All skills
Skillintermediate
context-engineering
Use when writing, editing, or optimizing commands, skills, or sub-agent prompts. Provides deep understanding of context mechanics in agent systems.
Claude Code Knowledge Pack7/10/2026
Overview
context-engineering
Use when writing, editing, or optimizing commands, skills, or sub-agent prompts. Provides deep understanding of context mechanics in agent systems.
The Anatomy of Context:
| Component | Role | Key Insight |
|---|---|---|
| System Prompts | Core identity and constraints | Balance specificity vs flexibility ("right altitude") |
| Tool Definitions | Available actions | Poor descriptions force guessing; optimize with examples |
| Retrieved Documents | Domain knowledge | Use just-in-time loading, not pre-loading |
| Message History | Conversation state | Can dominate context in long tasks |
| Tool Outputs | Action results | Up to 83.9% of total context usage |
Key Principles:
- Attention Budget - Context is finite; every token depletes the budget
- Progressive Disclosure - Load information only when needed
- Quality over Quantity - Smallest high-signal token set wins
- Lost-in-Middle Effect - Critical info at start/end, not middle
Practical Patterns:
- File-system based access for progressive disclosure
- Hybrid strategies (pre-load some, load rest on-demand)
- Explicit context budgeting with compaction triggers