The Unblocked Blog

A context layer is not a context engine
Context layers give AI agents information they can use. Context engines give them understanding they can leverage. The difference determines whether your AI investment plateaus or scales.
A context layer is not a context engine
As questions get more complex, Unblocked expands to meet them
Developers are asking Unblocked harder questions. What started as focused lookups has expanded into questions that span systems, history, and organizational context. To support that shift, we've expanded the search backend that powers Unblocked.
As questions get more complex, Unblocked expands to meet them
REPL is dead, long live REPL
Developers have always moved up abstraction layers: we stopped writing assembly so we could think in functions. Now agents are forcing us up another layer, towards intent but we’ve never had a probabilistic layer until now.
REPL is dead, long live REPL
The context problem moved from people to agents
Developers ship faster when they understand how their system actually works, not just how to write code. That context is nearly impossible for agents to reconstruct, so AI-native software teams end up wasting time and tokens fixing their code.
The context problem moved from people to agents
New analytics: see how your team is using Unblocked
New Unblocked analytics give admins a clear picture of how their teams are adopting the full value of Unblocked, providing context to coding agents, getting high-quality code review, and receiving answers to their technical questions.
New analytics: see how your team is using Unblocked
Finally, everyone is talking about context
Developer tools promise "context-aware" AI, but more data access isn't context. The AI development stack needs a new infrastructure layer -- a context engine -- to turn information into understanding.
Finally, everyone is talking about context
Unblocked vs Greptile: Best code review tool comparison for your team (February 2026)
Unblocked vs Greptile code review tool comparison for February 2026. See which tool fits your team's needs with organizational context vs repository analysis.
Unblocked vs Greptile: Best code review tool comparison for your team (February 2026)
What your coding agent can't see
AI coding tools understand your code—but not the decisions behind it. The Unblocked MCP connects your agent to Slack, PRs, and tickets so it can answer "why," not just "what." Your agent finally understands your organization, not just your repo.
What your coding agent can't see
Building AI Code Review: A Conversation with Richie
AI code review inherits human biases—and adds new ones. This post and podcast explore how we built a reviewer that finds real bugs without adding noise.
Building AI Code Review: A Conversation with Richie
Building context into everything:
A conversation with Dennis, CEO
In this post and podcast, Unblocked's CEO shares why he started the company, why context is changing everything, and what happens left and right of code gen.
Building context into everything:
A conversation with Dennis, CEO
Ceding control: The future of UX Design in the age of agents
AI tools ask engineers to give up control—but without context, the tradeoff isn't worth it. This post and podcast explore what's missing and what makes adoption stick.
Ceding control: The future of UX Design in the age of agents
How a context engine actually works and why you need to care, now
Context engines transform AI from a knowledgeable stranger into a 20-year veteran. This post and podcast cover how Unblocked resolves conflicts and surfaces tribal knowledge.
How a context engine actually works and why you need to care, now
The history & evolution of devtools from researchers in applied AI
From the Apple II to Claude Code, developer tools keep cycling through the same tensions. This post and podcast explore what we tried, threw away, and where it's all heading.
The history & evolution of devtools from researchers in applied AI
What happens when you put three AI tool builders in a room together
In this fireside chat and podcast, we discuss what developers actually want from AI tools—and why privacy, context, and knowing what you don't know matter.
What happens when you put three AI tool builders in a room together
Why MCP isn't enough: Enhancing agent capabilities with a context engine
MCP hasn't delivered on its promise—but wiring it to a context engine changes the game. This post and podcast cover how Unblocked helps agents stay on the rails.
Why MCP isn't enough: Enhancing agent capabilities with a context engine
How RB Global Cut a Six-Month Platform Transition Down to Three
With Unblocked, RB Global took full ownership of a consultant-operated platform in record time, all while supporting a globally distributed engineering organization.
How RB Global Cut a Six-Month Platform Transition Down to Three
Building AI Code Review with context as a first-class system
AI code review often increases noise instead of improving quality. This post explains how we built a context-aware reviewer by synthesizing PR history, docs, conversations, and architecture so reviews surface the issues that matter.
Building AI Code Review with context as a first-class system
How a Context Engine Helped Compare the Market Scale
Compare the Market scaled engineering autonomy with Unblocked, turning scattered knowledge into a live context engine for support, debugging, and onboarding.
How a Context Engine Helped Compare the Market Scale
Calculating ROI on Unblocked
Unblocked reduces wasted search time, shortens onboarding, and lowers support overhead—helping teams reclaim measurable productivity.
Calculating ROI on Unblocked
I thought transparency would help teams learn faster...I was wrong
When we made questions private by default, the results were surprising. The number of questions being asked skyocketed. We didn't change anything else. We just made it safe to ask "dumb" questions.
I thought transparency would help teams learn faster...I was wrong
“Fake it till you make it” does not work for Developer Tools
Every new Unblocked user starts by asking something they already know. Their first interaction with Unblocked is a test. They want to know right away if this system is worth their time, and asking a “known” question is the simplest way to do that.
