Working definition. Intention is a direction of attention and action. It is more durable than a preference, more open than a target, and more accountable than a wish.
Inherited meaning
Philosophy has treated intention as what makes an action about something rather than accidental. Craft traditions know it as the felt orientation that lets a maker recognise when the work is right, even before every criterion can be stated.
Meaning in the imagination economy
Prompting often begins with instructions but lacks intention. A system can satisfy the words while betraying the purpose. In the imagination economy, intention is the continuity that survives across many generated candidates and revisions. It tells us what must remain, what may change, and why the work should exist.
What changes in practice
State the desired change, the value that must not be traded away, and the evidence that would make you revise the direction. Return to these before every major selection. If the intention cannot reject a candidate, it is not yet specific enough.