Frontend · JavaScript · AI Programming

Doubao and Qianwen Kill Their Agent Builders — Here's How to Rescue Your Workflows

By kyriewen · Jul 5, 2026

Read original on juejin.cn ↗ Google Translate ↗ Alt translation

Two major Chinese AI platforms killing their agent builders on the same day is a stark reminder that proprietary AI platforms can deprecate core features without recourse. Developers who built production workflows on these services now face a hard deadline to export their data and rebuild elsewhere, and the same risk applies to any closed agent platform.

Summary

ByteDance's Doubao and Alibaba's Qianwen both announced on July 4 that their user-defined agent features will go offline on July 15, with all data permanently deleted after October 15. The shutdown kills any personal assistant built with Prompt + Knowledge Base + Tool combinations on those platforms. One developer's daily report generator, technical translation assistant, and code review helper all broke overnight.

Four replacement paths exist: Coze offers the most similar experience with the lowest migration cost but carries the same platform risk. Dify provides an open-source, self-hosted alternative for teams that want full control. Claude Code with custom Skills integrates directly into a terminal-based developer workflow. A self-built API pipeline offers maximum control at the cost of maintenance overhead.

The simultaneous shutdown exposes a structural risk: any workflow built on a proprietary AI platform can vanish with a single product decision. The immediate priority is exporting System Prompts, knowledge bases, and tool configurations before the October 15 data wipe deadline.

Takeaways

— Doubao and Qianwen's user-defined agent features shut down on July 15, 2025; all data is permanently deleted after October 15.

— Basic chat and model APIs remain available — only the custom agent builder product is being killed.

— Export System Prompts, knowledge base files, valuable conversation history, and tool configurations immediately.

— Coze provides the most similar replacement experience but is also a ByteDance product with the same platform risk.

— Dify's self-hosted open-source option gives full control over workflows and knowledge base persistence.

— Claude Code with custom Skills replaces terminal-based developer workflows like daily report generation and code review.

— Store core Prompts and configurations locally regardless of which platform you use.

— Keep a Plan B for every critical workflow so a single platform shutdown doesn't break everything.

Conclusions

The simultaneous shutdown by two competing platforms suggests a coordinated product strategy shift, not a coincidence, which raises questions about the viability of agent builders as a product category in China's AI market.

Platform risk is not theoretical — it has a hard deadline. The October 15 data wipe means procrastination carries permanent data loss, not just inconvenience.

The migration paths reveal a split: non-technical users get funneled to another proprietary platform (Coze), while developers can escape to self-hosted or terminal-native tools, widening the gap between those who can own their infrastructure and those who cannot.

Concepts & terms

System Prompt

The initial instruction set given to an AI model that defines its behavior, tone, and constraints. In agent builders, this is the core configuration that makes a custom assistant behave in a specific way.

Dify

An open-source LLM application development platform that allows self-hosting, visual workflow orchestration, and knowledge base management, giving developers full control over their AI pipelines.

Claude Code Skills

Custom instructions and tool configurations for Anthropic's Claude Code CLI tool that extend its capabilities for specific tasks like code review or report generation directly in the terminal.

Source: juejin.cn ↗ Google Translate ↗ Backup ↗