Context Engineering Masterclass

This guide by Miqdad Jaffer (OpenAI Product Lead) establishes context engineering as the foundational discipline for building intelligent AI products. It argues that AI feature quality depends far more on context quality than model selection, presenting a "Context Pyramid" with six layers: Intent Context, User Context, Domain Context, Rule Context, Environment Context, and Exposition Context. The guide introduces the C.E.O. Framework (Capture, Enrich, Orchestrate) for operationalizing context at runtime.

The resource provides extensive practical tooling including checklists, templates, and example prompts that PMs can immediately deploy. Key themes include treating context as a durable competitive moat, designing graceful degradation when context fails, and separating what's structured versus unstructured in system design. Real-world examples illustrate how superior context architecture—not just better models—drives product superiority.