Lesson 1230 of 1596
Agentic AI: state vs context — what to write down
Context is what the agent sees this turn. State is what persists. Confusing them produces forgetful agents and bloated prompts.
Creators · Agentic AI · ~7 min read
The premise
Agents need durable state (facts that outlive a turn) separate from working context (what's loaded into the prompt right now). Mixing the two creates either amnesia or context overflow.
What AI does well here
- Read from a state store you provide as a tool
- Write structured facts when given a write tool
- Summarize prior turns when asked to compact
What AI cannot do
- Remember anything across runs without external state
- Decide what's worth persisting without rules
- Keep state consistent across parallel agents
Key terms in this lesson
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