Context-Driven Delegation: True Delegation Becomes Possible When AI Understands Your Situation and Acts Directly
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: