Why “Context Engineering” Matters
July 31, 2025
When the term “context engineering” arrived, after Karpathy knighted it, there was a fair amount of push back. “Another marketing term,” some people said. One HN commenter called it, “A month long skill, after which it won’t be a thing anymore.”
I don’t think this is the case. In this presentation I’ll argue not only is “context engineering” here to stay, but the terms arrival will accelerate the development of the field, culture, and community.
Two or so years ago prompt engineering was the thing, a term that’s largely fade into obscurity.
Earlier this year Andrej Karpathy’s neologism ‘vibe coding’ exploded into use (and now we have”vibe” everything), but it’s term that’s become almost meaningless in its imprecision (Karpathy meant something quite specific we he coined it, but the street finds its own uses for things I guess).
Hot on their heels is context engineering. Another meaningless marketing term? Or a concept of more lasting value? Drew Bruenig argues the latter in this presentation.
