Jido State Persistence Analysis

Summary

Jido DOES provide clean mechanisms for state persistence without framework modifications.

Available Persistence Hooks

1. mount/2 Callback

• Called when agent server starts
• Perfect place to restore persisted state
• Receives server state and options
• Can modify initial agent state

2. shutdown/2 Callback

• Called when agent is terminating
• Ideal for saving final state
• Receives server state and shutdown reason

3. initial_state Parameter

• Pass initial state when creating agent: new(id, initial_state)
• Pass initial state when starting: start_link(id: id, initial_state: saved_state)
• State is merged with schema defaults and validated

4. State Change Hooks

• on_after_validate_state/1 - Called after every state change
• on_after_run/3 - Called after action execution
• Perfect for incremental state persistence

Clean Implementation Pattern

defmodule PersistentAgent do
  use Jido.Agent,
    name: "persistent_agent",
    schema: [data: [type: :map, default: %{}]]

  # Restore state on startup
  def mount(%{agent: agent} = server_state, _opts) do
    case load_state(agent.id) do
      {:ok, state} ->
        {:ok, %{server_state | agent: %{agent | state: state}}}
      _ ->
        {:ok, server_state}
    end
  end

  # Save state on shutdown
  def shutdown(%{agent: agent} = server_state, _reason) do
    save_state(agent.id, agent.state)
    {:ok, server_state}
  end

  # Save after every state change
  def on_after_validate_state(agent) do
    save_state(agent.id, agent.state)
    {:ok, agent}
  end
end

No Framework Modifications Needed

The Jido framework already provides:

1. Clean lifecycle hooks for state management
2. Multiple integration points for persistence
3. Flexible initialization with restored state
4. No hacking or workarounds required

Conclusion

The initial assessment that Jido “doesn’t provide clean hooks” was incorrect. Jido is well-designed for state persistence with multiple clean integration points. No issue needs to be filed with Jido maintainers.