Comparison guide
Draft persistence vs. autosave: what should you ask AI to build?
Use this when a form or builder loses work and the obvious request is 'add autosave,' but the real product need is safer persistence, resume, and recovery behavior.
Fast answer
Draft persistence
Use Draft persistence when unfinished work must survive refresh, failed submit, tab close, or return visits.
Autosave
Use autosave for the mechanism that stores changes automatically, but do not stop there.
Resumability
Use Resumability when users need to return later and continue from a safe state.
Checkpoint
Use Checkpoint when only certain points are safe to resume without replaying side effects.
Source of truth
Use Source of truth when browser, URL, server, and saved draft may disagree.
State reconciliation
Use State reconciliation when multiple versions or tabs can conflict.
What to ask AI
Weak ask
Add autosave so users do not lose the form.
Exact Terms ask
Design draft persistence with autosave cadence, resumability, checkpoints, source of truth, state reconciliation, conflict handling, saved status, and recovery paths for failed submit and return visits.
Common trap
Autosave only
Saving often does not prove the app can restore correctly, resolve stale data, or explain what happened after failure.
No versioning
Two tabs, stale saves, and out-of-order responses can overwrite newer work without reconciliation rules.
No visible state
Users need saved, saving, unsaved, failed, and restored states, not silent background behavior.
Related guides
What do I call it when a form loses progress?
Vocabulary for forms and builders that lose progress: draft persistence, resumability, checkpoints, state reconciliation, recovery paths, and source of truth.
AI coding agent vocabulary for robust app workflows.
AI coding agent vocabulary for fixing vibe-coded apps: statecharts, step state, transition tables, guard conditions, draft persistence, idempotency, checkpoints, fallback UI, and recovery paths.
What you mean vs. what experts call it.
A translation map from vague AI prompt language to expert vocabulary for coding, images, UX, research, and buyer messaging.
What do I call it when app state is out of sync?
Vocabulary for app state that is out of sync: source of truth, state reconciliation, race condition, invariant, draft persistence, and stale writes.
Common questions
Is autosave enough?
Not usually. Autosave is a tactic. Draft persistence covers restore rules, conflicts, state ownership, and recovery.
What should an AI coding agent test?
Refresh, return later, two tabs, failed save, failed submit, stale draft, resume link, and conflict resolution.