Karat interview guide: the 60-minute format, what is recorded, the 24-hour redo policy, where AI is allowed and how to prepare.
A Karat interview confuses many candidates before it starts, because the invitation comes from a company they did not apply to. The recruiter at the employer says the technical screen has been arranged, the scheduling email arrives from Karat, and it is not obvious who will be on the call, who decides the outcome or whether a bad hour can be undone.
We wrote this for software engineers who have been asked to schedule a technical interview through Karat and want to know how it works before they pick a time. It covers what Karat is, how the hour is divided, what is recorded, how the redo works, what the employer receives, where AI is allowed and how to prepare. We make Verve AI, an interview copilot for live interviews, and what we say about Karat comes from its own documentation as it stood in October 2026.
One point is worth holding on to throughout: Karat runs the interview and writes a recommendation, and the company you applied to makes the decision.
What is Karat?
Karat is a company that conducts live technical interviews on behalf of employers. Your interviewer is one of its Interview Engineers, whom Karat describes on its candidate experience page as professional software developers with a lot of experience leading technical interviews. The same page says Karat has conducted more than 600,000 technical interviews in over 70 countries.
The interviewer works for Karat and not for the company you applied to. Karat's customer documentation says interviewers must report conflicts of interest, such as knowing the candidate or working at the company the candidate is applying to, and that the interviewer is given only your first name, your pronouns and any accommodation you asked for.
Some employers place a shorter step before the live session. Karat Qualify is an on-demand, adaptive multiple-choice exercise, and Karat tells employers to use its results to advance promising applicants to the live interview.
What is the format of a Karat interview?
The standard session is 60 minutes long and has three parts, which Karat lists as a brief introduction, about 10 minutes of discussion questions and about 40 minutes of programming questions. You write code in an online development environment while the interviewer watches, answers questions and gives feedback, which is the main difference from a take-home test or an automated screen.
Karat does not publish its questions, and its candidate terms treat everything shown in the session as confidential, so any list of "common Karat questions" found online did not come from Karat. What it does describe is the kind of thing it measures. Its article on what its technical interviews measure says they are not speed tests and that they assess problem-solving, engineering judgment, communication and technical decision-making. The candidate page adds that the most important thing being evaluated is how successfully your code solves the problem.
For the question types themselves, with a worked multi-part coding problem, what Citi candidates report and a one-week prep plan, see our guide to what a Karat interview tests and how to prepare for it.
The content is chosen with the employer for the role and level. Karat says its library covers more than 100 technical languages and frameworks, so the language you may use depends on what the hiring company agreed for that position.
How do you schedule it?
You pick the time yourself, and Karat offers slots in the evening, at weekends and over lunch, and it reports that 60% of its interviews are scheduled outside core business hours. That flexibility is worth using, so choose an hour when you are usually at your sharpest.
Karat also provides accommodations on request before the interview. Its documentation gives extended interview time, use of a screen reader and use of an interpreter as typical examples, and says candidates are never required to disclose medical information to ask for one.
What is recorded?
Every session is recorded, and that includes the audio and a playback of your code. Karat strongly encourages you to keep your camera on, and its documentation says you may turn the camera off if you prefer, although the audio and code playback are recorded either way.
The candidate terms you accept before scheduling ask for consent to record your answers, audio, video and interactions with the platform. Karat says it deletes candidate data on request, or after a maximum of five years from the date of the interview.
How do results reach the employer?
After the interview, Karat sends the recruiter the recording together with a summary of how you did on each question. Its customer documentation describes the report in more detail as an overall recommendation, a quantitative score and written feedback on your response to each question. The video and the code playback can be viewed by the employer inside Karat's platform and cannot be downloaded.
The recruiter uses that report to decide the next step and contacts you. Karat states that the decision to advance a candidate rests with the hiring company, and that its own use of AI never makes final hiring decisions. Karat does not describe sending the score to candidates, so questions about the outcome go to your recruiter.
Karat also keeps your history, because candidates may be assessed more than once. It says it matches you to earlier sessions so that you do not see the same content twice.
Can you redo a Karat interview?
Karat offers a redo for the first-round technical interview to candidates who believe they did not do their best. Its Redo interviews page sets out the process in four steps.
