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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 only documented export is a per-session ZIP (session log, sub-sessions, attachments) downloaded through the browser. There is no import, restore or backup command, and no documented procedure for copying $DSH_HOME to another host. Session folders are keyed by absolute working-directory paths. 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.

All state classes live in owner-held files under $DSH_HOME and nothing stays only with the provider: - sessions, KV storage, profile patches, .credentials.yaml, attachments, skills and AGENTS.md - integrations use API keys or owner-generated webhook secrets, not provider OAuth clients The documented export omits settings, credentials, skills, instructions and workspaces, and there is no restore route. The fail definition (classes held by the provider, or text-only export) is not met, so the test stays partial under G1. 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.

The runtime is MIT-licensed, with no licence key, login, remote-config fetch or update check in the CLI/Web path; the official build profile only embeds version strings. DeepSeek endpoints are all configurable or replaceable: - model API - default web_search provider (Exa and Perplexity plugins exist) - OTel collector (DSH_TELEMETRY_OTLP_URL, or disable) This is a desk grade; the provider-blocked run is hands-on. 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.

Other providers are supported, and custom OpenAI Chat, OpenAI Responses and Anthropic Messages endpoints work at any base URL, including self-hosted ones. Capabilities are model-neutral: titles and compaction use the session route, and vision works for any model declared image-capable. However, there is no documented minimum model contract, no text-based tool-calling fallback, and no local open-weight model is named or tested (G12). 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.

All agent state is kept locally under $DSH_HOME on the owner's machine, with no hosted account or sync. Termination of a DeepSeek account ends only model access and does not remove the owner's copy. 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