What Is Context Engineering?

Context Engineering is the practice of systematically designing and optimizing the entire context provided to an AI. It evolves beyond prompt engineering's focus on "how to ask a question" to designing "what information should be provided in what structure for the AI to deliver optimal responses."

Prompt Engineering vs Context Engineering

Aspect	Prompt Engineering	Context Engineering
Focus	Question/instruction text	Entire input context design
Scope	Prompt text	System prompt + documents + examples + tools + conversation history
Analogy	"Asking good questions"	"Preparing good meeting materials"
Complexity	Low to medium	Medium to high

If prompt engineering is about "what to ask," context engineering is about "what does the AI need to know to do its job well?"

Components of Context

The context provided to an LLM consists of multiple layers:

1. System Prompt

Defines the AI's role, personality, and constraints. Assigning roles like "You are a senior developer" is a common example.

2. Reference Documents

External knowledge that the AI uses to inform its responses — RAG-retrieved documents, uploaded files, codebases, etc.

3. Few-shot Examples

Input-output examples demonstrating desired output format or style. Particularly effective when complex output formatting is needed.

4. Tool Definitions

Specifications of functions, APIs, and databases available for the AI to use. These play a crucial role in agent systems.

5. Conversation History

Previous conversation content, essential for maintaining context but consuming many tokens.

Practical Context Engineering Techniques

Context Window Management

LLM context windows are finite. Place important information at the beginning and end, and less critical information in the middle (the "Lost in the Middle" phenomenon).

Information Layering

Rather than providing all information at once, deliver it progressively as needed. Start with an overview, then supply detailed information only as the AI requires it.

Structured Input

Providing context in structured formats like XML, JSON, or Markdown helps AI parse it more accurately than natural language.

<task>Code Review</task>
<language>TypeScript</language>
<focus>Security Vulnerabilities</focus>
<code>
// Code to review
</code>

Negative Prompting

Specify what "not to do." Instructions like "Don't speculate" or "Skip explanations beyond the code" reduce unnecessary output.

Why Context Engineering Matters

The Age of AI Agents

For agents to perform tasks autonomously, sufficient and accurate context is essential. Agent performance depends more on context quality than model capability.

Cost Optimization

Reducing unnecessary tokens and delivering only essential information cuts API costs while improving results.

Consistency

Well-designed context ensures consistent output quality every time. This is especially important in production environments.

Conclusion

As AI technology advances, the key to effectively leveraging AI is shifting from prompt crafting to context design. Asking good questions remains important, but creating an environment where AI can perform at its best has become even more critical. context-engineering 2026-02-07 context_context_116c14e3 engineering_engineering_106c1350 context_the_136c1809 engineering_key_126c1676 context_to_156c1b2f engineering_ai_146c199c context_utilization_176c1e55 engineering_beyond_166c1cc2 context_prompting_196c217b engineering_context_186c1fe8

AI Utilization Posts

Context Engineering: The Key to AI Utilization Beyond Prompting