Thoughtworks Technology Podcast What we're talking about when we talk about context engineering
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Oct 2, 2025 Bharani Subramaniam, a ThoughtWorks technologist specializing in AI systems, and Alessio Ferri, an expert in developer tooling, delve into the fascinating world of context engineering. They unpack what context means in AI, emphasizing its crucial role in improving model quality and reducing hallucinations. The duo also shares innovative techniques like KV Cache and RAG, exploring how context management could evolve akin to operating systems. Their discussion highlights the broader implications for developers and users alike, advocating for a thoughtful approach to context in technology.
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Beyond Single Prompts
- Context engineering extends prompt engineering when systems become multi-hop and stateful over time.
- The focus shifts from single prompts to what the model actually sees across histories.
Compress Conversation History
- Compact and curate conversation history rather than sending raw, lengthy transcripts to the model.
- Summarize and compress past interactions to improve response quality and reduce token costs.
Make Context Everyone's Responsibility
- All stakeholders, including end users, should care about context engineering and supply relevant context.
- Feed models only documents and details relevant to the task to avoid cost and confusion.