---
title: "Context Engineering, Done for You"
icon: "layer-group"
description: "Smithers bakes context engineering into the agent, so you describe outcomes and it handles the craft of feeding the model the right context at each step."
---

There is a craft to getting great results out of a coding agent: feed the model the
right context at each step, keep its working set small, plan before you build, and
prove the work with tests. It has a name, context engineering, and it is most of the
difference between an agent that one-shots a feature and one that flails.

You do not have to learn it. Smithers bakes context engineering into the agent that
drives it. You say what "done" looks like, and the agent assembles the context, the
plan, the gates, and the loops on your behalf.

## Ask your agent for the rundown

The fastest way to understand what is happening under the hood is to ask the agent
that runs Smithers for you. Try:

> **"Give me a rundown of how you do context engineering with Smithers, and what you
> do when you write a Smithers script."**

It will walk you through its own playbook in plain language and tie it back to your
project.

## What the agent does when it writes a script

When you hand off a real piece of work, the agent is doing this for you:

- **Plans, then validates.** It writes a plan with teeth (named tests and a clear
  definition of done), and puts the gates in before the code, so the result is
  checked instead of hoped for.
- **Stays in the smart zone.** It keeps each step's context small and focused, with
  research and planning done up front, so the model spends its attention on the work.
- **Tests end to end.** It does not call a feature finished until a real test proves
  it, and it builds one slice all the way through before starting the next.
- **Delegates the ends and the middle.** Strong models plan and review at the two
  ends; cheaper models handle the routine work in the middle. You get the quality
  where it matters without paying top rates for everything.
- **Guards the point of no return.** It runs the safe, reversible steps first and
  isolates anything it cannot take back, like sending money, deploying, or emailing
  customers, into its own step behind an approval gate. The agent decides; you
  approve the action that actually happens.

## Read next

- [How to talk to your agent](/guide/talk-to-your-agent): phrase requests so the
  agent drives Smithers well.
- [The few concepts you need](/guide/concepts): the vocabulary behind durable runs,
  gates, and loops.
