BasicAgent

Stateless vs Stateful Dev Environments

Stateless dev environments reset often; stateful environments preserve sessions, output, and context.

Published: 2026-01-04 · Last updated: 2026-01-04

A stateless dev environment assumes you can recreate state on demand. A stateful environment assumes you should not have to.

Stateless (what most tools do)

  • sessions die with the tab,
  • output disappears after disconnects,
  • "re-run everything" is the recovery plan.

Stateful (what you actually need)

  • sessions persist across time,
  • output is replayed on reconnect,
  • context compounds instead of resetting.

Why it matters

Statefulness is the difference between demo workflows and real work. Long-running tasks, deep debugging, and multi-day projects all require a stateful environment.