- You request the redo within 24 hours of your original interview.
- Karat sends an invitation so that you can choose a new day and time.
- You complete the second interview, which uses a new set of questions.
- Karat publishes both recommendations to the employer, which decides whether to advance you.
Two details in that process matter in practice. The window is short, so decide the same day whether you want the second attempt. The redo also does not erase the first result, because the employer sees both recommendations side by side.
Are you allowed to use AI in a Karat interview?
It depends on the module the employer chose, and you are told which applies. Karat's documentation describes three kinds: modules with a built-in AI Assistant, modules that allow external resources which may include generative AI tools, and modules that allow no external resources at all.
Karat NextGen is the format built around AI. It is still led by a human interviewer, and it takes place in a VS Code-based environment with a production-grade codebase and an integrated assistant. Karat's NextGen page says candidates are encouraged and often expected to use that assistant, and that external AI tools are prohibited. The skills it lists include explaining technical decisions clearly and directing, evaluating and refining AI-generated code.
For every module, the candidate terms say your answers must be your own original work, given without third-party assistance, except where the interviewer or the instructions explicitly permit outside sources or the provided assistant. A breach can place an integrity flag on your profile that prospective employers can see. Read the instructions Karat sends for your session, because they state which resources are allowed. What coding platforms in general monitor is covered in our article on whether HackerRank, CodeSignal or CoderPad can detect AI.
How should you prepare?
Preparation follows from the format and from what Karat says it measures.
- Practice solving problems aloud, because communication and decision-making are assessed along with the code.
- Aim for a working solution first, since Karat names correctness as the most important thing it evaluates.
- Prepare for the discussion questions by reviewing the fundamentals of the role you applied for.
- Ask the interviewer when something is unclear, because they are there to help you show your skills.
- If the session is a NextGen one, practice reviewing and correcting code that an assistant wrote.
- Check your equipment, connection and room beforehand, as Karat advises in its setup step.
For rehearsal, Verve AI's mock interviews are a spoken interview with an AI interviewer built from a job description or a question bank, with a report afterwards, which makes them a good way to practice thinking aloud.
How does Verve AI help with live coding interviews?
The hardest moments in a live coding round are the questions about your own solution, such as why you chose an approach or how it behaves on larger input. Verve AI's Coding Copilot captures a problem from the screen with a hotkey and returns an approach, code and an explanation, and it shares one conversation context with the live audio. When the interviewer asks a follow-up, the help you get is about the same code, given as prompts for answers in your own words.
Karat describes its interview as the step before the employer's final round. Where later rounds are held over Zoom, Microsoft Teams or Google Meet, Stealth Mode in the Verve AI desktop app runs outside the screen-share layer. It is guaranteed invisible when you share a window or tab on any meeting platform, and when you share your entire screen in the Zoom or Teams desktop apps. Our coding interview copilot page shows how the capture and the audio work together.
Each interview has its own rules about outside help, and Karat's are set out above, so follow the instructions you are given. You can start on Verve AI's free plan, which includes five mock interviews and three live sessions without a card.
FAQ
How long is a Karat interview?
A standard Karat session lasts 60 minutes, and Karat divides it into a brief introduction, about 10 minutes of discussion questions and about 40 minutes of programming questions.
Is a Karat interview conducted by a real person?
Yes, a Karat technical interview is conducted live by an Interview Engineer, who is a professional software developer trained by Karat. The interviewer works for Karat and not for the company you applied to, and Karat NextGen sessions are also led by a person.
Does the redo replace your first Karat result?
The redo does not replace the first result. Karat publishes the recommendations from both the original interview and the redo to the employer, and the employer decides whether to advance you. The redo has to be requested within 24 hours of the original interview and uses new questions.
Does Karat tell you your score?
Karat sends its report, with a recommendation, a score and written feedback, to the recruiter at the hiring company. Karat's candidate page says the recruiter decides the next step and contacts you about it.
Can you use ChatGPT during a technical interview with Karat?
Karat allows AI only where the module and the instructions say so. Some modules include a built-in assistant, some permit external resources, and others permit none, and Karat NextGen prohibits external AI tools while expecting use of its integrated assistant. Karat's candidate terms require original work in every case.
Verve AI Team
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