Compound Engineering

AI skills that make each unit of engineering work easier than the last.

Compound Engineering is a plugin of 33 skills for AI coding agents. It structures the work around a loop — brainstorm, plan, build, review, then capture what you learned — so the knowledge from each change is written down where the next change can read it.

It runs on 14 agent hosts, including Claude Code, Cursor, and Codex.

Install

Claude Code

/plugin marketplace add EveryInc/compound-engineering-plugin
/plugin install compound-engineering

Important

Already have Compound Engineering installed? Refresh the marketplace before updating — see Upgrading. Running /plugin update alone keeps you on the old version.

Cursor

In Cursor Agent chat, install from the plugin marketplace:

/add-plugin compound-engineering

Or search for "compound engineering" in the plugin marketplace.

Grok Bot

Grok Bot is its own app, but it uses your Cursor account and plugin library. There is no separate Grok Bot login. Install Compound Engineering once on that account and Grok Bot agents can load it.

In Cursor Agent chat:

/add-plugin compound-engineering

Or search for "compound engineering" in the Cursor plugin marketplace. Do not run /add-plugin in the Grok Bot chat, and do not clone this repository onto the Grok Bot computer.

Codex App

Compound Engineering is not listed in Codex's built-in plugin marketplace yet. Add it as a custom marketplace:

1. In the Codex app, open Plugins from the sidebar.

2. Click the arrow next to Create, then select Add marketplace.

3. Enter:

   Field	Value
   Source	EveryInc/compound-engineering-plugin
   Git ref	main
   Sparse paths	leave blank

4. Click Add marketplace.

5. Search for Compound Engineering, install compound-engineering-plugin, then restart Codex.

The Codex app install is self-contained for Compound Engineering. Specialist reviewer and research behavior lives inside the skills as local prompt assets; no separate custom-agent install step is required.

Codex CLI

Register the marketplace, then install the plugin.

1. Register the marketplace with Codex:

   codex plugin marketplace add EveryInc/compound-engineering-plugin
   

2. Install the plugin:

   codex plugin add compound-engineering@compound-engineering-plugin
   

   You can also launch codex, run /plugins, find the Compound Engineering marketplace, select the compound-engineering plugin, and choose Install. Restart Codex after install completes.

The native Codex plugin install is self-contained for Compound Engineering. Specialist reviewer and research behavior lives inside the skills as local prompt assets; no separate custom-agent install step is required.

For a non-default Codex profile, run every Codex-related step against the same CODEX_HOME. This example installs CE into a work profile:

CODEX_HOME="$HOME/.codex/profiles/work" codex plugin marketplace add EveryInc/compound-engineering-plugin
CODEX_HOME="$HOME/.codex/profiles/work" codex plugin add compound-engineering@compound-engineering-plugin

The marketplace step only makes the plugin available; the plugin install is what activates the native CE skills for that profile.

Another editor or CLI? Kimi Code CLI, Cline, Grok Build CLI, Devin CLI, GitHub Copilot, Factory Droid, Qwen Code, OpenCode, Pi, oh-my-pi (omp), and Antigravity CLI are all supported — see More install options.

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Philosophy

Each unit of engineering work should make subsequent units easier -- not harder.

Invocation syntax: this README uses /skill-name examples for slash-skill hosts. In Codex, invoke installed skills with $skill-name (for example, $ce-plan and $lfg). In oh-my-pi (omp), these prompts can model-route to visible skills; use the native deterministic /skill:<name> form for manual-only or hidden skills (for example, /skill:ce-polish). /goal remains a Codex built-in command.

Traditional development accumulates technical debt. Every feature adds complexity. Every bug fix leaves behind a little more local knowledge that someone has to rediscover later. The codebase gets larger, the context gets harder to hold, and the next change becomes slower.

Compound engineering inverts this. 80% is in planning and review, 20% is in execution:

• Plan thoroughly before writing code with /ce-brainstorm and /ce-plan using one readiness-based plan artifact
• Review to catch issues and calibrate judgment with /ce-code-review and /ce-doc-review
• Codify knowledge so it is reusable with /ce-compound
• Keep quality high so future changes are easy

The point is not ceremony. The point is leverage. A good brainstorm makes the plan sharper. A good plan makes execution smaller. A good review catches the pattern, not just the bug. A good compound note means the next agent does not have to learn the same lesson from scratch.

