State

The definition

The current condition of a user, workflow, task, or process — what persists between steps and sessions. Distinct from governed state, which adds provenance and write-governance on top.

The same words the glossary hub and the public data mirror carry; this page is the stable address for the term.

Related terms

• Continuity layer

  A continuity layer is the part of an AI system that carries forward governed state across sessions, tools, models, and hosts: what is currently true, what…

• Agent

  Software that uses tools to carry out tasks and workflows — not just replying, but acting: calling APIs, running steps, making changes. Distinct from a…

• Memory

  The store of facts, preferences, and records a system keeps so it doesn’t start from nothing each time. What is stored — distinct from which stored facts are…

• Provenance

  The record of where a piece of information came from, when it changed, and whether it can be trusted.

• Continuity Runtime

  The execution environment where a continuity engine governs interactions between a user and a model, tool, or agent before state is carried forward.

• Stateful agents

  Agent runtimes and frameworks that carry state across steps and tool calls within a task. Necessary for continuity but mostly scoped to a task or thread —…

• Governed state

  The authoritative current answer a continuity layer maintains — every write passing through a contract, and every fact able to show the lineage behind it.

• Governed write (write contract)

  A write that passes through a contract, the rules for what may enter the current state and by whom, instead of landing wherever. What enters governed state…

Where it shows up on this site

• Where we are · LogThe current state of AI, for someone who just arrived
• The thesis · ReferenceAI doesn't need more memory. It needs continuity. Eight beats, versioned and signed
• The primer: memory is not continuity · ReferenceSix distinctions, seven contrasts, the five obligations in brief
• OpenAI conversation state alternatives · AlternativesThe other 13 memory systems on the record, ranked by grade, with what each keeps
• OpenAI conversation state memory · OpenAIServer-side conversation state for the Responses API: stored responses chained together, with a 30-day default retention, and durable Conversation objects reusable across sessions. 3/8 on the memory systems tests.
• Kenotic Labs · ActiveContinuity research lab. Publishes the ATANT continuity evaluation framework and a thesis about carrying state across AI hosts.
• “RAG Doesn’t Solve Hallucination. What Actually Does.” · WatchlistField commentary. Samuel Sameer Tanguturi, founder of Kenotic Labs, argues that similarity retrieval alone does not establish current state. This is an author-attributed architectural argument, not independent verification.
• “Why Do 80% of AI Agent Projects Fail?” · WatchlistField commentary. A public claim about agent-project failure rates tied to state loss between steps and sessions — relevant to the “Why This Matters Now” framing.