What is compound engineering? Every’s method
Compound engineering is a method for working with coding agents in which every change leaves the next one easier: each loop of planning, work and review ends with a step that writes the lesson into files the agent reads next time. Kieran Klaassen of Every coined it on 18 August 2025, first as “compounding engineering”, and Every ships it as a plugin.
Origin Kieran Klaassen of Every coined the term on 18 August 2025 in “My AI Had Already Fixed the Code Before I Saw It” (opens in a new tab), first as “compounding engineering”, and an article by Dan Shipper and Klaassen (opens in a new tab) of 11 December 2025 renamed it compound engineering.
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Why it matters.
Without a step that writes the lesson down, the same bug returns a third time because the reasoning lived in a chat nobody can find. Compound engineering adds that step to every loop: the fix, and why it worked, goes into a store the next plan can retrieve. Every says the plan and review steps should take 80 percent of an engineer’s time, and that skipping the last step leaves “traditional engineering with AI assistance”. The plugin keeps learnings in a store that plans retrieve rather than in an always-loaded file, because every line of that file is paid for on every task.
Compound engineering vs vibe coding
Every does not set the two against each other: its guide gives vibe coders a fast path through the same system.
| Question | Vibe coding | Compound engineering |
|---|---|---|
| What it names | A way of working: accept the model’s output without reading it | A method and a plugin: each loop ends by writing the lesson down for the next one |
| Who writes the code | The model | The agent: “The agent implements while the developer monitors.” |
| Who checks it | Nobody reads the diff; the human judges behaviour by eye | Review agents first, then a human; Every’s guide: “Always review the PR.” |
| What stops the loop | The human decides it works | A merged pull request plus a captured learning (our reading) |
| Where the name came from | Andrej Karpathy, post on X, 2 February 2025 | Kieran Klaassen, Every, 18 August 2025, as “compounding engineering” |
| Where it breaks | Anything others maintain; Karpathy called it fine for “throwaway weekend projects” | Learnings appended to an always-loaded file cost context on every task, so the plugin keeps them in a store the plan retrieves |
The compound loop: four published versions
Every has written the loop four ways, so cite the version you mean together with its date.
| Version | The loop as written | Source and date |
|---|---|---|
| Four steps, December 2025 | Plan → Work → Review → Compound → Repeat | Shipper and Klaassen, 11 December 2025; Every’s guide still shows it on 10 October 2026 |
| Four steps, as recalled | Brainstorm → work → review → compound → repeat | Klaassen, 29 May 2026, which conflicts with “Plan” in the December text |
| Eight steps | Ideate → brainstorm → plan → work → review → polish → compound → repeat | Klaassen, 29 May 2026 (updated 9 July 2026) |
| Six steps | Brainstorm, plan, work, simplify, review, compound | Plugin README, read on 10 October 2026 |
Every’s stages and this site’s ladder
Every’s guide has its own stage ladder, 0 to 5, for how one developer’s way of working changes, and says compound engineering begins at stage 3.
| Every’s stage | Name in Every’s guide | Closest level on this site |
|---|---|---|
| Stage 0 | Manual development | L0, by hand |
| Stage 1 | Chat-based assistance | L1, assisted |
| Stage 2 | Agentic tools with line-by-line review | L2, paired |
| Stage 3 | Plan-first, PR-only review | L3, review manager |
| Stage 4 | Idea to PR (single machine) | L3 or L4: L4 only when the merge rests on the plan, tests and review evidence |
| Stage 5 | Parallel cloud execution (multiple devices) | No level of its own: each loop still sits at L3 or L4 |
How each tool does it.
Cursor, Claude Code and Codex each name this their own way. Each note carries the date it was checked.
Cursor
In Agent chat, /add-plugin compound-engineering, per the plugin’s README.
The Cursor marketplace itself was not re-checked: cursor.com was unreachable on 2026-09-26.
Compound Engineering guide, 2026-09-26
Claude Code
Install with /plugin marketplace add EveryInc/compound-engineering-plugin, then /plugin install compound-engineering; skills appear with the plugin prefix, for example /compound-engineering:ce-plan.
Compound Engineering guide, Claude Code 2.1.283, 2026-09-26
Codex
Install with codex plugin marketplace add EveryInc/compound-engineering-plugin, then codex plugin add compound-engineering@compound-engineering-plugin; skills run with $, for example $ce-plan.
Compound Engineering guide, Codex CLI 0.157.1, 2026-09-26
Questions about compound engineering.
How is compound engineering different from vibe coding?
Every does not set them against each other. Its guide says “Vibe code to discover what you want, then spec to build it properly”, and offers vibe coders a fast path: “Skip the ladder. Go straight to Stage 4.” Our reading: vibe coding optimises the change in front of you, while compound engineering optimises the next one by writing each lesson into files the next run reads.
Who coined compound engineering?
Kieran Klaassen, general manager of Cora at Every, in an article of 18 August 2025 where he wrote “I call this compounding engineering”. Dan Shipper co-wrote the 11 December 2025 article that renamed it compound engineering, but did not coin it. Every’s May 2026 post says it “first coined the term compound engineering” almost a year earlier.
Do I need the plugin to do compound engineering?
No. The method is a loop that ends by writing the lesson down. The plugin is Every’s MIT-licensed implementation: 36 skills in version 3.29.0 on this site’s check of 26 September 2026, for Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and other hosts. This site’s guide includes copy-paste prompts that run the key checks with or without the plugin.
Is compound engineering the same as context engineering?
No. Our reading: context engineering asks what the agent should see for the task in front of it, and compound engineering asks how finished work improves what the agent knows next time. They meet in the files: the compound step writes the learnings, and context engineering decides which of them the agent loads.
The vocabulary of AI-driven development
Every name below is defined against vibe coding: who writes the code, who checks it, and what stops the loop.
Read the long-form guide: agentic engineering vs vibe coding
Sources.
The primary sources outside this site that this page relies on.
- My AI Had Already Fixed the Code Before I Saw It (opens in a new tab) Kieran Klaassen, Every
- Compound Engineering: How Every Codes With Agents (opens in a new tab) Dan Shipper and Kieran Klaassen, Every
- Compound Engineering Gets an Upgrade (opens in a new tab) Kieran Klaassen, Every
Keep reading.
The guides that go deeper, and the terms and comparisons next to this one.
In the docs
- The full A-Z glossarySubscription
- Vibe coding vs agentic engineering: 21 terms comparedFree
- Compound Engineering: The Loop, the Plugin, the EvidenceSubscription
- Level 3: You Review the DiffsFree
- Level 4: You Write the SpecsFree
- One map: the autonomy ladder, the lifecycle and the factory stationsFree
- Agentic development frameworks comparedSubscription
Related terms
Comparisons
Read the guides in the same words.
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