Glossary · Agents & tools
Agent State
The explicit data an agent carries across steps, such as the current objective, completed actions, tool results, open questions, budgets, approvals, and artifact references.
Why it matters
Explicit state makes long tasks resumable, inspectable, and less dependent on the model reconstructing progress from a transcript.
In practice
Store the selected issue, changed files, latest test result, and remaining checks in a typed object that is updated after each action.
Common confusion
State is not the same as conversation history. A transcript is evidence; state is the compact operational record used to decide what happens next.
Related terms
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