Agent skill · operations · sickn33
context-engineering
Optimizes agent context setup. Use when starting a new session, when agent output quality degrades, when switching between tasks, or when you need to configure rules files and context for a project.
Why this skill is useful
Provides structured context loading procedures that enhance agent performance based on project-specific needs.
What it needs
About 7k tokens when loaded. Last updated 2026-08-07. 44,571 stars on the source repository.
What this skill does
Context Engineering Overview Feed agents the right information at the right time. Context is the single biggest lever for agent output quality — too little and the agent hallucinates, too much and it loses focus. Context engineering is the practice of deliberately curating what the agent sees, when it sees it, and how it's structured. When to Use Starting a new coding session Agent output quality is declining (wrong patterns, hallucinated APIs, ignoring conventions) Switching between different parts of a codebase Setting up a new project for AI-assisted development The agent is not following project conventions The Context Hierarchy Structure context from most persistent to most transient: Level 1: Rules Files Create a rules file that persists across sessions. This is the highest-leverage context you can provide. CLAUDE.md (for Claude Code): Equivalent files for other tools: .cursorrules or .cursor/rules/.md (Cursor) .windsurfrules (Windsurf) .github/copilot-instructions.md (GitHub Copilot) AGENTS.md (OpenAI Codex) Level 2: Specs and Architecture Load the relevant spec section when starting a feature. Don't load the entire spec if only one section applies. Effective: "Here's the authentication section of our spec: [auth spec content]" Wasteful: "Here's our entire 5000-word spec: [full spec]" (when only working on auth) Level 3: Relevant Source Files Before editing a file, read it. Before implementing a pattern, find an existing example in the codebase. Pre-task context loading: 1. Read the file(s) you'll modify 2. Read related test files 3. Find one example of a similar pattern already in the codebase 4. …
How to use it
Reference it in AdaL, Claude Code, Cursor or any coding agent — nothing to install:
@skills sickn33/context-engineering--682abc