“Fake it till you make it” does not work for Developer Tools
Context Engineering: Why LLM’s need more than prompts and MCP servers
Context engineering ensures large language models see the right information at the right time, grounding their reasoning in real code, docs, and conversations instead of guesswork.
Context Engineering: Why LLM’s need more than prompts and MCP servers
Introducing Audit Logs
Admins now have a clear, searchable record of the key actions happening across Unblocked so you can stay in control, spot issues early, and keep your workflows running smoothly.
Introducing Audit Logs
Attaching Files to Your Questions
You can now upload local documents and images for Unblocked to reference directly in a question.
Attaching Files to Your Questions
Introducing the Unblocked Answers API for Custom Workflows
Today we are launching our new Answers API, which lets you integrate Unblocked’s Q&A features directly into your internal tools.
Introducing the Unblocked Answers API for Custom Workflows
Get Answers From Your Asana Projects
Unblocked now integrates with Asana. Ask questions and find answers from your Asana tasks, comments, and project updates.
Get Answers From Your Asana Projects
Introducing Unblocked MCP Server (Beta)
Unblocked is now available as an MCP server, supercharging tools like Cursor, Windsurf and VSCode.
Introducing Unblocked MCP Server (Beta)
Introducing PR Failure Agent
We're releasing our PR Failure Agent (previously known as Autonomous CI Triage) to general availability.
Introducing PR Failure Agent
New in Unblocked: PR Failure Agent, Unblocked MCP Server (beta) & Asana Integration
We’re rolling out several new features to bring answers to more places your team works—and expand the sources that power them.
New in Unblocked: PR Failure Agent, Unblocked MCP Server (beta) & Asana Integration
Fetch: “Unblocked transformed our internal support model.”
Fetch cut onboarding time and scaled internal support with Unblocked—helping 350+ engineers move faster, stay autonomous, and find answers instantly.
Fetch: “Unblocked transformed our internal support model.”
Fingerprint: “Unblocked is our single source of truth for code knowledge.”
Fingerprint scaled internal support with Unblocked, turning scattered knowledge into instant answers and saving 60–70 hours a week across engineering.
Fingerprint: “Unblocked is our single source of truth for code knowledge.”
Bridging the Code Knowledge Gap: Unblocked’s Series A and the Future of Contextual Code Intelligence
At Unblocked, we’re building a contextual code intelligence platform to give developers the why behind their code, not just the what. We’ve raised $20M to help scale that vision.
Bridging the Code Knowledge Gap: Unblocked’s Series A and the Future of Contextual Code Intelligence
Automate Internal Support With Customized Slack Answers
Many customers want to use Unblocked to help automate their internal support in Slack. You can now have per-channel settings over how answers are generated.
Automate Internal Support With Customized Slack Answers
New in Unblocked: Data Source Presets, Automated CI Triage, Public API & More
You can now select specific data sources to answer questions, get automatic CI triage directly in your pull request, add custom documents via Unblocked API, and more.
New in Unblocked: Data Source Presets, Automated CI Triage, Public API & More
Developers Don’t Need More Docs
When developers start a new project or get stuck on a task, they don’t just need pages of structured documentation; they need answers.
Developers Don’t Need More Docs
How TravelPerk Supercharged Engineering Onboarding
For TravelPerk, Unblocked has been a game changer for engineering onboarding. New hires ramp up faster without interrupting others, allowing the team to stay focused and productive.
How TravelPerk Supercharged Engineering Onboarding
Introducing Automated CI Triage: Your New Build Detective (Beta)
We're excited to announce the upcoming beta release of Unblocked's Automated CI Triage feature, designed to save developers time by automatically detecting and suggesting fixes for CI failures.
Introducing Automated CI Triage: Your New Build Detective (Beta)
New in Unblocked: Visualizing Your Code with Diagrams + Dark Mode
Unblocked now supports Mermaid diagrams for visualizing code and system architectures, plus dark mode for a personalized dashboard experience.
New in Unblocked: Visualizing Your Code with Diagrams + Dark Mode
Permission-aware Answers: Keep Sensitive Information Secure With Data Shield
Unblocked's Data Shield gives you granular access controls to protect your team’s sensitive data while getting answers from Unblocked.
Permission-aware Answers: Keep Sensitive Information Secure With Data Shield
Introducing Analytics: track Unblocked usage, question ratings, top users, and more
Our new Analytics Dashboard helps you track adoption, spot patterns, and evaluate how Unblocked works for your team—all in one place.
Introducing Analytics: track Unblocked usage, question ratings, top users, and more
How we calculate time saved by Unblocked in the Analytics Dashboard
We are giving you some context on how we estimate the time your team saved by Unblocked, based on research, customer feedback, and our observations.
