1. Define the boundary
List the devices, folders and accounts the agent must access. Decide whether it should run on your laptop, a machine you keep online or managed infrastructure. A messaging interface does not by itself keep a runtime online.
2. Test memory and permissions
Check whether you can inspect, correct and remove remembered information. Run a harmless tool request and observe the configured approval policy. Do not infer isolation from a product label: command approvals and OS sandboxing are different controls.
3. Compare total cost and portability
Separate the software plan, model usage and hosting cost. Confirm which features require an account and which work with your own keys. Try changing provider and inspect the export and backup paths before committing important work.
4. Run one representative task
Use the same input, model and success criteria for each candidate. Record setup time, interventions, failures and usage cost. Flowly is a candidate when a personal agent, editable memory and your own runtime match that task. This guide is published by Flowly, not an independent ranking.