durable

Definition

State that survives crashes and restarts — the D in the database ACID properties, imported into agent work. It matters there because long multi-step runs fail partway through routinely, and an agent whose memory and execution state live only in process memory has to start over rather than resume. The contrast term is volatile: durability is what lets a workflow be checkpointed, replayed, and audited after the fact.

Explainers using this term

• Paper Walkthrough: AutoSaddler — Growing a Harness That Doesn't Break, from Agent Failure LogsAutoSaddler: Automatic Harness Optimization with Durable Updates from Agent Execution Traces