Context Engineering cookbook

11 recipes · 75 steps · about 59 minutes of reading

Separate instructions from data with XML tags
A stray line inside a pasted email got followed as an instruction instead of yours.
BeginnerRead 5 minDoing: half an hour6 steps
Cache your repeated context to cut the API bill
Every single turn of your chat resends the same giant system prompt, and you keep paying full price for it again and again.
Beginner to intermediateRead 4 minDoing: about an hour6 steps
Chatbot won't drop the old topic
Same bot, brand new question, and it's still stuck on the topic from five minutes ago.
Beginner to intermediateRead 5 minDoing: a few hours7 steps
Paste only the specific part of a long document that answers the question
You dropped a fifty-page contract straight into the prompt, and the answer came back wrong or half-finished.
Beginner to intermediateRead 5 minDoing: under an hour6 steps
Keep a running scratchpad through one long session
You're deep into a long multi-part task in one chat, and halfway through, the assistant loses track of which pieces are already done.
IntermediateRead 6 minDoing: a couple of hours7 steps
Compact old turns before your context window overflows
A chat that only ever grows. Eventually the model chokes on it.
IntermediateRead 6 minDoing: a few hours8 steps
A chat assistant with no memory once you close the tab
You spent twenty minutes explaining your preferences to a chatbot, closed the tab, and tomorrow it has no idea any of that happened.
IntermediateRead 6 minDoing: a few hours7 steps
Does markdown or JSON get your table read correctly?
Why does the model keep misreading numbers out of a clean JSON block?
IntermediateRead 4 minDoing: under an hour6 steps
Catch and correct context poisoning in a running chat
My chatbot got one fact wrong three turns ago, and now it keeps treating that wrong fact as settled truth in every answer since.
IntermediateRead 6 minDoing: under an hour7 steps
Context rot: proving your own prompts degrade as they grow
Your prompt is nowhere near the model's stated limit, and the answers still get worse the more you add to it.
Intermediate to advancedRead 5 minDoing: an afternoon7 steps
Prove a single message beats a multi-turn back-and-forth
You gave the assistant your requirements in three separate messages instead of one, and the final answer leaned on a guess it made in the first message.
Intermediate to advancedRead 7 minDoing: a couple of hours8 steps

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Context Engineering cookbook

Separate instructions from data with XML tags

Cache your repeated context to cut the API bill

Chatbot won't drop the old topic

Paste only the specific part of a long document that answers the question

Keep a running scratchpad through one long session

Compact old turns before your context window overflows

A chat assistant with no memory once you close the tab

Does markdown or JSON get your table read correctly?

Catch and correct context poisoning in a running chat

Context rot: proving your own prompts degrade as they grow

Prove a single message beats a multi-turn back-and-forth

In these roadmaps

Context Engineering cookbook

Separate instructions from data with XML tags

Cache your repeated context to cut the API bill

Chatbot won't drop the old topic

Paste only the specific part of a long document that answers the question

Keep a running scratchpad through one long session

Compact old turns before your context window overflows

A chat assistant with no memory once you close the tab

Does markdown or JSON get your table read correctly?

Catch and correct context poisoning in a running chat

Context rot: proving your own prompts degrade as they grow

Prove a single message beats a multi-turn back-and-forth

In these roadmaps