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An owner without developer skills can export the agent and restore it working on a runtime or host the provider does not operate, within minutes of asking and without provider approval. Running the runtime on the owner's own machine counts as not provider-operated.

The Pro export (Settings > Privacy > Export data) arrives as an emailed link after an unspecified delay, and personal exports cannot be imported into another Claude account. The only documented restore on owner-run infrastructure is the Claude Desktop 3P import wizard, which first needs hand-set managed configuration (3P inference provider plus claudeAiImport.enabled, off by default). Both P1 shortfalls are present. Sources

Export is immediate (the agent is one .adf file; copying it and using Open is documented), but restoring a working agent on another machine takes several documented steps: import the owner seed phrase to unlock sealed keys, re-add a model provider key (app-level keys are not in the file), re-register app-level MCP servers, then review and accept the file. One shortfall (restore is not a single action). Sources

The export contains everything that defines the agent: configuration, instructions, memory, action history, logic, schedules and triggers, files, any identity, and credentials or a way to re-link each integration without any provider-registered client or broker. Derived data (embeddings, indexes, summaries) is accompanied by the source it was derived from.

A personal export never includes project knowledge files or conversation attachments. It covers conversations, projects and memory, and the docs do not say it includes scheduled tasks, installed plugins/skills or connector configuration. Anthropic notes that projects and scheduled tasks do not carry over when moving to Claude Code. Connectors are authorised through Anthropic's server-side connector layer. At least two classes of state stay with the provider. Sources

The spec places config, instructions, memory, loops, timers, triggers, lambdas, files, messages, audit, logs, sealed identity keys and per-agent credentials in the .adf file; the project holds nothing. Items outside the file (app-level provider keys, app-scoped MCP credentials, WhatsApp session directory, runtime settings) can be re-linked by the owner without any ADF-registered client (MCP OAuth uses dynamic client registration; subscriptions use OpenAI/xAI client ids). A customised global base prompt is an app setting and does not travel; recorded, not counted, because the default install uses the shipped prompt. Sources

With a non-provider model configured per P4, the exported agent runs indefinitely without any service, account, licence or payment controlled by the original provider, and the owner holds a perpetual, irrevocable right to run it. No provider action, inaction or disappearance can disable or degrade it.

By default the agent loop runs on Anthropic servers and needs a paid Anthropic account. Even the 3P desktop mode always downloads the VM workspace bundle and CLI binary from downloads.claude.ai at session start. The Consumer Terms let Anthropic suspend or terminate access at any time, so the right to run is revocable. Sources

The runtime is MIT-licensed with no licence check, account or ADF-run relay; the only ADF-project endpoints (GitHub update check, MCP registry, skill catalog, online docs) are optional, have off switches or bundled fallbacks, and are not needed to start or act. Mesh uses LAN, tailnet or owner-chosen addresses. Desk grade; a provider-blocked run is required at certification. Sources

The owner can choose any model that meets a documented minimum, including a local open-weight model, without provider involvement, and every capability of the agent (tools, triggers, messaging, memory, automation) keeps working. A swap may lower reasoning quality but never removes a capability.

The Pro offering uses Anthropic's Claude models only. The documented gateway mode is described as serving Claude models through an Anthropic Messages API-compatible gateway, and there is no documented route to a local open-weight model. Sources

Tool calling is the documented minimum and local open-weight models (Ollama, LM Studio, vLLM, llama.cpp) are first-class provider options; triggers, timers, lambdas and middleware run in the runtime. However, video input is implemented by injecting OpenAI-format video_url parts and is documented only for hosted providers (OpenRouter, Gemini), and no test against a local model is published, so under G12 at least one capability is not shown to survive a local model. Sources

Whatever the P2 export contains stays obtainable, current to the moment of termination, after account suspension or ban, a lapsed subscription, a price change, an acquisition, or the provider shutting down.

Default Cowork state lives in the Claude account on Anthropic servers. The Consumer Terms allow suspension or termination without notice and say that on termination Anthropic 'may at our option delete any Materials or other data associated with your Account'. No post-termination export window or shutdown plan is published. Sources

State is local-first: the agent is a SQLite file on the owner's disk with no ADF account or hosted copy, so no termination, ban or shutdown by the project can remove access to it. Sources