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Prompt & Context Engineering

A free, evidence-based, 12-module course that teaches you to communicate with, instruct, and engineer AI systems that reliably do what you need — the foundational course that leads directly into the Holistic Agent course.

Evidence over folklore

Where research exists, we cite it and say what it actually found — including where it contradicts popular prompting advice.

Nobody is excluded

Every concept is taught in plain English first, then at a practitioner's level, then at an architect's level. Read as deep as you need.

The front door to a bigger house

This course is the deliberate prerequisite to the 14-module Holistic Agent course — finish here, and that manual reads like a continuation, not a new subject.

The Holistic Prompt & Context Canvas

A 10-element framework (HPC-10) for designing a single AI interaction — the deliberate, smaller sibling of the main course's Holistic Agent Canvas (HAC-20).

View HPC-10

Course roadmap

Every module maps onto one of HPC-10's three layers — see the full ten-element framework.

Layer 1 — Intent

What do you actually want?

Purpose, Instructions, Constraints

Layer 2 — Information

What does the AI need to know?

Context, Knowledge, Resources

Layer 3 — Assurance

How do you know it worked?

Output, Evaluation, Verification, Iteration

The 12 modules

1Understanding How to Work With AI2Prompt Engineering Fundamentals3Anatomy of an Effective Prompt4Prompting Techniques5Context Engineering6Knowledge, Documents and Data7Advanced Context Architecture8Using AI Engines Effectively9Holistic Agent Application10Prompt Engineering for AI Agents11Evaluation, Reliability and Security12From Prompt Engineer to AI Systems Thinker

Certification path

Five levels, each defined by demonstrated competence. Level 5 hands off directly into the main Holistic Agent course's own Level 1.

Level 1

AI Interaction Fundamentals

Modules 1–3

Level 2

Prompt Engineering Practitioner

Modules 1–4

Level 3

Context Engineering Practitioner

Modules 1–7

Level 4

Advanced AI Interaction Designer

Modules 1–9

Level 5

Agent Instruction & Context Architect

All 12 modules + capstone

Questions

Is this course actually free?
Yes. All 12 modules, the HPC-10 framework, and the certification path are free and self-paced — no account required to start reading.
How is this different from the main Holistic Agent course?
This course teaches you to communicate with and get reliable results from AI systems — prompting and context, grounded in research. The main 14-module Holistic Agent course teaches you to design, build, and govern autonomous AI agents. This one comes first.
What is HPC-10?
A 10-element framework (Purpose, Instructions, Constraints, Context, Knowledge, Resources, Output, Evaluation, Verification, Iteration) for designing a single AI interaction — the deliberate, smaller sibling of the main course's 20-element Holistic Agent Canvas. It has its own page at /course/prompt-context/hpc10.

Already comfortable with prompts and context?

Go straight to the 14-module Holistic Agent course →
Start Module 1