> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://smithers.sh/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Context Engineering, Done for You

> Smithers bakes context engineering into the agent, so you describe outcomes and it handles the craft of feeding the model the right context at each step.

Getting great results from a coding agent is a craft: feed it the right context at
each step, keep its working set small, plan before you build, prove the work with
tests. That craft has a name, context engineering, and it's most of what separates an
agent that one-shots a feature from one that flails.

You don't have to learn it. Smithers bakes context engineering into the agent that
drives it: say what "done" looks like, and it assembles the context, the plan, the
gates, and the loops for you.

## Ask your agent for the rundown

Ask the agent that runs Smithers for you to explain what's happening under the hood. Try:

> **"Give me a rundown of how you do context engineering with Smithers, and what you
> do when you write a Smithers script."**

It walks you through its own playbook in plain language, tied to your project.

## What the agent does when it writes a script

Hand off a real piece of work, and the agent does this for you:

* **Plans, then validates.** Writes a plan with teeth (named tests, a clear
  definition of done) and puts the gates in before the code: checked, not hoped for.
* **Stays in the smart zone.** Keeps each step's context small and focused, research
  and planning done up front, so the model spends its attention on the work.
* **Tests end to end.** Doesn't call a feature finished until a real test proves it.
  Work is broken into vertical slices: scaffold the layers (frontend, API, database)
  first, then build each feature all the way through before starting the next, so
  every step has something real to test and a feature's context stays in one
  window.
* **Delegates the ends and the middle.** Strong models plan and review at the two
  ends; cheaper models handle the routine middle, quality where it matters without
  paying top rates for everything.
* **Guards the point of no return.** Runs the safe, reversible steps first and
  isolates anything irreversible, like sending money, deploying, or emailing
  customers, behind an approval gate: the agent decides, you approve what happens.

## Read next

* [How to talk to your agent](/guide/talk-to-your-agent): phrase requests so the
  agent drives Smithers well.
* [The few concepts you need](/guide/concepts): the vocabulary behind durable runs,
  gates, and loops.