Secrets in Context

Relax. We'll talk through this in plain words — no textbook voice.

What you'll walk away with

Understand secrets in context without feeling intimidated by it
Get hands-on practice using it yourself
Learn to smile and steer clear of guessing and secrets

Relax. We'll walk through this chapter like a conversation, not a textbook, so it's easy to follow.

Think about it this way for a second

The Prompt and RAG lessons already touched on secrets. Context engineering makes the risk bigger, because it's easy to keep piling things into history and memory thinking "this might be useful later." Send it once, and it can resurface in later turns. It's like leaving your house key sitting out on the table — every guest who walks by can see it.

Let's connect this to everyday life

Fine to use — a fake name like Mina, your own notes, what class you're in. Not fine — API key, student ID number, medical records, someone else's messages. Put a line on your context card that says "no secrets go here." If you're sending a screenshot, blur out any numbers first. If you're saving a memory file, check that file too.

Never include passwords or phone numbers
Check your memory files too
Use made-up examples instead

Let's try it together

text

Safe:   Mina · week-1 photosynthesis note
Unsafe: sk-live-... · 38/100 · 09-1234567

You should see

Be able to identify secrets that shouldn't go into context.

5-minute try-it

Write 6 fake context lines. Split them into 3 that are fine to use and 3 that aren't, and explain why for each.

One quick word of caution

Once a secret gets into context, later turns can copy it right back out. The safest move is never sending it at all.

Easy traps

Forgetting that it's now sitting in the history
Assuming "only this chat will ever see it"

Now try it yourself

Write 6 fake context lines. Split them into 3 that are fine to use and 3 that aren't, and explain why for each.

You'll know it worked when: Be able to identify secrets that shouldn't go into context.