---
id: "framework-context-sandwich"
type: "framework"
source_timestamps: ["01:40:00"]
tags: ["prompt-engineering", "ai-communication"]
related: ["concept-levels-of-ai-fluency", "action-use-context-sandwich", "contrarian-stop-prompting"]
steps: ["Here's who I am: Provide background and identity.", "Here's what I need: State the specific task.", "Here's what good looks like: Define success criteria and format."]
speakers: ["Rachel Woods"]
---
# The Context Sandwich

## Purpose

A prompting structure designed to elevate interactions with AI from basic Q&A (Level 1) to **collaborative work** (Level 2) — see [[concept-levels-of-ai-fluency]]. By providing this structure, the AI generates highly tailored, usable outputs rather than generic responses.

## The three layers

### 1. Here's who I am
Provide background context, identity, and relevant constraints.
*Example:* "I'm a solo financial advisor with 30 long-term clients aged 50–70; I write a quarterly market update."

### 2. Here's what I need
State the specific task or problem to be solved.
*Example:* "Draft a 600-word Q3 market update covering interest rates, equities, and a behavioral finance reminder."

### 3. Here's what good looks like
Define success criteria — tone, format, length, audience appropriateness, things to avoid.
*Example:* "Warm but professional. No jargon. Three short sections with subheadings. End with a one-line call to schedule a review."

## The mnemonic shape

The metaphor is a sandwich: identity (top bun) and success criteria (bottom bun) hold the specific task (filling) in place.

## Where it lives in the fluency model

This is the prompting structure for **Level 2** of [[concept-levels-of-ai-fluency]]. Once you outgrow it, the next move is to convert your repeated Context Sandwiches into a static playbook — see the [[framework-playbook-outline]] and the contrarian framing in [[contrarian-stop-prompting]].

## Take action

Apply on your next prompt — see [[action-use-context-sandwich]].

## Enrichment context

Mirrors role-playing techniques and chain-of-thought (CoT) prompting structures in standard prompt-engineering guides. The Context Sandwich is a clean, memorable packaging of those well-established practices.