Context Type 1-2: Instructions and Examples
~12 min read
The book's CPU/RAM mental model for context engineering, then the first 2 of its 6 context types: Instructions (who/why/how) and Examples (behavioral demonstrations).
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Key points
- •The book's mental model: if the LLM is a CPU, the context window is the RAM — context engineering means deliberately programming that limited working memory
- •Production agents need structure across a multi-dimensional context layer, not just one instruction embedded in a prompt line
- •Context Type 1, Instructions, covers the who (persona/role), why (goal/motivation), and how (steps/tone/format/constraints) of the agent
- •Context Type 2, Examples, shows good AND bad behavioral demonstrations — because models learn patterns much better than plain rules
- •Examples formalizes few-shot learning as one of six distinct context types, not folded generically into 'the prompt'