Compound Engineering
EveryInc/compound-engineering-plugin
36 skills that loop through brainstorm, plan, work, review and write down what you learned.
Compound Engineering is an MIT-licensed plugin of 36 skills for AI coding agents, maintained by Kieran Klaassen and Trevin Chow. It structures work as a loop of brainstorm, plan, work, simplify, review and compound, where the last step writes what you learned into your repo so the next change can read it. It runs on 14 agent hosts, including Claude Code, Cursor and Codex.
Facts checked on against the sources listed at the end of this page.
- GitHub stars
- 25,375
- Skills in the pack
- 37
- Agents supported
- 14named in the README
- Instruction size
- 39.6k wordsacross all SKILL.md files
How to install Compound Engineering
| Agent | Command | Copy |
|---|---|---|
| Claude Code | Refresh the marketplace before updating, since /plugin update alone keeps the old version. | |
| Cursor | | |
| Codex | Restart Codex after the install finishes. |
Commands as given in the README on 3 October 2026.
What is inside Compound Engineering
| Skill | What it makes the agent do |
|---|---|
| ce-brainstorm | Interactive questions that turn an idea into a requirements-only plan. |
| ce-plan | Turns requirements into an implementation-ready plan. |
| ce-work | Executes a plan, then handles verification and commits. |
| ce-code-review | Report-only multi-agent review against the plan before merge. |
| ce-compound | Writes what you learned into docs/solutions so the next loop starts with it. |
| ce-debug | Starts from a bug report instead of a feature. |
| ce-commit-push-pr | Commits, pushes and opens a pull request. |
| ce-babysit-pr | Watches a pull request and its CI. |
| ce-test-browser | Verifies a change in a browser. |
| lfg | Runs the whole loop hands-off, from plan to pull request and CI. |
Ten of 36 skills are shown. The README groups the rest into the core loop, git workflow, on-demand skills, testing and design, collaboration and utilities.
What Compound Engineering runs on your machine
| Hooks | None found in the Claude Code plugin manifest. |
|---|---|
| Bundled scripts | Yes. The repo has TypeScript and shell scripts for development and per-host installs, and a JavaScript plugin for OpenCode. The README says Bun is only needed for repo development. |
| Network calls | Some. Git and pull request skills push to your remote and open pull requests when you ask. The README says /lfg pushes, opens a pull request and watches CI when a remote exists. |
| API keys needed | None named in the README. |
These are facts read from the repo, not a security rating. Read the files before you install any skill.
How much context Compound Engineering uses
| All 37 skills | 39,617 words across every SKILL.md file |
|---|---|
| Largest skill | ce-debug, 2,702 words |
| Loaded at start | Only each skill's name and description. The full text loads when a task needs that skill. |
Word counts are measured from the repo every day. Reference files a skill loads on demand are not counted.
How Compound Engineering works
The idea is that planning and review take most of the effort, and execution is the small part. Each cycle ends with /ce-compound, which writes a learning into docs/solutions, and the next brainstorm and plan read those notes as grounding.
Run /ce-setup once per project. It reports optional tool capabilities and creates a .compound-engineering/config.yaml file when one is missing. The README also describes experimental Compound Packs, which are folders of team rules that planning and review cite.
A good fit for
- Teams that want a repeatable plan, build and review process with written notes for later work
- Developers who want one plugin that follows a feature from idea to pull request
- People who use several agent hosts, since the same plugin ships for 14 of them
- Projects that want review findings checked against a plan, not just the diff
Skip it if
- Quick one-off edits, since the loop is built for planned work
- Anyone who wants a small install, as it has 36 skills
- Codex users who expect slash syntax, because Codex invokes skills with $skill-name
Is Compound Engineering still maintained?
| Last commit | , 1 day ago |
|---|---|
| Latest release | compound-engineering-v3.30.3, 1 October 2026 |
| Stars gained in 7 days | Shown after 7 days of tracking |
| Stars gained in 30 days | Shown after 30 days of tracking |
| Open issues and pull requests | 115 |
| Forks | 2,069 |
Tools Compound Engineering works with
Questions about Compound Engineering
Which agents does Compound Engineering support?
The README lists 14 hosts, including Claude Code, Cursor and Codex, plus Kimi Code CLI, Cline, Grok Build CLI, Devin CLI, GitHub Copilot, Factory Droid, Qwen Code, OpenCode, Pi, oh-my-pi and Antigravity CLI.
Is it free?
Yes. It is MIT licensed.
Do I need Bun?
No. The README says Bun is only needed for repo development and converter maintenance, not for installing.
What does the compound step do?
/ce-compound captures a learning into docs/solutions. Later brainstorm and plan runs read those notes, so a lesson from one change carries into the next.
Can it run without me?
/lfg runs the pipeline hands-off, from plan through review, commit, pull request and a bounded CI repair loop. The README says it does not merge unless you grant that.