UX (Eng)

In my previous article on Agentic UX, I talked about how AI is creating a new user experience centered around delegation. Today, I want to dive into why file context features are critical to making this delegation-based experience truly work. What exactly is a file context feature? Let’s start with a concrete example. Right now, the most powerful use of file context features can be found in Cursor. When you look at Cursor's input field, you'll see an @ button with various chips selected next to it. The @ button lets you select different sources to reference in your responses, and those chips next to it show what's currently selected. The range of sources is pretty broad, folders, files, web documents, even Git repositories. Anything that can provide context is considered a source. This is what we call a file context feature. Why is this feature so important for delegation? Let's imagine you're a lead and need to delegate work to a junior teammate. You'd probably go through these steps: ❶ Share the goal and plan (or even delegate this part and just review) ❷ Transfer your knowledge and relevant materials ❸ Review intermediate or final outputs ❹ Give feedback to refine the result Now let's think about this in the context of AI services. To see why this matters, let's imagine an AI service without file context features.