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The 2026 5-question check for managed agent models: state, sandbox, loop, residency, ZDR — plus Git worktrees as a practical twin for parallel agent sessions.
`claude --continue` resumes the most recent session after a restart; `claude --resume` lets you pick an earlier session. For local latency: `time claude -p "refactor /api v1->v2, run tests"`; then check that history and task state are fully present after the resume.
Region or data residency and Zero Data Retention are not set via an environment variable in the client; they are selected in the vendor's workspace/project configuration or via the cloud provider. Check availability and prerequisites in the vendor documentation and record them in the DPA.
`git worktree add ../twin <branch>` creates a second working directory; worktrees share the object repository, so this is faster and lighter than a second clone. Agent A refactors `/api`, agent B writes tests; `git worktree remove ../twin` cleans up and the original stays untouched.
Does the working state survive a restart? The agent loop writes progress (messages, tool results, task status) into a persistent session state. Test --continue / --resume after a process restart, and check whether the state lives in the project folder (JSONL) or only in the process.
Where do shell commands run? Two patterns: local (Claude Code, Codex CLI, OpenCode: process starts next to the repo) or remote (hosted code_interpreter/container tools). Local means zero network latency per tool call; remote means shared, reproducible environments.
Do I get the finished loop or only the model? Managed agent = model + orchestration + tools + sessions from one hand. Model API only = build your own loop (tool calls, max_tokens chains, retry logic).
In which region does the provider process data? Depending on the vendor, region or data residency is selected in the workspace/project configuration or via the cloud provider (region of the cloud deployment). For DACH customers: choose an EU region when latency and EU data location both count. Check availability in the vendor documentation.
Is Zero Data Retention available, and under which conditions? ZDR means prompts and outputs are not stored beyond the technically required time windows after the answer. Whether and how ZDR is available (agreement, organization or project setting) is up to each vendor — check the vendor documentation.
| Name | What to check | Terminal test | Weak pattern | Strong pattern | In the grid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (01) Question 1 — State surviving | Session state after restart | --continue / --resume, JSONL per project folder (Claude Code), session/memory key-value (OpenAI Agents SDK), numbered sessions (Gemini CLI) | If the progress resembles a loose history list without IDs and task trees, a resume test after 30 steps is no longer reproducible. | With --resume a session can be continued with its history and task state — check after the restart that everything is actually there. | ✓ Yes |
| (02) Question 2 — Server-side vs. local sandbox | Latency per tool call | Local process next to the repo vs. remote container | With many small tool calls (fmt, test, grep), a remote sandbox adds a network round trip per call — over a long run this adds up noticeably. | Local execution avoids the per-call network overhead; with many small tool calls the overall run is considerably shorter. | ✓ Yes |
| (03) Question 3 — Loop-as-product | Orchestration scope | Complete agent loop with subagents, checkpoints and diff-edits vs. plain model API | For pure text classification a full agent loop is overkill — a single-call API is cheaper. | For multi-step tasks (plan → edit → test → fix) take the finished loop; the three systems above are designed for that. | ✓ Yes |
| (04) Question 4 — Data residency | Processing location | Vendor workspace/project configuration or region of the cloud deployment | A global endpoint without a region guarantee yields an undefined processing location in data-processing agreements. | A fixed region in the workspace/project or cloud configuration gives you a chain that is documentable in the DPA. | ✓ Yes |
| (05) Question 5 — ZDR (Zero Data Retention) | Retention of prompts and outputs | Agreement or organization/project setting with the vendor (per vendor documentation) | Without ZDR, prompts and outputs remain in the provider's history — sometimes desired for audits, often not for confidential client projects. | With ZDR: shorter retention, plannable deletion; for internal tools usually the cleaner variant. ZDR plus --resume works while the session is open — long pauses can trim the state. | ✓ Yes |
← Scroll horizontally to see all columns
Check in this order: resumable sessions, a sandbox type matching the task, a finished loop for multi-step work, control over region or data residency and optionally ZDR — then the stack is a tool, not a cage.
Create the worktree twin: git worktree add ../twin <branch> creates a second working directory of the same repository. Because worktrees share the object repository, this is faster and lighter than a second clone.
Work in parallel: in both twins, agent A refactors /api while agent B writes tests. Return with git worktree remove ../twin — the original stays untouched.
Know the limits: a branch can only be checked out in one worktree at a time, and untracked dependencies must be installed per worktree.
Stances: Empowerment — five questions, one terminal, reusable every week without vendor briefings. Pro-local — an EU region or EU data residency plus ZDR, where the vendor offers them, is a minimally invasive, documentable configuration, especially for DACH mid-market companies.
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