tonight I felt comfortable enough to release my three sugar gliders out in the room while my cat was there as well.(we had an earlier test last week, I held a sugar baby while my cat sniffed at him, my cat showed next to no interest)

It turned out as well as I could hope. My sugar babies wandered the room while my cat watched more keenly this time (maybe because of the movement?) the only time there was a active reaction from the cat was when one of the sugar gliders came too close my cat bat at them with their paw (my cat is declawed btw) no attempt to bite or anything. and as a result the sugar glider ran away.

i let this uneasy truce go for about 10 minutes before I put the sugar gliders back up.

Any thoughts? Should i take the process a step back? or continue on and award good behavior? give me any ideas you have!

Since nobody has answered you yet ill try to help you to the best of my ability but please don't take my words as facts. Bonding your cat and sugar gliders is very dangerous as you probably already know and even if they do become bonded they will need close supervision when interacting. Even without claws your cat is much bigger and stronger than your sugar gliders so the cat could hurt the sugar gliders on accident if too excited. Also cat saliva is toxic to sugar gliders so the cat licking them could get them very sick or even be fatal. Another problem is that a declawed cat is basically like a human with his fingers cut off and sometimes it could give a cat life long pain . I am only saying this because if the cat is more often agitated or in pain because of being declawed there could be a bigger chance of your cat attacking the sugar gliders. Now that I have talked about some possible dangers and you still want them to be bonded I think that you should start out by scent swapping. Then after maybe a month or two let them smell and investigate each other through a secure cage for a while. Afterwards slowly let them interact outside the cage for small intervals and slowly increase that time. Never let them interact without close supervision especially in the beginning. Sorry if this is a long read but I just wanted to inform you of the dangers.

I have a large german shepard. sometimes while on the floor he will put his
very large paw in my face, he means no harm by it, but it hits my face and hurts.
My problem is, if the cat does do something harmful, on purpose or accident
it will probably happen to fast for you to stop and the cat is big enough for it
to be very hurtful to the glider.
For me that thought is to much for me to risk the gliders safety, the gliders are in the cage most of their life, a cat will be fine locked in a bedroom for an
hour or so while the gliders are out. so I keep my dogs and gliders separate.

I would advise against this. Even if your cat has a very low prey drive and never goes for them, there's always the chance she could accidentally hurt them. Cat bacteria is toxic to gliders so if she scratched or bit one, accidentally or otherwise, you could lose one of your babies.

I have 3 cats and 5 gliders, when I let the boys (gliders) out to play my youngest cat is ALWAYS locked away. She would not hesitate to try to get one at any cost. My middle cat is absolutely terrified of them so when they come near her (they like scenting the cat tree) she bolts and hides. My senior cat (almost 16) has a "low prey drive" but I would not trust her to not attack my boys. I try to make sure she is in another room before I let them out. A friend of my husband's had a glider and let it out to play while his husky was sitting in the room and the husky ate his glider. Please do not keep letting this go on. It only takes one time before your glider is seriously injured or killed.

This is a very very bad idea. Cat saliva is poison to the gliders if got in a cut or ... bite. And cats do have very sharp teeth and claws. I highly recommend you keep the Gliders and cats very far away from one another. The benefit really doesnt add up to the risk common sense says