Context Is Not Prompt: Why Context Engineering Is Becoming AI's New Foundation

“We are not really writing prompts. We are furnishing a room for the model — deciding what gets carried in, where it sits, when it gets moved out. The wording is just a sticky note on the desk. What we are actually doing is the interior work.” If you had asked me in 2024 “how do I use AI well,” I would most likely have talked to you about prompts: how to phrase instructions, how to set a role, how to give examples. But if you asked me the same question today, my answer would be completely different. ...

June 22, 2026 · 16 min · 3259 words · Xinwei Xiong, Me