Advanced Context Engineering for Agents

Dexter Horthy, founder of Human Layer, shares what his team has learned about scaling coding agents in real-world software projects. He walks through why naive back-and-forth prompting fails, how spec-first development keeps teams aligned, and why “everything is context engineering.” From compaction strategies to subagents and planning workflows, he shows how intentional context management turns AI coding from prototypes into production.

Chapters:
00:09 - The Origin of Context Engineering
00:46 - Key Talks and Insights from AI Engineering
01:45 - Challenges with AI in Complex Systems
03:12 - The Shift to Spec-First Development
04:03 - Advanced Context Engineering for Coding Agents
04:48 - Intentional Compassion in Context Management
05:45 - Optimizing Context Utilization
07:27 - The Role of Subagents in Context Control
08:48 - Frequent Intentional Compaction
11:00 - Practical Implementation and Workflow
11:12 - Case Study: Fixing a Rust Code Base
11:59 - Insights on Effective Coding Practices
12:44 - Reviewing Features, Research, and Plans
13:30 - Conclusion and Future Directions