compound-lite

Compound Engineering lite

Article: https://theaiengineer.substack.com/p/superpowers-vs-gsd-vs-compound-engineering

Compound Engineering sits on top of Superpowers or OpenGSD. It does not replace their checkpoints. The durable idea is the fourth step: write what you learned so the next agent reads it.

When to use

• After merging (or finishing) non-trivial work
• When the same correction appears twice
• When the CEO pastes Compound Engineering / Every CE references

Steps

1. Copy templates/compound/SOLUTION.md → docs/solutions/<slug>.md
2. Fill Problem, What worked, Prevention, Evidence (no placeholders)
3. Prefer Prevention as a gate, skill, or AGENTS.md / CLAUDE.md bullet
4. Verify: python3 scripts/compound_gate.py --json --slug <slug> → ready=true
5. Commit the solution note with the fix PR when possible

Do not

• Install the full 33-skill plugin unless CEO explicitly asks
• Run parallel reviewer farms on every commit (token burn)
• Claim “compounded” without a gate-green docs/solutions/ file
• Confuse this with PlayerZero hawk metrics (docs/AGENT_COMPOUNDING_ROI.md)