Context Engineering
Context engineering means deciding what information Claude sees, when it sees it, and what stays out.
A good prompt states the task. Good context supplies the evidence and instructions needed to complete it. More material is not automatically better. See Anthropic’s context engineering guide.
Give each layer one job
| Layer | What it supplies |
|---|---|
| Task brief | Current outcome and finish line |
| CLAUDE.md | Stable project instructions |
| Skill | The method for this type of work |
| Source files and connected apps | Relevant evidence |
| Progress note | Decisions, completed work, and remaining steps |
Example
For a competitor comparison, supply the competitor list, comparison criteria, current offer, and source folder.
Let Claude retrieve the relevant pages as needed. There is no reason to include your entire vault or unrelated client work.
Keep context useful
- Choose one canonical file for each changing fact.
- Fetch current information when freshness matters.
- Remove duplicated or contradictory instructions.
- Keep long references separate and load relevant sections.
- For long tasks, save decisions and next steps in a short progress note.
When an answer goes wrong, first check whether Claude had the right source, version, and success criteria.
Put the guide into practice
Choose one recurring task. Define its outcome, give Claude the relevant sources, and review the result. Save the method as a Skill once you understand what works.
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