Context

Using AI agents to build things is all about how you guide the system. Remember, beyond prompts, GEMINI.md files, and skills, you have way more opportunities to control the guiding context.

You can:

• Pre-scaffold the project directories and tell the agent what each folder is for.
• Write stubs for code and tests with comments documenting approximately what you want, and the agent can fill in the blanks.
• Write development scripts and tools that the agent can use, rather than expecting it to figure out workflows on its own. You can even tell the agent to write these.
• Download documentation that you know is relevant to the task rather than expecting the agent to find it online.
• Draw diagrams and take pictures of them to help the agent understand what you want. Even give it pictures of your whiteboards and messy notes.

Often doing any of these things directly is easier and faster than trying to describe what you want in words in a prompt. Agents are here to save your time, so don’t waste it on paragraphs specifying your preferred project layout. Just make the folders and move on.

March 22, 2026