Context engineering: why your agent forgets, and what to do about it

Long sessions go sideways: the agent loses the plot, repeats itself, or confidently forgets what you told it an hour ago. That's a context problem, and it's largely fixable.

FIRST TIME? This is a small, friendly group that meets twice a month at Schuler Books on 28th Street, in the Chapbook Cafe. Free, no cover, nothing to prepare. Turn up, grab a coffee, and talk shop.

WHAT WE'RE DIGGING INTO
Treating the context window as a budget you spend rather than a box you fill. What actually belongs in a CLAUDE.md or system prompt and what's just noise. Compaction and summarising without losing the thread. Pulling information in when it's needed instead of loading everything up front. Why long sessions degrade and when to just start fresh.

WHO THIS IS FOR
Anyone working with LLMs or coding agents who's hit the wall where the thing stops being useful. No particular stack assumed. Beginners welcome - this is one of those topics where the basics get you most of the way.

HOW THE EVENING GOES
6:30 - coffee, introductions, what everyone's working on
6:50 - I walk through what I keep in context and what I've learned to leave out
7:20 - open floor: bring a setup that's misbehaving and we'll look at it
8:30 - whoever's still talking keeps talking

Bring a laptop if you want to dig into your own setup, or bring nothing. Schuler Books, 2660 28th St SE - big parking lot, easy to find.