How we calculate time saved by Unblocked in the Analytics Dashboard
The 12-Line Pull Request That Took 5 Days: A Context Problem
We have more AI developer tools than ever, yet many of us still feel unproductive. Why? Maybe it's because we're not using AI to tackle the biggest challenge in software development yet.
The 12-Line Pull Request That Took 5 Days: A Context Problem
Customizing Unblocked’s answers
With Answer Preferences, you now get more control over how Unblocked answers your questions - from setting the length, research depth, and more.
Customizing Unblocked’s answers
Question confidential: Asking questions in private with Unblocked’s Incognito Mode
Incognito mode provides complete privacy for your code questions. Learn best practices to leverage this feature across all platforms.
Question confidential: Asking questions in private with Unblocked’s Incognito Mode
Big Cartel: “Unblocked is like having a smart colleague available 24/7.”
Big Cartel’s lean, remote team works across functional boundaries to ship quickly. But before Unblocked, making sure everyone understood how the legacy codebase worked was a challenge.
Big Cartel: “Unblocked is like having a smart colleague available 24/7.”
Unblocked + DX - a new partnership for impact
Unblocked is embarking on a new partnership with DX - the developer intelligence platform designed by leading researchers to give true insight into the productivity of software development teams.
Unblocked + DX - a new partnership for impact
Introducing new features that make Unblocked even more helpful in Slack
We’re expanding the ways teams can get fast, accurate, and relevant answers to their questions in Slack with auto responses, support for private channels, bot DMs, and channel summarizations.
Introducing new features that make Unblocked even more helpful in Slack
AppDirect: “Unblocked has been a game-changer for efficiency and focus.”
For the team at AppDirect, Unblocked checks all the boxes and more, tying together knowledge dispersed across internal platforms and giving developers context right where they’re working.
AppDirect: “Unblocked has been a game-changer for efficiency and focus.”
A Year of Unblocking Engineering Teams
Since our launch a year ago, we’ve added many new features, saved our customers hours every day, and reaffirmed our conviction that we’re solving an expensive problem for software development teams.
A Year of Unblocking Engineering Teams
Cribl: “Unblocked is our number one tool for finding the information we should know but don’t.”
Cribl’s remote-first culture empowers its employees with flexibility, but keeping over 100 engineers on the same page across time zones poses a real challenge. That’s why the team turned to Unblocked.
Cribl: “Unblocked is our number one tool for finding the information we should know but don’t.”
Connecting your code no matter where it lives
Unblocked now supports connecting to multiple source code systems at the same time. You and your team can get answers from any repository no matter where it lives (GitHub, Bitbucket, or GitLab).
Connecting your code no matter where it lives
Drata: “Our team saves 1 to 2 hours per engineer each day with Unblocked”
Drata’s distributed engineering team relies on Unblocked to get the answers about their codebase. With Unblocked, issues get resolved faster, tasks are completed sooner, and projects go more smoothly.
Drata: “Our team saves 1 to 2 hours per engineer each day with Unblocked”
Your new developer feels like a fraud. It's your onboarding process.
New engineers face a tough learning curve, navigating a new role and a complex codebase. It’s no wonder they feel like imposters. We need to reimagine onboarding to better support them.
Your new developer feels like a fraud. It's your onboarding process.
Answers, right at your fingertips, with the new Unblocked macOS app
The new Unblocked mac app provides a centralized place to ask questions, get answers, and view your past queries.
Answers, right at your fingertips, with the new Unblocked macOS app
HTTPS Reverse Tunnel, now without the pain and cost
chiSSL is a new, lightweight version of chisel that allows you to expose any local server running on your development machine to the internet with a valid SSL certificate, all via a single command.
HTTPS Reverse Tunnel, now without the pain and cost
Faster responses, better answers about projects and issues, role-based permissions, & more
A number of new features are now available in Unblocked, helping you and your team get the answers you need about your codebase.
Faster responses, better answers about projects and issues, role-based permissions, & more
Unblocked IDE plugins now in the marketplace
Download the Unblocked plugin for Visual Studio Code and JetBrains IDE’s such as IntelliJ, WebStorm, PyCharm and more.
Unblocked IDE plugins now in the marketplace
Support for Google Drive, better answers for PRs and more
Import Google Drive documents, improved Pull Request Questions and Answers, Team member overview, Support for Open Source Projects,Suggested Follow-ups Stick Around and more.
Support for Google Drive, better answers for PRs and more
IDE improvements and support for all sized teams
We’re improving how you ask questions, discover relevant documents / threads / bugs, and making this available to everyone.
IDE improvements and support for all sized teams
Saving time and money with self-hosted runners on EC2 on-demand / spot instances
We created a custom GitHub Action that automatically deploys self-hosted ephemeral runners to EC2 using Spot or On-Demand instances.
Saving time and money with self-hosted runners on EC2 on-demand / spot instances
“Get Unblocked”
Today we're publicly launching Unblocked, a new developer tool that increases your productivity by providing helpful and accurate answers to questions about your codebase.
“Get Unblocked”