A · StructureBeginner30 min read
3. Context windows & token economy
Prompt Engineering · 48 pages source format
Every model has a context limit. Long prompts cost money and attention. Put the most important info first and last — models sometimes lose the middle.
What you'll learn
- Context limits
- Token budgeting
- Lost-in-the-middle
Budget your context
Estimate: system instructions + examples + user task + expected output. Trim fluff.
Do this now
Take a long doc you paste into chat. Summarize it first, then ask questions on the summary.
Pro tip. For code: paste the relevant function, not the whole repo.
Clear?
Chunking strategy
Split large inputs. Process in passes. Merge results with a final synthesis prompt.
Do this now
Process a 10-page doc in 3 chunks. Synthesize with a fourth prompt.
Clear?