Context Engineering
What may enter one request, from whom and for how long, and the budget each kind of request gets: sources and lifetimes, one cache-safe prefix, the four moves and the failures that come from context.
Last updated
After this section you can
- Name the sources of one request and their lifetimes
- Set a budget per request type from measured usage
- Decide which move each source gets
06
Context Engineering
Decide what enters each request, how long each part lives, and what each kind of request may spend.
Key idea
A request is eight sources, each with one lifetime. Budget each request type from measured usage, put the stable sources first so the cache can read them, and give every source one move: select, compress, write or isolate.
Each source has one lifetime, and each gets one move
Top to bottom is render order. Above the dashed line is the cached prefix; below it, the newest turn.