setup agent failed after losing session state on saml redirect

Fix setup agent failing after losing session state on SAML redirect

TL;DR

The agent loses its session because the SAML redirect round-trip drops its state, usually cookies or in-memory context. Persist the agent's working state before the redirect and restore it from the RelayState or a state store after. The redirect is normal; the amnesia is the bug.

The error

Setup agent failed
Lost session state on SAML redirect. Cannot continue setup after login.

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Fix it

Step 1: Persist state before the redirect

Write the agent's working state, current step, and collected data, to durable storage before starting login.

Expected: The state survives the redirect round-trip.

Step 2: Pass a state key through the flow

Include a state identifier in RelayState or the login request that maps back to the stored state.

Expected: The returning request carries the key to its own state.

Step 3: Restore state after login

On the callback, load the stored state by the key and resume the setup step.

Expected: The agent continues where it left off.

Step 4: Expire stale state

Give stored states a TTL and clean up abandoned ones.

Expected: No unbounded state growth from half-finished logins.

Step 5: Test the full redirect cycle

Run setup through a real SAML login.

Expected: The agent resumes correctly after the redirect.

When this applies

• Agents lose state across SAML login redirects
• Setup flows break right after SSO login
• You are building agents that drive browser SSO flows

When it doesn't

• The SAML login itself fails (fix the SSO first)
• State is lost without any redirect (check the state store)
• The agent never had state to lose (different problem)

Compatibility

SAML 2.0 redirects. Any agent driving browser-based SSO.

Variant phrasings

agent lost session saml redirect

Same failure. Durable state plus a key through the redirect fixes it.

sso redirect killed agent state

Redirects reset browser contexts. Persist before, restore after.

setup agent amnesia after login

Amnesia is always missing persistence. The redirect just exposes it.

Why it happens

SAML login bounces through the browser to the IdP and back, and that round-trip resets whatever the agent held in memory or in redirect-sensitive cookies. Agents that keep all state in memory wake up after login with no idea what they were doing.

Edge cases

• RelayState has size limits; store the bulk in your store and pass only a key
• Multiple concurrent logins need per-flow state keys, not one global slot
• SameSite cookie policies can drop session cookies on the cross-site bounce; test in the real browser

If it still fails

• Reproduce with a minimal run: one user, one file, one step.
• Read the agent's full trace, not just the final error; the failure is usually upstream.
• Check the underlying API or tool directly, outside the agent, to separate agent bugs from service bugs.
• Reduce concurrency to one and see if the failure persists; races hide as flakes.
• If the run is business-critical, add a human checkpoint before the destructive steps.

Prevention

• Checkpoint long runs so any failure resumes instead of restarting.
• Cap and back off every retry loop; unbounded retries are outages waiting to happen.
• Validate inputs at each pipeline stage; fail fast with clear errors.
• Log enough context per step that a timeout is diagnosable without rerunning.
• Give destructive steps a human checkpoint or a dry-run mode.

Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_PTMKCsRS8h716J1nM8csVg

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_PTMKCsRS8h716J1nM8csVg

Thread query: setup agent failed after losing session state on saml redirect

TL;DR: The agent loses its session because the SAML redirect round-trip drops its state, usually cookies or in-memory context. Persist the agent's working state before the redirect and restore it from the RelayState or a state store after. The redirect is normal; the amnesia is the bug.