VBRC · 05.12.26 01 / 15
MONTH 3 · A 10-MINUTE BRIEFING

Context
Engineering.

The universal upgrade — why your tool isn't the problem.
Christopher · Vibe Code Club
CHRISTOPHER Vibe Code Club · Month 3 05.12.26
VBRC · 05.12.26 02 / 15
WHERE WE'VE BEEN

Three months,
one system.

Month 01
Audits
A quality signal for what your AI produces.
Month 02
MCPs & APIs
Extending reach — plugging real tools into the model.
Month 03 · today
Context
The substrate that makes both of the others work.
“Everything else is built on this.”
CHRISTOPHER Vibe Code Club · Month 3 02 / 15
VBRC · 05.12.26 03 / 15
SOUND FAMILIAR?

Sound
familiar?

“ It keeps forgetting what we're building.
“ It wrote code for the wrong framework.
“ It looks generic.
“ The UI on this project looks suspiciously familiar to another project I have.
None of these are model problems.
CHRISTOPHER Vibe Code Club · Month 3 03 / 15
VBRC · 05.12.26 04 / 15
DEFINITION

Context engineering,
defined.

Deliberately shaping everything the model sees before it generates a response.
Prompt engineering
what you type.
Context engineering
the whole information environment.
Works the same in every tool.
CHRISTOPHER Vibe Code Club · Month 3 04 / 15
VBRC · 05.12.26 05 / 15
THE COUNTERINTUITIVE TRUTH

A better model
is the wrong upgrade.

A mediocre model with great context
beats a great model with poor context.
Most “the AI is dumb” moments are actually:
Wrong stack assumed
Wrong audience addressed
Wrong definition of "done"
Wrong constraints applied
→ None of these get fixed by switching tools.
CHRISTOPHER Vibe Code Club · Month 3 05 / 15
VBRC · 05.12.26 06 / 15
WHAT YOU CONTROL

Four levers,
all yours.

01
Selection
What goes in.
  • facts
  • examples
  • files
  • history
02
Structure
How it's organized.
  • order
  • hierarchy
  • what comes first
03
Specificity
How concrete it is.
  • names
  • numbers
  • examples — not adjectives
04
Persistence
What carries forward.
  • saved instructions
  • rules
  • memory
CHRISTOPHER Vibe Code Club · Month 3 06 / 15
VBRC · 05.12.26 07 / 15
MOVE 01 · FRONT-LOAD A BRIEF

The bare prompt
vs. the brief.

Prompt
> Build me a landing page for my consulting business.
  • headline: "Innovation through excellence"
  • generic stock hero, vague services
  • no specific audience or CTA
who's this for?
Prompt + Brief
> Build me a landing page for my consulting business. Audience: small nonprofit directors evaluating fiduciary advisors.
Goal: book a 20-minute intro call.
Stack: single HTML page, mobile-first.
Tone: trustworthy, plain-spoken, no jargon.
  • headline: "Built for nonprofit directors"
  • trust signals, plain language, no jargon
  • CTA: book a 20-minute intro call
this is for me.
Different context. Same minute.
CHRISTOPHER Vibe Code Club · Month 3 07 / 15
VBRC · 05.12.26 08 / 15
MOVE 02 · SHOW, DON'T TELL

Show,
don't tell.

Vague
“Make it
sound smart.”
Concrete example
Match the tone of this paragraph:
The thing about artificial intelligence, as nearly everyone has now discovered, is that it is extraordinarily good at producing answers that are technically responsive, broadly plausible, and almost entirely wrong, all at the same time, and with a kind of polite confidence that makes you feel rude for pointing it out. This is, in many ways, an enormous improvement over the previous arrangement, in which you had to ask a human.
One example beats three paragraphs of description.
CHRISTOPHER Vibe Code Club · Month 3 08 / 15
VBRC · 05.12.26 09 / 15
MOVE 03 · CONSTRAIN THE FORMAT

Give it
a shape.

