Compound is an AI-powered financial analysis tool. You chat with an AI agent that reads your files and edits Excel workbooks, Word documents, and PowerPoint decks on your behalf. This page walks you through the handful of concepts you need and your first analysis end to end.
The vocabulary
Two terms come up everywhere in Compound:
- Drive — a container for related Chats and files. Every user has a personal Drive called My Drive that can’t be shared. You can also create Project Drives for specific projects or deals — these are the only Drives that can be shared with teammates. Drives also isolate the agent’s context: a chat in one Drive can’t see files in another, which keeps deal-by-deal work cleanly separated.
- Chat — a conversation with the AI agent inside a Drive. Each Chat keeps its own history of messages, files, and agent edits.
Everything else is a file — the things you upload and the things Compound produces or edits during a Chat. Excel workbooks, Word documents, PowerPoint decks, PDFs, CSVs, images, and plain text all live in your Drive as files.
Your first analysis
Sign in and open your default Drive
Visit getcompound.ai and sign in. The sidebar shows My Drive at the top.
Start a new chat
Click New Chat in the sidebar. A blank composer opens.
Attach a file or pick a public source
Drag a PDF, Excel file, or CSV onto the composer, or click the upload icon. Alternatively, toggle a built-in public source under Public data — choices include SEC Filings, Web, Earnings Transcripts, Polymarket, and Stocks.
Ask a question
Type a question or instruction and click Submit. For example: “Pull the income statement from this 10-K into a clean Excel model.”
Review the agent's work
The agent streams its plan, then edits files in your Drive (or creates new ones). Canvas View opens alongside the chat so you can watch changes happen in real time; click a file card in the chat to reopen Canvas later or switch between files. Use Versions to revert if needed.
Where you can use Compound
- The web app at getcompound.ai — the full product, where new chats and file reviews happen.
- Email — send a message to
frankie@getcompound.aiand Compound picks it up. See Email.
Both surfaces write into your Drives, so a chat started by email continues seamlessly on the web.
What to read next
- Chats and the AI agent — how the conversation, attachments, and agent edits actually work.
- Drives and files — organizing and sharing your work.
- Workbooks (Excel) — the most powerful surface for financial analysis.