Control Your Own Context

Level 2 · Course 13

Your agent's context window is not just a tank that fills up. It is the room your agent is standing in. Everything inside that room changes how it thinks: the files it read, the project it was just working on, the old tangent you forgot about, the browser page it summarized, the tool logs still hanging around. If you don't control the room, the room controls the answer.

Course 10 gave you a fuel gauge. It tells you when the session is getting heavy. This course gives you the steering wheel. Your agent learns to name what is occupying context, separate the current job from old noise, warn you before switching domains, and wind down before the platform compacts the session on its own. The goal is not smaller context. The goal is cleaner context.

This is where operators start getting control. You stop treating every session like one endless conversation. You shape the window for the work in front of you. Research loads for research. Course files load for course work. Build logs load for builds. Everything else waits outside. Your agent gets sharper because the room gets quieter.

Course 10 vs. Course 13

Course 10 measured how full the tank is. This course controls what goes into the tank. Those are different problems. A half-full tank loaded with the wrong material is worse than a full tank loaded with the right one.

The Scenario

An operator just finished a deep research session — property deals, comps, zoning rules, financing terms. The agent's context is loaded. Now the operator wants to draft a client proposal. If they just switch topics in the same session, property jargon bleeds into the proposal. Technical comparisons show up where plain language belongs. The output reads like it was written by two different people.

Course 13 teaches the agent to name what's in context, quarantine old domains, and warn the operator before the switch happens — not after the damage is done.

The Context-Naming Protocol

Before switching domains, the agent states what's currently loaded. Something like: "Context contains property research — comps, zoning notes, financing terms from earlier session." Then it asks one question: "Clear the window for this, or keep both?"

The operator decides. Not the platform. Not the agent's default behavior. The operator. That's the steering wheel.

You Decide

What's in your agent's context right now that doesn't belong in the next task? Name it. That's the first quarantine.