OpenAI shipped a managed Agents API 15 days after shutting down the Assistants API. Keep your own state.
OpinionOn 10 September OpenAI released the Agents API in public beta: a managed harness in which OpenAI runs session orchestration, context compaction and recovery, and sessions persist across turns. OpenAI's documentation says it currently offers data residency only in the US and does not support Zero Data Retention. The Assistants API, OpenAI's previous managed layer for agent state, shut down on 26 August.
A managed harness is a real shortcut, and this is the second time OpenAI has offered to hold your agent's state. The first one was retired fifteen days before this one launched. Use it if it saves you time, but write every session item to your own database as it streams and keep agent definitions in your repo. Do not promise customers Zero Data Retention or non US residency on top of it until the documentation says otherwise.