Overview › 4Memory › b.Resuming

Resuming

Recover and resume rather than restart. 3 optimizations.

1. i.

   Filesystem-based agent state and checkpoints

   Save the agent's state at each step boundary (the conversation, the workspace files, process state when it matters, and a ledger of external side effects) so a crashed or stuck run resumes or rolls back instead of starting over.

   Better qualityLower costMixed performance

   Tier 2 · reliability · changes state · any agent · 6 sources, 4 measured

2. ii.

   Initializer-maintainer dual agent

   Give the first session of a multi-session build a setup-only prompt (expand the spec into a JSON list of end-to-end tests, all failing, and write an init script, a progress file and a first commit) and every later session a maintainer prompt that reads that state, re-tests what passed, builds one failing item, verifies it end to end and commits.

   Better qualityBetter governanceMixed costSlower

   Tier 4 · restructuring · changes state · planning, code generation agents · 6 sources, 1 measured

3. iii.

   Keep plan, progress and results in files when work outlives one context window

   When a task spans context resets (compaction, a truncation limit, a new session), have the agent keep what the next window needs in files and read them back at the start of each window: the plan and a progress list, decisions and open items, intermediate results too large to hold in context, and for coding a structured test list and an init script.

   Better qualityBetter governanceMixed costMixed performance

   Tier 4 · restructuring · changes state · planning agents · 15 sources, 9 measured