Core Insights - The optimization of context engineering remains a key focus for Agent startups in the new year [2] - The quality of contextual information significantly determines the performance of Agents in practical development [3] - Manus's chief scientist emphasizes that startups should rely on general models and context engineering for as long as possible before building specialized models [4] Context Engineering Strategies - "Context reduction" is identified as the most direct and effective strategy during the construction of Agents [7] - The phenomenon of "context rot" occurs as the context length continues to grow, leading to performance degradation [10] - A consensus in the industry suggests "context offloading" as a solution, which involves transferring information outside the Agent's short-term memory for precise retrieval when needed [10][11] - Cursor's approach involves converting lengthy tool results and chat records into files, allowing the Agent to reference these files instead of overloading the context [12][14] - Manus has developed a structured, reversible context reduction system that monitors context length and triggers actions based on a predefined threshold [19][20] Action Space Flexibility - As Agent capabilities increase, the diversity of tools also expands, necessitating a flexible action space [30] - Cursor's strategy involves file-based documentation of all tool descriptions, allowing Agents to discover tools dynamically [32] - Manus proposes a layered action space design, categorizing Agent capabilities into function calls, sandbox tools, and APIs [41][42] Multi-Agent Collaboration - The challenge of multi-Agent collaboration is addressed by ensuring context isolation, allowing each sub-Agent to operate independently [50] - Manus introduces two collaboration modes: task delegation through communication and information synchronization via shared context [53][55] - A structured output schema is essential for ensuring consistent and accurate results from multiple sub-Agents [59][60] Design Philosophies - Cursor's "Dynamic Context Discovery" philosophy emphasizes that less is more, advocating for minimal initial detail to allow Agents to autonomously gather relevant context [62] - Manus's approach focuses on simplifying context engineering to make the model's work easier rather than more complex [63][64] - Both companies aim to create an information-rich, easily navigable external environment for Agents rather than merely increasing the amount of information fed into the context [65]