# Compound

To compound your work in MAIA, you save the method as a skill, teach MAIA your context as knowledge, and run the same objective in the next county. Each run then starts from what the last one learned.

Updated: 2026-09-30. Source: https://maia-analytics.com/docs/using-maia/compound

## Three ways work compounds

| You keep | As | It pays again |
| --- | --- | --- |
| The method | A skill | On the next run, in any county |
| Your context | Knowledge | On every turn |
| The result | A shared project | For everyone in your workspace |

## Save the method as a skill

A skill records a way of working: what it finds, the criteria and thresholds, the steps, and the output format. The next run starts from it instead of from a blank box.

Save one when:

- You will ask the same thing again, in another county or another quarter.
- The thresholds are settled, and you do not want to retype them.
- You corrected MAIA during the run, and you want the correction kept.

To save one:

1. Ask MAIA to save the method as a skill. MAIA writes the skill from the conversation and shows it on a **Save skill?** card.
2. Read the card. Check that the skill names no county, city, or project. A skill that names a place will not carry to the next county.
3. Choose **Approve**. MAIA never saves a skill silently.

You choose who can use it: you alone, or your whole workspace. Saving to the workspace needs the editor role. See [Skills](https://maia-analytics.com/docs/capabilities/skills).

## Run it in the next county

A project covers one county. To work a second county, start a second project and run the same skill. A skill is not tied to a place, so nothing in it has to change.

| Where | How |
| --- | --- |
| The web app | Start a new project, choose the county, type `/` in the chat, and choose the skill |
| MCP | `create_project` with the county and the skill's name as `skill` |

> **Note:** A threshold on a column the next county does not hold returns nothing. Check the county's data before you run, or ask MAIA to profile it first.

## Teach MAIA your context

Knowledge is what MAIA reads before you ask. It holds who you are, the markets you work, and the criteria you buy on.

| Level | Who it serves |
| --- | --- |
| Project | One project |
| Personal | You, in every project |
| Workspace | Everyone in your workspace |

You do not have to write it all. When you state a lasting fact or a preference, MAIA saves it. What you state inside a project goes to that project's memory, so a fact that should hold everywhere belongs at the personal or workspace level. You can read and edit everything MAIA holds. See [Knowledge](https://maia-analytics.com/docs/capabilities/knowledge).

## Share with your workspace

One person's method becomes the team's when each piece is shared at the workspace level.

1. Save the skill to the workspace, not to yourself.
2. Add the knowledge entry at the workspace level.
3. Open the project's **Share** dialog and set **Workspace members** to **Can view** or **Can edit**. A new project is private until you do.

See [Shared workspaces](https://maia-analytics.com/docs/capabilities/shared-workspaces).

## Over MCP

| To | Use |
| --- | --- |
| See the skills you and your workspace have | `list_skills` |
| Save one of your own skills | `save_skill` |
| Save a note MAIA reads in every project | `save_to_maia_memory` |
| Turn this conversation into a skill | The `create_skill` prompt |
| Give MAIA a profile of your work | The `teach_maia` prompt |
| Run a skill in a county | The `run_skill` prompt |

Both save tools tell your client to show you the draft and wait for your yes. Over MCP you can save your own skills only. Workspace skills are edited in the web app. See [Tools](https://maia-analytics.com/docs/mcp/tools) and [Prompts](https://maia-analytics.com/docs/mcp/prompts).

Next: start the next project at [Define](https://maia-analytics.com/docs/using-maia/define).