Open
> Give me feedback on this idea.
Sure! There's a lot to unpack here. Your concept has real potential, though there are several factors worth thinking about. The market timing is one consideration, as is the question of who's already doing something similar in this space…
Constrained
> Give me feedback in 3 bullets:· strongest reason it'll work
· biggest risk
· one open question
  • Reason: nonprofits underserved by current tools.
  • Risk: long, relationship-driven sales cycle.
  • Open: who are your first 10 customers?
"Three bullets" beats "give me a summary."
CHRISTOPHER Vibe Code Club · Month 3 09 / 15
VBRC · 05.12.26 10 / 15
MOVE 04 · ASK QUESTIONS FIRST

Have it
interview you.

Direct ask
> Build me a landing page for my SaaS.
→ generic page
→ audience: ???
→ offer: ???
→ tone: ???
Interview first
> Before you start, what 5 questions do you need answered to do this well?
  • Who's the target customer?
  • What problem are you solving?
  • What's the price point?
  • What's the one action you want?
  • What's the brand tone?
Surfaces what you forgot to tell it.
CHRISTOPHER Vibe Code Club · Month 3 10 / 15
VBRC · 05.12.26 11 / 15
MOVE 05 · PRUNE AGGRESSIVELY

Don't drag
the wreckage.

It's not the model. It's the broken conversation behind you.
Message 38 / 40
you: no, not what I meant
ai: apologies, let me try again...
you: still wrong
ai: you're right, I see now...
you: actually, undo the last 20 messages
ai: of course! reconstructing...
Fresh start
> Here's where I am: [3-line summary].
Now: [the actual question, asked clearly].
  • Clear context. ✓
  • Clear ask. ✓
  • One good answer.
Don't rehabilitate. Restart with a summary.
CHRISTOPHER Vibe Code Club · Month 3 11 / 15
VBRC · 05.12.26 12 / 15
FIVE MOVES, ANY TOOL

Five moves.
Any tool.

1
Front-load a brief.
Who, what, constraints, success. Before the first request — not after the third bad answer.
2
Show, don't tell.
Paste an example of what you want — code, copy, tone, layout. Examples beat adjectives.
3
Constrain the format.
Length, structure, fields. "Three bullets" beats "give me a summary."
4
Have it ask you questions first.
Surfaces gaps you didn't know you had. "What do you need to know to do this well?"
5
Prune aggressively.
When a chat goes sideways, restart with a clean summary. Don't drag the wreckage with you.
CHRISTOPHER Vibe Code Club · Month 3 12 / 15
VBRC · 05.12.26 13 / 15
TYPE ONCE · REUSE FOREVER

Type once.
Reuse forever.

Every tool has a place to store standing context. Most people never use it.
ChatGPT
Custom Instructions
Claude
Projects / Styles
Cursor
.cursorrules
Claude Code
CLAUDE.md
Replit
AI Instructions
Base44
Project Description
CHRISTOPHER Vibe Code Club · Month 3 13 / 15
VBRC · 05.12.26 14 / 15
A REAL CLAUDE.MD

Here's mine.

~/partytab/CLAUDE.md · 151 lines
Written once. Read on every request.
CHRISTOPHER Vibe Code Club · Month 3 14 / 15
VBRC · 05.12.26 15 / 15
YOUR HOMEWORK

Your
homework.

01
Open your project's standing-context file — whatever your tool calls it. Notice what's there — and what's missing.
02
Next time the AI disappoints you, ask: "What context was I missing?"
It's almost never the model.
Questions?
CHRISTOPHER Vibe Code Club · Month 3 · 05.12.26 15 / 15

Keyboard shortcuts

→ next slide
← previous slide
Space next slide
Home first slide
End last slide
1-9 jump to slide
B black-out
P projector mode (brighter)
T elapsed timer
? toggle this help
Esc close help