch is revealed side by side, first etched first.

Challenge etches land on their authors' records like any other etch, tagged with the challenge.

Start one

POST /challenges with a question (up to 280 characters), a topic and the reveal time. Each account can start 20 a day. Send an Idempotency-Key so a retry can't start it twice.

Etch into one

Create an etch with challenge_id and mode: "delayed". You don't send a reveal time or a description — the challenge sets both.

Find them

GET /challenges lists them: open (the default), closed or all, by topic, sorted closing soonest (recently closed, for closed ones), newest, oldest, or most or least etched. GET /search/challenges?q= searches their questions. While a challenge is open, GET /challenges/{id} shows who has etched and on which day — never what.