The loop

The core loop is six steps: brainstorm the requirements, plan the implementation, work through the plan, simplify what you wrote, review the result, then compound the learning -- and repeat with better context.

Skill	Purpose
/ce-brainstorm	Interactive Q&A to think through a feature or problem and write a requirements-only unified plan before planning
/ce-plan	Enrich feature ideas or requirements-only plans into implementation-ready plans
/ce-work	Execute implementation-ready plans natively or through a qualified cross-model author while retaining host verification, commits, and shipping
/ce-simplify-code	Refine the freshly written code for clarity and reuse before review
/ce-code-review	Report-only multi-agent review against the plan before merging; local apply is explicit
/ce-compound	Capture the learning into docs/solutions/ so the next loop starts smarter

Each cycle compounds: /ce-compound writes learnings that the next /ce-brainstorm and /ce-plan read as grounding -- brainstorms sharpen plans, plans inform future plans, reviews catch more issues, patterns get documented. That return arrow is the whole point.

Run one teaches it. Run two remembers.

_{Replayed from a real pair of sessions 18 days apart, with names and paths anonymized and the six-minute run compressed to about 30 seconds. Nothing shown is behavior the skills don't have — see assets/demo for the source and the substitutions.}

Artifact folders like docs/solutions/ and docs/plans/ are the defaults. A project whose docs/ is tracked content can relocate every CE artifact folder under one repo-relative root via the docs_root setting -- see configuration.

Try it

After installing, run /ce-setup in any project. It reports optional tool capabilities, creates repo .compound-engineering/config.yaml when missing, refreshes the committed example, and gitignores an existing local override.

The standard loop -- turn a rough idea into shipped, reviewed code:

/ce-brainstorm make background job retries safer
/ce-plan
/ce-work
/ce-simplify-code
/ce-code-review
/ce-compound

Autonomous -- hand off a feature and let the agent run the whole pipeline:

/ce-brainstorm describe the feature
/lfg

/lfg runs the loop hands-off: it plans, works through the plan, simplifies, runs code review and applies the fixes, runs browser tests, then commits. When a git remote exists it pushes, opens a PR, and watches CI with a bounded repair loop (it does not merge, and it can finish with leftovers if the repair budget is hit). With no remote it stops at local commits. Start it after /ce-brainstorm so it plans against real requirements rather than a one-line prompt.

Starting from a bug instead of a feature? Use /ce-debug. Not sure what to build yet? Start with /ce-ideate.

Skills at a glance

33 skills, grouped by what they are for. The full catalog, with a page per skill and how each one chains into the others, is in docs/skills.

Group	Skills	What it covers
Core loop	ce-brainstorm ce-plan ce-work ce-simplify-code ce-code-review ce-compound	The six steps of every iteration
Around the loop	ce-strategy ce-product-pulse ce-sweep ce-compound-refresh	Anchors and feeds that keep the loop grounded
On demand	ce-ideate ce-pov ce-debug ce-explain ce-doc-review ce-optimize ce-prototype	Reached for when a specific need arises
Git workflow	ce-commit ce-commit-push-pr ce-babysit-pr ce-resolve-pr-feedback ce-worktree	Committing, shipping, and shepherding PRs
Autonomous	lfg	The whole pipeline, hands-off
Testing & design	ce-test-browser ce-test-xcode ce-polish ce-dogfood	Verifying and polishing what you built
Collaboration	ce-proof ce-handoff ce-promote	Sharing work and handing it off
Utilities	ce-setup ce-retune ce-riffrec-feedback-analysis	Setup and maintenance

Learn more

• Skill documentation catalog
• Compound engineering: how Every codes with agents
• The story behind compounding engineering

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More Install Options

Claude Code, Cursor, and Codex are at the top. Everything here is equally supported.

