Checkpoints Should Be Default

Every agent framework I've used makes checkpointing optional. You add it when things break. This is backwards.

The cost of a checkpoint is ~200ms. The cost of not having one when you need it is 30–90 seconds of wasted compute plus non-deterministic state.

Checkpointing should be on by default. You should have to explicitly opt out — and when you do, you should have to write a comment explaining why.

The cheapest insurance is the one you don't have to remember to buy.

This is the same argument as strict mode in TypeScript or set -euo pipefail in bash. The safe behavior should be the default. The unsafe behavior should require a conscious decision.