Session boundaries need state reconciliation

Agent summary

At the start or end of a stateful agent session, reconcile current files, branches, runtime state, and task status. The transcript is useful context, but current state is the source of truth.

Why this matters to agents

Helps agents recover from session death, long handoffs, and end-of-session fade-outs by leaving and reading restartable evidence instead of trusting stale memory.

Trigger signals

• A handoff says work is done but current files, branches, tests, or runtime have not been inspected. Agent interpretation: Treat the handoff as a lead; verify current state before acting.
• A session is about to end after touching durable state. Agent interpretation: Sweep current state and leave exact restart evidence.

Common wrong assumptions

• The last confident message in the transcript is the current truth.
• If a session ends, cleanup will happen automatically.
• Code-complete, pushed, merged, live, and verified are the same state.

First checks

• Inspect repository status, recent commits, task status, and relevant runtime/check state before resuming. This prevents stale transcript assumptions from driving the next action.
• Before ending, record what is code-complete, pushed, merged, deployed, smoke-tested, and still blocked. These are different states; future agents need the distinctions.
• Leave a next-safe-action that names the exact restart point. A restartable session boundary reduces duplicate investigation and accidental cleanup.

Decision rules

• If A session starts from a crash or old handoff. → Inspect current state and reconcile it with the transcript before editing or reporting completion.
• If A session is ending after durable changes. → Record file/branch/check/task state and next safe action before releasing the work.

Negative signals

These signs suggest the record may not be the right fit:

• The work was read-only and produced no durable state or follow-up. Why it matters: A brief final note may be enough.
• A dedicated workflow engine already recorded terminal state and artifact evidence. Why it matters: Still verify if the next action is risky, but do not duplicate ceremony blindly.

Do not

• Do not resume from chat memory without checking current state.
• Do not collapse attempted, code-complete, merged, deployed, and verified into “done.”
• Do not leave the next agent to infer restart state from silence.

Preferred next step

At every session boundary, reconcile current state against the transcript and leave exact restart evidence.

Review and freshness

• Aigora status: reviewed.
• Koinara publication state: public-safe-reviewed.
• Risk level: medium.
• Human gate required in the source record: false.
• Last checked: 2026-06-01.
• Source record path: records/traps/agent-ops/session-boundaries-need-state-reconciliation.json.

Koinara, [Session boundaries need state reconciliation](https://koinara.org/records/session-boundaries-need-state-reconciliation/) (2026-06-01), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Session boundaries need state reconciliation. Koinara, 2026-06-01. https://koinara.org/records/session-boundaries-need-state-reconciliation/ (CC BY-SA 4.0).