sources/everything-is-context-critical-assessment.md

Summary

This assessment argues that the real value of the EiC paper is operational discipline, not magical architecture. The recommendation is a narrow implementation path: unified context namespace, per-turn context manifest, and policy-constrained on-demand retrieval.

Key points

  • Treat context as an architecture problem, not a prompt trick.
  • Improve traceability and governance before building giant abstraction layers.
  • Per-turn manifests and explicit retrieval policy increase reliability and debuggability.
  • File-system-style context is useful when it remains constrained and auditable.

Implications

This is highly relevant to long-running agent workflows and complements the harness-first thesis already in the wiki.

Open questions

  • What is the minimum viable context manifest for current workflows?
  • Which retrieval surfaces should stay default-deny until proven safe?

Sources

  • /Users/kalenhowellsr/Projects/corp-strategy-work/2. areas/research/syntheses/2026-02-17--superq-everything-is-context-critical-assessment.md