# Katie Cheng

![Katie Cheng](/resources/cognition/portraits/katie-cheng.webp)

![Katie Cheng 2](/resources/cognition/portraits/katie-cheng.webp)

Research & design at Cognition (FrontierCode, Devin); Stanford CS on leave  
Cognition  
San Francisco, California, United States

## At Cognition

- Role: Member of Technical Staff (Engineering)
- Joined: Apr 2026
- How they joined: Directly
- Before Cognition: Software Engineer Intern, Microsoft
- Overlapped before Cognition with other Cognition people at: Stanford University (https://www.autumn.ai/resources/cognition/worked-together)

## Identity
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-chengg
- X: @katiiecheng
- GitHub: https://github.com/katie-cheng
- Website: https://katiecheng.me
- Domain: cognition.com

## Notes
- Left Stanford in Oct 2026 to join Cognition's research team full-time under Silas Alberti, focused on design for model-training efforts; in her words: "i've officially left stanford to join the cognition research team full-time. i'm excited to work under @silasalberti to further cognition's model training efforts with a focus on design." (https://x.com/katiiecheng/status/2115150365872345315)
- Rebuilt Devin's Command K palette from scratch in her 2nd week with Jorge Zreik: "in my 2nd week at @cognition, i rebuilt devin's Command K (⌘K) palette from scratch with @ZreikJorge!" It is now the universal search surface of the Devin webapp, built on the cmdk library. (https://x.com/katiiecheng/status/2092913073312911389)
- Credited for Design (with Joseph Alessio) on Cognition's 'Introducing FrontierCode' coding benchmark launch, published 2026-06-08. (https://cognition.com/blog/frontier-code)
- 8VC Fellow (2026 cohort). 8VC states that at Cognition she designed and engineered features for Devin's cloud agent interface including the central command palette, in-chat artifacts and previews, and a model-routing function; rebuilt the company website; helped launch FrontierCode; and flew on-site to deploy Devin to customers in the Czech Republic. (https://8vc.com/fellows/katie-cheng)
- Design philosophy, verbatim: "as software evolves, we shouldn't be thumbing through dashboards, menus, and buttons. the onus can & should be on the app to deliver you what you want. this will be especially important as we move to new semantic-focused input methods, like voice or brain-computer interfaces." (https://x.com/katiiecheng/status/2092913073312911389)
- Also credited for Design (with Joseph Alessio) on the FrontierCode 1.1 update; contributors listed include Jeffrey Ling and Walden Yan. (https://cognition.com/blog/frontier-code-1.1)
- Portfolio (katiecheng.me) lists Devin for Discord ('A fully functional Discord integration for Devin') and a redesign of Cognition's DeepWiki visualizations ('DeepWiki Graphs'). (https://katiecheng.me)
- Software Engineer Intern at Microsoft, MSAI Copilot (Redmond, Jun-Sep 2025); her portfolio shows a 'Copilot Prompt Builder: A prompt-building interface for Microsoft Copilot' from that work. (https://katiecheng.me)
- Stanford BS Computer Science (AI track) with a minor in Art Practice, currently on leave; 8VC lists expected graduation 2027. (https://8vc.com/fellows/katie-cheng)
- Earlier Microsoft SWE internship on M365 Core via the TNT Program (Redmond, Jun-Aug 2024). (https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-chengg)
- Intern at Terra API in London (Aug-Oct 2024), working on API integration and growth. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-chengg)
- Reacted to the Mac VM launch and worked alongside the team that shipped DevinBench-era features; replied 'congrats @jkelleyrtp !!! honor to overlap with you' when Dioxus creator Jonathan Kelley's arrival at Cognition was announced. (https://x.com/katiiecheng/status/2098112620146352269)
- Explained a Devin UI choice publicly: 'it's on purpose! it's where users' eyes most commonly land on a screen' (on the ⌘K palette placement). (https://x.com/katiiecheng/status/2092938121008587038)
- Shared a FrontierCode cost-vs-score chart: 'cost vs score for anyone curious', in a thread with Samyok Nepal (Cognition). (https://x.com/katiiecheng/status/2087946432305123726)
- Logistics Organizer for TreeHacks, Stanford's hackathon (Oct 2023-Apr 2024). (https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-chengg)
- Hackathon builder on Devpost (devpost.com/katiecheng); teammates on projects such as Exploragon and Manimify Math include Vyom Fadia, P. Kayleen Ramirez and Tony Wang. (https://devpost.com/katiecheng)
- Called the Cognition team 'THE most ott-standing team i've ever been a part of 🦦', a nod to the otter mascot culture. (https://x.com/katiiecheng/status/2097373044486365250)

## Experience
- Member of Technical Staff at Cognition - San Francisco, California (Oct 2026 - Present): cognition.com/research
- Member of Technical Staff Intern at Cognition - New York, New York (Apr 2026 - Sep 2026): devin.ai/cloud
- Software Engineer Intern at Microsoft - Redmond, Washington (Jun 2025 - Sep 2025): MSAI Copilot
- Intern at Terra API - London, United Kingdom (Aug 2024 - Oct 2024): API Integration + Growth
- Software Engineer Intern at Microsoft - Redmond, Washington (Jun 2024 - Aug 2024): M365 Core, TNT Program
- Logistics Organizer at TreeHacks - Stanford, California (Oct 2023 - Apr 2024)

## Education
- Stanford University - Bachelor of Science, Computer Science (AI Track), Minor in Art Practice - (Jan 2023): (On leave)

## Sources
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-chengg
- https://x.com/katiiecheng
- https://cognition.com/blog/frontier-code
- https://github.com/katie-cheng
- https://devpost.com/katiecheng
- https://8vc.com/fellows/katie-cheng
- https://www.pleasantonweekly.com/news/2023/03/09/dublin-residents-recognized-for-outstanding-community-impact/
- https://cognition.com/blog/frontier-code-1.1
- https://katiecheng.me
- https://x.com/katiiecheng/status/2115150365872345315
- https://x.com/katiiecheng/status/2092913073312911389
- https://x.com/katiiecheng/status/2115158428113052036
- https://x.com/katiiecheng/status/2098112620146352269
- https://x.com/katiiecheng/status/2092938121008587038
- https://x.com/katiiecheng/status/2087946432305123726
- https://x.com/katiiecheng/status/2097373044486365250


Researched with Autumn (https://www.autumn.ai) from public sources. Updated 2026-11-04. Profile: https://www.autumn.ai/resources/cognition/people/katie-cheng · Everyone at Cognition: https://www.autumn.ai/resources/cognition/people