CONTEXT ENGINEERING FOR AGENTS

Summary from the TLDR newsletter

Context engineering is the art and science of providing agents with just the right amount of information at each step of a task. It involves providing the right instructions, knowledge, and tools to optimize output while reducing token use. There are four common approaches to context engineering: writing context (saving it outside the context window to help an agent perform a task), selecting context (pulling it into the context window to help an agent perform a task), compressing context (retaining only the tokens required to perform a task), and isolating context (splitting it up to help an agent perform a task). Understanding and using these patterns is a central part of building effective agents.