Custom Snapshots in Scala

Golem agents can implement snapshotting to support manual (snapshot-based) updates and snapshot-based recovery. The Scala SDK provides two approaches: automatic JSON-based snapshotting via Snapshotted[S] and custom binary hooks.

When to Use Snapshotting

Snapshotting solves two distinct problems:

1. Manual / snapshot-based component updates — required when updating agents between incompatible component versions.
2. Fast recovery and oplog compaction — for long-running agents whose oplog grows over time (heartbeats, polling loops, recurring tasks, agents with frequent state changes). Without snapshotting, every recovery replays the full oplog from the beginning, which becomes increasingly expensive. With periodic snapshotting (every(N) or periodic(...)), recovery starts from the latest snapshot and replays only the entries after it.

You cannot opt out of oplog writes for a durable agent. If you are worried about oplog volume or replay cost, do not try to skip persistence — enable snapshot-based recovery here instead.

Enabling Snapshotting

Snapshotting must be enabled in the @agentDefinition annotation. Without it, no snapshot exports are generated:

@agentDefinition(snapshotting = "every(1)")
trait MyAgent extends BaseAgent {
  class Id(val value: String)
  def doSomething(): Future[String]
}

Snapshotting Modes

The snapshotting parameter accepts these values:

@agentDefinition(snapshotting = "periodic(30s)")
trait PeriodicAgent extends BaseAgent { ... }
 
@agentDefinition(snapshotting = "every(10)")
trait BatchAgent extends BaseAgent { ... }

Automatic JSON Snapshotting with Snapshotted[S]

The recommended approach. Bundle all mutable state into a case class with a Schema instance, then mix Snapshotted[S] into the implementation class:

1. Define the state type:

final case class CounterState(value: Int)
object CounterState {
  implicit val schema: Schema[CounterState] = Schema.derived
}

2. Enable snapshotting on the agent definition:

@agentDefinition(snapshotting = "every(1)")
@description("A counter with automatic JSON-based state persistence.")
trait AutoSnapshotCounter extends BaseAgent {
  class Id(val value: String)
  def increment(): Future[Int]
}

3. Mix in Snapshotted[S] on the implementation:

@agentImplementation()
final class AutoSnapshotCounterImpl(private val name: String)
    extends AutoSnapshotCounter
    with Snapshotted[CounterState] {
 
  var state: CounterState = CounterState(0)
  val stateSchema: Schema[CounterState] = Schema.derived
 
  override def increment(): Future[Int] =
    Future.successful {
      state = state.copy(value = state.value + 1)
      state.value
    }
}

The macro detects Snapshotted[S], summons Schema[S] at compile time, and generates snapshot handlers that serialize/deserialize state as JSON using zio-schema. No manual serialization code needed.

Requirements for Snapshotted[S]

• The implementation must have a var state: S field.
• The implementation must have a val stateSchema: Schema[S] field.
• S must be a case class with a Schema instance.

Custom Snapshot Hooks

For custom binary serialization, define saveSnapshot() and loadSnapshot() convention methods directly on the implementation class:

@agentDefinition(snapshotting = "every(1)")
trait SnapshotCounter extends BaseAgent {
  class Id(val value: String)
  def increment(): Future[Int]
}
 
@agentImplementation()
final class SnapshotCounterImpl(private val name: String) extends SnapshotCounter {
  private var value: Int = 0
 
  def saveSnapshot(): Future[Array[Byte]] =
    Future.successful(encodeU32(value))
 
  def loadSnapshot(bytes: Array[Byte]): Future[Unit] =
    Future.successful {
      value = decodeU32(bytes)
    }
 
  override def increment(): Future[Int] =
    Future.successful {
      value += 1
      value
    }
 
  private def encodeU32(i: Int): Array[Byte] =
    Array(
      ((i >>> 24) & 0xff).toByte,
      ((i >>> 16) & 0xff).toByte,
      ((i >>> 8) & 0xff).toByte,
      (i & 0xff).toByte
    )
 
  private def decodeU32(bytes: Array[Byte]): Int =
    ((bytes(0) & 0xff) << 24) |
      ((bytes(1) & 0xff) << 16) |
      ((bytes(2) & 0xff) << 8) |
      (bytes(3) & 0xff)
}

Method Signatures

// Save: serialize the agent's current state to bytes
def saveSnapshot(): Future[Array[Byte]]
 
// Load: restore the agent's state from previously saved bytes
def loadSnapshot(bytes: Array[Byte]): Future[Unit]

The macro detects these convention methods and wires them into the snapshot exports automatically.

Best Practices

1. Prefer Snapshotted[S] — automatic JSON serialization via zio-schema is simpler and less error-prone.
2. Keep state in one case class — bundle all mutable state into a single var state: S for clean persistence.
3. Keep snapshots small — large snapshots impact recovery and update time.
4. Use custom hooks for binary formats — when you need compact encoding or compatibility with non-Scala components.
5. Test round-trips — verify that save → load produces equivalent state.
6. Handle migration — when the state schema changes between versions, loadSnapshot should handle snapshots from older versions.