Capability 03 of 04 · Infrastructure
Build System
Build tooling optimized for agent-scale throughput - caching, incrementality, and speed.
5
maturity levels
15
practices
15
guides
L1 · Stage 01Ad-hoc
Practices - what it looks like3 guides
- Maven/Gradle default configMaven and Gradle ship with sensible defaults for single-developer, sequential workflows.guide→
- Full rebuild on every changeA full rebuild recompiles every source file and re-runs every build step from scratch on each invocation, regardless of what changed.guide→
- Shared CI queueA shared CI queue processes all build and test requests in a single pool of runners, regardless of their source or priority.guide→
Criteria - what to measure
- 01A build system is in place (default configuration is fine)
- 02Builds run on each change
- 03Build completes (even if slowly)
- 04CI runs builds on a shared queue (even if everyone waits)
L2 · Stage 02Guided
Practices - what it looks like3 guides
- Basic build cachingBasic build caching stores the outputs of build steps and reuses them when the inputs haven't changed.guide→
- Parallel build stepsParallel build steps execute independent stages of the build and test pipeline concurrently rather than sequentially.guide→
- Dedicated CI resourcesDedicated CI resources assign specific pools of compute capacity to specific types of work, rather than all work competing in a single shared queue.guide→
Criteria - what to measure
- 01Build caching is implemented (dependency cache, compilation cache)
- 02Parallel build steps are configured (test and lint run concurrently)
- 03Dedicated CI resources are allocated (not shared across all teams)
- 04Cache hit rate exceeds 60%
- 05Build time has improved by at least 30% compared to uncached baseline
L3 · Stage 03Systematic
Practices - what it looks like3 guides
- Bazel / Buck2 / PantsBazel, Buck2, and Pants are hermetic build systems originally developed by Google, Meta, and Toolchain respectively to handle the scale and correctness requirements of massive monorepos.guide→
- Remote execution (EngFlow)Remote execution distributes build actions across a cluster of machines rather than running them locally.guide→
- Incremental builds: only changed targetsIncremental builds with only changed targets rebuild exactly and only the build targets that depend on files that have changed since the last build.guide→
Criteria - what to measure
- 01Advanced build system (Bazel, Buck2, or Pants) is adopted for primary codebase
- 02Remote execution (EngFlow or equivalent) distributes build steps across multiple machines
- 03Incremental builds run only changed targets (not full rebuild)
- 04BUILD file maintenance is assigned to specific team members or automated
- 05Remote cache hit rate exceeds 80%
L4 · Stage 04OptimizedMost teams aim here
Practices - what it looks like3 guides
- Sub-2min feedback on any changeSub-2-minute feedback means that for any change an agent or developer makes to the codebase, the signal "this compiles and the relevant tests pass" arrives within 120 seconds.guide→
- Agent-specific build profiles; multi-root workspaces, worktree isolation per agent (Cursor 3.6)Agent-specific build profiles are lightweight build configurations optimized for the agent iteration use case rather than the human pre-merge or release use case.guide→
- Build system aware of agent iteration patternsA build system aware of agent iteration patterns goes beyond passive responsiveness - it actively anticipates what agents will need to build next and prepares accordingly.guide→
Criteria - what to measure
- 01Any change gets build feedback in under 2 minutes
- 02Agent-specific build profiles exist (optimized for agent iteration patterns - fast feedback over comprehensive build)
- 03Build system understands agent iteration patterns and pre-caches likely next builds
- 04Build profiles are auto-selected based on invoker (agent vs. human vs. CI)
- 05Pre-caching hit rate exceeds 70% for agent iterations
L5 · Stage 05Autonomous
Practices - what it looks like3 guides
- Build = commodity (near-instant for agents)When build time is a commodity, it has ceased to be a meaningful variable in agent throughput calculations.guide→
- Compilation bottleneck eliminated via crate/module architectureCompilation bottleneck elimination through crate/module architecture means restructuring a codebase so that the unit of compilation is small, focused, and independently compilable.guide→
- Disk I/O optimized for concurrent agent workloads (Cursor lesson)Disk I/O is the hidden bottleneck when running hundreds of concurrent agents on a shared infrastructure.guide→
Criteria - what to measure
- 01Build is a commodity: near-instant feedback for agents regardless of codebase size
- 02Codebase is structured into self-contained modules/crates to eliminate compilation bottleneck (Cursor lesson)
- 03Disk I/O is optimized for concurrent agent workloads (parallel reads/writes across modules)
- 04Build latency is under 30 seconds for 90%+ of changes
- 05Module dependency graph is automatically maintained and optimized
From the Field
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Which level is your team at in Build System?
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