Kimi Code CLI

Kimi Code CLI can install Compound Engineering directly from this repository because the repo ships a native .kimi-plugin/plugin.json manifest:

/plugins install https://github.com/EveryInc/compound-engineering-plugin

You can also browse it through Kimi's custom marketplace flow:

/plugins marketplace https://raw.githubusercontent.com/EveryInc/compound-engineering-plugin/main/.kimi-plugin/marketplace.json

After installing or updating, run /reload or start a new Kimi session so the plugin skills are loaded.

Cline

Cline loads CE skills from on-demand SKILL.md directories. Enable Settings -> Features -> Enable Skills in the Cline extension, then link this repository's skills globally or per project:

git clone https://github.com/EveryInc/compound-engineering-plugin
./compound-engineering-plugin/.cline/scripts/install-skills.sh --global

Per-project install from a checkout:

./compound-engineering-plugin/.cline/scripts/install-skills.sh --project

Start a new Cline task after installing or updating skills. See .cline/INSTALL.md for pinning, local development, and uninstall steps.

Grok Build CLI (grok)

xAI's Grok Build CLI (grok) installs Compound Engineering directly from this repository — the repo root is a valid Grok plugin (grok reads the existing Claude-compatible manifests, and the repo also ships a native .grok-plugin/plugin.json):

grok plugin install EveryInc/compound-engineering-plugin

This tracks the repository; run grok plugin update to pull the latest. To browse it as a marketplace source instead, the repo ships a native .grok-plugin/marketplace.json:

grok plugin marketplace add EveryInc/compound-engineering-plugin
grok plugin install compound-engineering

Both paths track the repository directly (no commit pin). Add --trust to skip the install confirmation. grok stores config under ~/.grok; start a new session after installing so the skills load.

Compound Engineering is also being submitted to the official xAI plugin marketplace; see docs/grok-marketplace-submission.md for the maintainer runbook.

Devin CLI

Devin CLI can install Compound Engineering directly from GitHub because the repo ships a native .devin-plugin/plugin.json manifest:

devin plugins install EveryInc/compound-engineering-plugin

Verify the install and inspect the skills:

devin plugins list
devin plugins info compound-engineering

Update to the latest version with devin plugins update compound-engineering. Plugins load at session start, so start a new Devin session after installing or updating for the skills to appear (as /compound-engineering:<skill> slash commands).

A few skills declare Claude-style allowed-tools names that Devin does not map (for example Bash); those skills still work, but some of their actions ask for permission instead of running auto-approved. See docs/specs/devin.md for details.

GitHub Copilot

For VS Code Copilot Agent Plugins:

1. Run Chat: Install Plugin from Source from the VS Code command palette
2. Use EveryInc/compound-engineering-plugin for the repo
3. Select compound-engineering when VS Code shows the plugins in this repository

For Copilot CLI, use:

Inside Copilot CLI:

/plugin marketplace add EveryInc/compound-engineering-plugin
/plugin install compound-engineering@compound-engineering-plugin

From a shell with the copilot binary:

copilot plugin marketplace add EveryInc/compound-engineering-plugin
copilot plugin install compound-engineering@compound-engineering-plugin

Copilot CLI reads the existing Claude-compatible plugin manifests directly.

Factory Droid

From a shell with the droid binary:

droid plugin marketplace add https://github.com/EveryInc/compound-engineering-plugin
droid plugin install compound-engineering@compound-engineering-plugin

Droid uses plugin@marketplace plugin IDs; here compound-engineering is the plugin and compound-engineering-plugin is the marketplace name. Droid installs the existing Claude Code-compatible plugin and translates the format automatically.

Qwen Code

qwen extensions install EveryInc/compound-engineering-plugin:compound-engineering

Qwen Code installs Claude Code-compatible plugins directly from GitHub and converts the plugin format during install.

OpenCode

Add Compound Engineering to the plugin array in your global or project opencode.json:

{
  "plugin": ["compound-engineering@git+https://github.com/EveryInc/compound-engineering-plugin.git"]
}

Restart OpenCode after changing the config. The OpenCode plugin registers the Compound Engineering skills directory directly; no Bun installer or generated skill copy is required. See .opencode/INSTALL.md for pinning examples.

