Introduction
Vxplain is a developer tool that understands codebases and explains them visually, inside the editor. This article explains the product’s current production status and the engineering role: what you will build—code-understanding pipelines, editor integrations, backend services, and agent APIs—along with required skills, desirable bonuses, what the role is not, and why joining now matters.
Product and What You’ll Build
Vxplain analyzes real code (not just syntax), builds deep context across files and frameworks, and enables humans and AI agents to reason about systems visually. The product is production software used by real engineers and already includes a live VS Code extension, paying customers, enterprise pilots, and a clear roadmap toward MCP and agent-native workflows.
- Build core product, not tickets. You will own features end-to-end: idea → implementation → production → feedback.
- Code understanding pipelines. Work on ASTs, dependency graphs, and context extraction that capture deep, cross-file relationships.
- Editor integrations. Ship and evolve the VS Code extension first, with more editors later.
- Backend services. Implement services in Go or Python that power diagrams, contextual views, and agent interactions.
- Agent and API design. Design APIs used by LLMs, MCP servers, and tooling so agents can reason about code visually.
- Architectural ownership. Make decisions that hold up at 10× usage and avoid shortcuts that fail in production.
- Direct collaboration with the founder. No PM buffer; minimal process theater.
Who We’re Looking For, Requirements, and Why Join
This role is not for someone optimizing Jira velocity. It suits engineers who think in systems, can read large unfamiliar codebases and form mental models fast, care about correctness and developer experience, and prefer shipping over polishing slides. You’ll own hard problems with ambiguity and incomplete specs and should have strong opinions, loosely held.
- Required (non-negotiable):
- Strong fundamentals in computer science (data structures, graphs; compilers/parsers helpful).
- Solid experience in at least one systems/backend language (Go, Rust, C++, Java, etc.).
- Experience building or debugging production software.
- Ability to work independently without hand-holding.
- Bonus (nice to have):
- Built developer tools, compilers, linters, IDE plugins, or infra tooling.
- Experience with ASTs, static analysis, or language servers.
- Experience working with LLMs beyond “API calls”.
- Comfortable reading and writing TypeScript.
- Open-source contributions.
- Startup or zero-to-one experience.
- What this role is not:
- Not a “9–5 task executor”.
- Not a pure frontend or pure backend silo.
- Not a place to hide behind process.
- Not a place where requirements are perfectly defined.
- Why join now:
- Influence core architecture, not edge cases.
- Your work will directly shape how developers and AI understand code.
- You’ll learn more in 6 months than 2 years at a large company.
Conclusion
Vxplain is production-ready software used by real engineers, with a live VS Code extension, paying customers, and enterprise pilots. The engineer role focuses on building core systems: code-understanding pipelines, editor integrations, backend services, and agent APIs, with end-to-end ownership and direct collaboration with the founder. If you meet the required skills and prefer systems work over process, this role offers significant architectural influence and rapid learning.
