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Sign in Subscribe ]:block [&>]:mt-2 [&>*]:pt-2 mt-4" > Home Newsletter Columnists Columns Podcast Products Events Guides Consulting *]:block space-y-2"> Sign in *]:block space-y-2 py-2 my-2 border-y border-dashed border-homeborder" > Search About us Careers Advertise with us The team FAQ Help center Midjourney/Every illustration. By Kieran Klaassen Kieran Klaassen is the general manager of Cora. Read with AI Open with Plus One Your AI collaborator — pre-loaded with Every's best tools and workflows. Open with Plus One → Share Compound Engineering Gets an U pgrade The AI-native engineering philosophy has expanded from four steps to eight Kieran Klaassen May 29, 2026 Updated June 12, 2026 Listen Link copied 2 Join me and Trevin Chow for our third compound engineering camp for paid subscribers next Friday, June 5 . We’ll show how planning and building are collapsing into one flow—where you hand your AI a goal and it runs with it. RSVP . Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Sign up to get it in your inbox. In its early days, compound engineering was mostly about the code. I wanted to see if I could get an AI model to make a plan, do the work the way I wanted it done, review the results against my standards, and incorporate lessons from my feedback so it wouldn’t make the same mistake next time. The loop looked like this: Brainstorm → work → review → compound → repeat That loop is still the core of how I build Cora . But almost a year after we first coined the term compound engineering, the work phase has become boring—in the best way. If the plan is good and the agent has the right context, it usually does the work right. It writes the code and runs the tests. It fixes the obvious issues. The question now is: “Where do I fit in?” The answer is at both ends of the process. An analogy my collaborator on the compound engineering plugin , Trevin Chow , came up with is a sandwich . AI is the stuff in the middle. Humans are the bread on either end, holding it together. At the beginning, I need to decide what is worth building. I need to understand the user, the product, the weird edge cases, and the thing that feels exciting enough to spend time on. Then I can hand the middle to the agent. At the end, I come back in. I click around and look at the design. I read the copy. I ask whether the experience feels right. Sometimes everything technically works, but the product is still not good. So I make it better. As the models have grown more capable, the original compound engineering loop started to feel incomplete. Plan, work, review, and compound still describes the core engineering cycle, but it leaves out the two places where I now spend most of my attention: before there is a plan, and after the work technically passes review. So I expanded the loop: Ideate → brainstorm → plan → work → review → polish → compound → repeat Ideate and brainstorm are the new front of the process. Polish is the new end. Compound is still the most important step, because the whole point is that every feature should make the next feature easier. I updated the compound engineering guide to explain the full system. The guide is about engineering, but I think the pattern applies to knowledge work much more broadly. The middle of a lot of work will get automated. But if you want the work to be good, and if you want it to feel like yours, you still need to be there at the beginning and the end. Read the updated compound engineering guide Kieran Klaassen is the general manager of Cora , Every’s email product. Follow him on X at @kieranklaassen or on LinkedIn . To read more essays like this, subscribe to Every , and follow us on X at @every and on LinkedIn . We build AI tools for readers like you. Write brilliantly with Spiral . Organize files automatically with Sparkle . Deliver yourself from email with Cora . Dictate effortlessly with Monologue . 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Daily insights from AI pioneers + early access to powerful AI tools Front-row access to the future of AI In-depth reviews of new models on release day Playbooks and guides for putting AI to work Prompts and use cases for builders In-depth reviews of new models on release day Playbooks and guides for putting AI to work Prompts and use cases for builders Bundle of AI software Sparkle: Organize your Mac with AI Cora: The most human way to do email Spiral: Repurpose your content endlessly Monologue: Effortless voice dictation for your Mac Sparkle: Organize your Mac with AI Cora: The most human way to do email Spiral: Repurpose your content endlessly Monologue: Effortless voice dictation for your Mac Thanks for rating this post—join the conversation by commenting below. Comments Post Post You need to login before you can comment. Don't have an account? Sign up! Bronson Elliott 15 days ago You stated the you "think the pattern applies to knowledge work much more broadly". Does this mean that the compound knowledge plugin is no longer necessary and is essentially being merged into the compound engineering plugin? ♡ 1 · Reply Tintin Tintin 14 days ago @bronson.elliott good question. ♡ 0 · Reply The Only S ubscription You Need to Stay at the Edge of AI Everything you need to thrive in the new economy Reviews of new AI models on release day Playbooks for integrating AI into your work Insights from top operators and innovators AI productivity apps: Monologue, Sparkle, Spiral, Cora Unlock the Every universe Maybe later What Comes N ext New ideas to help you build the future—in your inbox, every day. Email address Subscribe Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. ©2026 Every Media, Inc. About Careers Help center Privacy Preferences Advertise with us The team Pricing FAQ Terms Site map X LinkedIn YouTube ©2026 Every Media, Inc. 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