What is cold start vs warm start?
A cold start is the first execution of an intent: the page is observed, a model plans, actions run, and a successful trace is compiled into a skill. A warm start is any later request that matches that skill — or a sanitized one from the shared corpus — and replays or adapts it instead of planning again.
Why it matters
The honest framing of the cost curve is that the first run is not cheaper; the thousandth is dramatically cheaper. Knowing which kind of start you are paying for is how you decide whether to compile a flow deliberately or let it warm up on its own.