Dictionary term
Context Engineering
Context engineering is the practice of deciding what information, instructions, and examples to place in a model's context window, and how to structure them, for the best results.
In plain English
Context engineering is choosing exactly what information the AI sees at each step (instructions, data, tools and history) so it has what it needs and nothing that distracts it.
Analogy
Like packing a briefcase with exactly the right documents in the right order before a meeting, so nothing important is missing or buried.
Why it matters
It is the core skill for building reliable AI automations, since output quality depends heavily on what context you assemble for each Claude call.
In practice
Selecting only the relevant CRM fields plus a system prompt and one example, rather than dumping the entire database.
Related terms
Sources
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