Use Shared State

Use this when agents need to share persistent state across thread boundaries, agent types, or delegation trees. Shared state lives in the ProfileStore and is addressed by a typed namespace (ProfileKey) and a key (&str), giving you fine-grained control over who sees what.

Prerequisites

A working awaken agent runtime (see First Agent)
A ProfileStore backend configured on the runtime (e.g. file store or Postgres)

Concepts

Shared state has two dimensions:

Dimension	Type	Purpose
Namespace	`ProfileKey`	Defines what is stored — a compile-time binding between a static string key (`KEY`) and a typed `Value`. Each key is registered once per plugin via `register_profile_key`.
Key	`&str` (or `StateScope` helper)	Defines which instance — a runtime string that partitions storage. Different keys isolate or share data between agents and threads.

Together, (ProfileKey::KEY, key: &str) uniquely identifies a shared state entry in the profile store.

Steps

1. Define a shared state key

Create a struct that implements ProfileKey. The KEY constant is the namespace; the Value type is what gets serialized.

use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
use awaken_contract::ProfileKey;

#[derive(Clone, Default, Serialize, Deserialize)]
pub struct TeamContext {
    pub goal: String,
    pub constraints: Vec<String>,
}

pub struct TeamContextKey;

impl ProfileKey for TeamContextKey {
    const KEY: &'static str = "team_context";
    type Value = TeamContext;
}

2. Register in a plugin

Inside your plugin’s register method, call register_profile_key on the registrar.

use awaken_contract::StateError;
use awaken_runtime::plugins::registry::PluginRegistrar;

fn register(&self, r: &mut PluginRegistrar) -> Result<(), StateError> {
    r.register_profile_key::<TeamContextKey>()?;
    Ok(())
}

3. Read and write in a hook

In any phase hook, obtain ProfileAccess from the context and use read / write with a key string. StateScope is a convenience builder for common key patterns — call .as_str() to get the key.

use awaken_contract::StateScope;

async fn execute(&self, ctx: &mut PhaseContext) -> Result<(), anyhow::Error> {
    let profile = ctx.profile().expect("ProfileStore not configured");
    let identity = ctx.snapshot().run_identity();

    // Build a scope key from the current agent's parent thread
    let scope = match &identity.parent_thread_id {
        Some(pid) => StateScope::parent_thread(pid),
        None => StateScope::global(),
    };

    // Read (returns TeamContext::default() if missing)
    let mut team: TeamContext = profile.read::<TeamContextKey>(scope.as_str()).await?;

    // Mutate and write back
    team.goal = "Ship the feature".into();
    profile.write::<TeamContextKey>(scope.as_str(), &team).await?;

    Ok(())
}

4. Choose the right scope

StateScope has several constructors. Pick the one that matches your sharing pattern:

Scenario	Scope	Example
All agents across all threads	`StateScope::global()`	Org-wide configuration
All agents spawned from the same parent thread	`StateScope::parent_thread(id)`	A delegation tree sharing context
All instances of the same agent type	`StateScope::agent_type(name)`	Planner agents sharing learned heuristics
Single thread only	`StateScope::thread(id)`	Thread-local scratchpad
Custom partition	`StateScope::new("custom-key")`	Any application-defined grouping

You can also pass any raw &str directly — StateScope is optional convenience.

When to use shared state

Mechanism	Lifetime	Scope	Best for
`StateKey`	Single run (in-memory snapshot)	One agent thread	Transient per-run state (counters, flags, accumulated context)
`ProfileKey` with agent/system key	Persistent (profile store)	Per-agent or system	Per-agent or per-user settings that don’t cross boundaries
`ProfileKey` with `StateScope` key	Persistent (profile store)	Any `StateScope` string	Cross-agent, cross-thread persistent state

Use ProfileKey with a StateScope key when state must survive across runs and be visible to agents in different threads or of different types.

Common Errors

Symptom	Cause	Fix
`profile key not registered: <ns>`	Key not registered in any plugin	Call `r.register_profile_key::<YourKey>()` in the plugin’s `register` method
Always reads `Value::default()`	Writing and reading use different key strings	Verify both sides construct the same `StateScope` or use the same `&str` key
Data leaks between scopes	Using `StateScope::global()` when a narrower scope is needed	Switch to `parent_thread`, `agent_type`, or `thread` scope

Key Files

Path	Purpose
`crates/awaken-contract/src/contract/shared_state.rs`	`StateScope` type
`crates/awaken-contract/src/contract/profile_store.rs`	`ProfileKey` trait, `ProfileOwner` enum
`crates/awaken-runtime/src/profile/mod.rs`	`ProfileAccess` with `read`, `write`, `delete` methods
`crates/awaken-runtime/src/plugins/registry.rs`	`PluginRegistrar::register_profile_key` registration

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