Deployment-safe agent workers
30 Jun 2026 · 6 min read
Agent workers should survive deploys without dropping runs, duplicating tool calls, or losing approvals.
Deployment safety is a runtime feature. A worker restart should not erase an autonomous workflow.
AstraRunner treats this as an execution-platform concern: the run needs durable state, traceable decisions, cost visibility, and enough structure for teams to review what happened after the agent finishes.
Patterns that work
- Drain workers before shutdown.
- Keep run state in durable storage.
- Expire leases cleanly after deploy.
- Resume waiting and blocked states without worker memory.
Implementation checklist
- Handle SIGTERM or host shutdown.
- Test deploy during active runs.
- Track orphaned leases.
- Version workers and prompts in traces.
Watch outs
- Background tasks can be killed mid-tool-call.
- In-flight approvals may target old state.
- Deploys can change prompts during a run unless versioned.
Related reading
How this fits the Astra stack
AstraRunner owns the operational path for agent work: orchestration, scheduling, approval gates, traces, costs, and role-agent handoffs. AstraMemory owns durable context and retrieval. AstraGenie turns those capabilities into product workflows for teams that want automation without rebuilding the platform layer.