Devin
by Cognition AI
Autonomous AI software engineer that takes delegated tickets to a reviewed PR
Last reviewed 2026-06-18
Devin is Cognition AI's autonomous software engineering agent. Rather than autocompleting code inline, it works asynchronously at the ticket level: a user delegates a task (a Jira or Linear ticket, a bug, a migration) via chat, Slack, or an integration, and Devin plans, writes, runs, and tests code inside a sandboxed cloud VM with its own shell, editor, and browser, then opens a pull request for human review. Cognition positions engineers as architects who delegate repetitive work to one or many Devins running in parallel. Devin is used by large enterprises and is strongest on high-volume, verifiable tasks such as code migrations, refactors, bug fixes, PR review, and codebase Q&A via its DeepWiki indexing. In 2025 Cognition acquired the agentic IDE Windsurf, and as of late 2025 Devin reportedly runs its planning layer on Anthropic's Claude Sonnet models.
What it can do
Resolve delegated tickets end to end
SupervisedTakes a Jira or Linear ticket or a Slack request, plans the work, writes and tests code in a cloud sandbox, then opens a pull request that a human reviews.
sourceRun large-scale code migrations in parallel
SupervisedSpins up many Devin instances to mechanically migrate or refactor across a codebase after a one-time teaching step, with a human managing the project and approving changes.
sourceIndex codebases and answer questions (DeepWiki)
AssistantAuto-generates architecture wikis and answers grounded questions about unfamiliar repositories.
sourceReview pull requests
SupervisedReviews PRs and leaves comments as part of repetitive engineering workflows.
source
Strengths
- +Genuinely async, delegated model: handles whole tickets and large parallel migrations rather than line-by-line autocomplete
- +Deep workflow integration (Slack, Jira, Linear, GitHub) plus DeepWiki codebase indexing and a public API
- +Validated at large, complex enterprises
Limitations
- −Best on clear, verifiable tasks; Cognition's own framing acknowledges it can make mistakes or get stuck on complex work and needs human review
- −Usage-based ACU billing can get expensive and unpredictable on open-ended work
- −Not open source; the strongest features are cloud-only with enterprise gating
Overview
Devin is Cognition AI's autonomous software engineer. Unlike inline coding assistants, it operates at the ticket level inside a sandboxed cloud VM with its own shell, editor, and browser, and is built for delegating whole units of engineering work rather than autocompleting lines.
What it does
A user delegates a task through chat, Slack, Jira, or Linear. Devin plans, writes, runs, and tests code, then opens a pull request for human review. It is strongest on high-volume, verifiable tasks: code migrations, refactors, bug fixes, PR review, and codebase Q&A via its DeepWiki indexing. For large migrations, Cognition runs many Devins in parallel after a one-time teaching step.
Integrations & setup
Connects to GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket, plus Slack, Microsoft Teams, Jira, and Linear. It consumes MCP servers and exposes a public REST API for automation. As of late 2025 its planning layer reportedly runs on Anthropic's Claude Sonnet.
Pricing
Usage-based: a Core plan starting around $20/mo plus pay-as-you-go ACU (Agent Compute Unit) credits, with higher team and enterprise tiers.
Best for / not for
Best for engineering teams that can hand off well-scoped, verifiable tasks and large mechanical migrations. Less suited to ambiguous, open-ended work where it can get stuck and burn credits.
Alternatives
Cursor and GitHub Copilot target the in-IDE end of coding; Replit Agent targets app building from a prompt.
What people are saying
Loved for
- +retrieval
- +memory
Common gripes
- −life
- −having
- −fear
Recent mentions
“A weekend post? Absolutely. But how could I not when the Bedfordshire SME Awards were just that good? What an incredible evening! The Bedfordshire SME Business Awards, hosted by the Bedfordshire Chamber of Commerce, wa”
“The longer I work in the automotive industry, the more convinced I become that relationships aren’t just a soft skill, they’re often what drive real business results. This week, I had the opportunity to join Devin Fro”
“For the 3rd year in a row, Cornerstone Equipment was recognized as a Best Places to Work in Kentucky; this year landing at #5! 2024 #18 2025 #11 2026 #5 I am humbled to lead our team of blue collar pros. Sometim”
“got a much broader view of how AI actually works AI doesn't read text the same way we do. it breaks everything into . small chunks of text. for example: "I love AI" that's actually multiple tokens being proce”
“Having returned back to Amsterdam I look back at - again - such a great time at the annual AILA/GMS Global Forum. I have seen the posts from friends and I think we all have the same experience: engaging panel sessions (t”
FAQ
Is Devin fully autonomous?+
No. It works autonomously on a delegated task inside a sandbox but produces a pull request that a human reviews and approves, so in practice it is a supervised agent for delegated engineering tasks.
What models power Devin?+
Devin's planning and orchestration layer runs on top of frontier LLMs; as of late 2025 it reportedly runs on Anthropic's Claude (Sonnet).
Sources
- Introducing Devin (Cognition blog) · accessed 2026-06-18
- Devin documentation: Introducing Devin · accessed 2026-06-18
- Cognition AI / Devin (Wikipedia) · accessed 2026-06-18
Last reviewed 2026-06-18