Pi

Install Compound Engineering as a Pi package from this repository:

pi install git:github.com/EveryInc/compound-engineering-plugin

Required companion for CE workflows that dispatch reviewer, research, or implementation subagents:

pi install npm:pi-subagents

Recommended companion for richer blocking questions:

pi install npm:pi-ask-user

oh-my-pi (omp)

oh-my-pi (omp) installs Compound Engineering through its marketplace flow. The repo ships a native .omp-plugin/marketplace.json catalog whose plugin entry carries a release-managed version, so omp's update checker can see each new CE release:

omp plugin marketplace add EveryInc/compound-engineering-plugin
omp plugin install compound-engineering@compound-engineering-plugin

To stay current automatically, enable auto-update:

omp config set marketplace.autoUpdate auto

The default notify mode only writes update availability to the debug log — it does not prompt — so without auto you will not hear about new releases. To upgrade by hand instead, run omp plugin upgrade compound-engineering@compound-engineering-plugin.

Other install paths (pin-style and contributor development)

omp install https://github.com/EveryInc/compound-engineering-plugin installs the repository as an npm-style plugin. That path has no update mechanism — treat it as pinning a snapshot, not as the recommended install.

For local development from a checkout, use a live symlink instead:

omp plugin link "$PWD"

Run /reload-plugins or start a new omp session after installing so the skills load. omp's native deterministic command is /skill:<name> (for example, /skill:ce-plan); ordinary /skill-name prompts can also model-route to visible skills, but manual-only or hidden skills require the native form. See docs/specs/omp.md for details.

Antigravity CLI (agy)

Google has replaced the consumer Gemini CLI with Antigravity CLI (agy), which still runs on Gemini models. Install Compound Engineering directly from GitHub — no clone step required:

agy plugin install https://github.com/EveryInc/compound-engineering-plugin

Verify with agy plugin list. The repository root is the plugin package (plugin.json plus skills/).

For a local checkout or pinned release:

git clone https://github.com/EveryInc/compound-engineering-plugin
agy plugin install ./compound-engineering-plugin

The bundled .agy/ directory remains a compatibility entry point (agy plugin install ./compound-engineering-plugin/.agy). agy also loads GEMINI.md workspace context from the checkout.

See .agy/INSTALL.md for pinning, local development, uninstall, and legacy Gemini import.

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Upgrading an existing install

Compound Engineering moved to a root-native, skills-only layout. If you installed before that move, refresh the cached marketplace before updating the plugin — order matters, and /plugin update alone keeps you on the old version.

See docs/install/upgrading.md for the per-host refresh commands, and for removing the obsolete Codex tool-map block left behind by pre-native Bun installs.

Limitations

OpenCode, Pi, and oh-my-pi (omp) use native package/plugin loading from this repository. The Bun CLI remains for repository development and converter maintenance, not normal installation.

Release versions are owned by release automation. Routine feature PRs should not hand-bump plugin or marketplace manifest versions.

FAQ

Do I need Bun to install Compound Engineering?

No. Bun is only needed for repo development tasks and converter maintenance.

Where do I see all available skills?

The grouped overview is above; the full catalog with a page per skill is docs/skills/README.md. Each skill's authoritative runtime spec lives in skills/<skill>/SKILL.md.

Where is release history?

GitHub Releases are the canonical release-notes surface. The root CHANGELOG.md points to that history.

How do I work on the plugin itself?

See CONTRIBUTING.md for setup, and docs/development.md for loading a local checkout into each harness.

Documentation

Skill catalog	A page per skill, and how they chain together
Configuration	.compound-engineering/config.yaml options
Installing · Upgrading	Per-host install and refresh
Contributing · Development	Working on the plugin itself
Security · Privacy	Reporting and data handling

Contributing

Contributions are welcome. Issues, bug reports, and pull requests all help make this better, and we genuinely appreciate them — bug reports especially. Start with CONTRIBUTING.md, which covers setup and what to do before opening a PR.

A note on what to expect: Compound Engineering is opinionated by design. It's maintained by @kieranklaassen and @tmchow, and its direction reflects a specific point of view about how AI-assisted engineering should work. So while we welcome help, we can't promise to accept every change — some proposals won't fit that vision even when they're good ideas on their own.

Open an issue or send a PR, and we'll fold in what moves the plugin in the right direction. We just want to be upfront that not everything will land.

License

MIT