refactor: Separate protobuf dependencies into sensible extras #522

vinoo999 · 2025-10-24T18:17:43Z

Description

This introduces a proto extra into the package. The core library itself has no direct dependency on protobuf and only rest server and clients require a2a. google-api-core is only a dependency for grpc. Refactor accordingly to reduce dependency mangling introduced by proto for non grpc/rest servers. Assuming a CI regenerates the uv.lock file but can regenerate it otherwise.

This does not follow the runtime validation pattern in #217 as proto dependencies are localized in proto_utils.py.

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Appropriate docs were updated (if necessary)

gemini-code-assist · 2025-10-24T18:18:08Z

Summary of Changes

Hello @vinoo999, I'm Gemini Code Assist¹! I'm currently reviewing this pull request and will post my feedback shortly. In the meantime, here's a summary to help you and other reviewers quickly get up to speed!

This pull request significantly refactors the project's dependency management by isolating protobuf-related packages into a new proto optional dependency. The primary goal is to reduce the core library's dependency footprint, ensuring that protobuf and google-api-core are only installed when explicitly required by components such as gRPC or REST servers. This change prevents unnecessary dependency conflicts and streamlines installations for users who do not utilize protobuf-dependent features, leading to a more modular and efficient dependency structure.

Highlights

Dependency Refactoring: The core package dependencies have been streamlined by removing protobuf and google-api-core from the main dependencies list in pyproject.toml.
New proto Optional Dependency: A new optional dependency, proto, has been introduced to encapsulate protobuf requirements, allowing for more granular installation.
Updated Server Dependencies: The grpc and rest-server optional dependencies now explicitly require the new proto extra, ensuring protobuf-related packages are only installed when needed by these components. A new jsonrpc-server extra was also added, and http-server now depends on jsonrpc-server and rest-server.
Dynamic Protobuf Imports: The src/a2a/utils/proto_utils.py file has been updated to handle google.protobuf imports dynamically, providing a clear ImportError message that guides users to install the proto extra if the dependency is missing.

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Code Review

This pull request effectively refactors the project's dependencies by separating protobuf into an optional [proto] extra. This is a great improvement for users who don't need Protobuf-related functionality, reducing the core dependency footprint. The changes in pyproject.toml correctly move the dependencies, and the try-except block in proto_utils.py provides a clear error message for missing optional dependencies. I have one suggestion in pyproject.toml to further improve the structure and maintainability of the optional dependencies for server implementations.

pyproject.toml

Co-authored-by: gemini-code-assist[bot] <176961590+gemini-code-assist[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>

holtskinner · 2025-10-27T15:12:14Z

pyproject.toml


 [project.optional-dependencies]
-http-server = ["fastapi>=0.115.2", "sse-starlette", "starlette"]
+proto = ["protobuf>=5.29.5"]


I'm not sure protobuf really needs to be a separate dependency group from grpc

can remove the extra altogether if you want to be explicit for the REST and gRPC servers. My goal was removing protobuf dependencies especially for JSON-RPC servers + clients.

If you prefer can do:

jsonrpc-server = ["fastapi>=0.115.2", "sse-starlette", "starlette"] http-server = ["a2a-sdk[jsonrpc-server]", "protobuf>=5.29.5"] grpc = ["grpcio>=1.60", "grpcio-tools>=1.60", "grpcio_reflection>=1.7.0", "google-api-core>=1.26.0", "protobuf>=5.29.5"]

http-server is a bit confusing naming of the extra now that JSON-RPC is split out but needed for backward compatibility

README.md

Co-authored-by: Holt Skinner <[email protected]>

holtskinner · 2025-10-27T15:55:37Z

@pstephengoogle Can you review and make sure this follows with current plans for the protocol?

sambhav · 2025-11-12T23:58:39Z

@pstephengoogle / @holtskinner any updates on this?

lkawka · 2025-11-18T16:54:44Z

.github/actions/spelling/allow.txt

Why make changes to this file? It appears that entires were in an alphabetical order here.

unclear. i think this came directly from the github action when updating readme. i can revert

in fact I think this may have come from the Format script which must have a bug for capitalization

https://github.com/a2aproject/a2a-python/pull/550### to address

reran with ^ and applied. removed postres dup

Can we leave it as it was? I'm not entirely familiar with how this file is used and I worry that dependents may be case-sensitive.

This was intentionally left case-sensitive, because the case-insensitive sort wasn't always consistent.

lkawka · 2025-11-18T16:59:07Z

README.md

 | **All Extras**           | `uv add "a2a-sdk[all]"`                    | `pip install "a2a-sdk[all]"`                 |
-| **HTTP Server**          | `uv add "a2a-sdk[http-server]"`            | `pip install "a2a-sdk[http-server]"`         |
+| **JSON-RPC Server**      | `uv add "a2a-sdk[jsonrpc-server]"`         | `pip install "a2a-sdk[jsonrpc-server]"`         |
+| **HTTP (REST) Server**   | `uv add "a2a-sdk[http-server]"`            | `pip install "a2a-sdk[http-server]"`         |


Let's copy the terminology from the spec documentation: HTTP+JSON/REST Server

lkawka · 2025-11-18T17:32:26Z

pyproject.toml

 [project.optional-dependencies]
-http-server = ["fastapi>=0.115.2", "sse-starlette", "starlette"]
+jsonrpc-server = ["fastapi>=0.115.2", "sse-starlette", "starlette"]
+http-server = ["a2a-sdk[jsonrpc-server]", "protobuf>=5.29.5"]


HTTP+JSON/REST also requires these dependencies.

rest_handler.py depends on a2a_pb2:

a2a-python/src/a2a/server/request_handlers/rest_handler.py

Line 18 in 89e9b7c

from a2a.grpc import a2a_pb2

This is already encompassed here. a2a.grpc.a2a_pb2 has no grpcio dependencies. Just protobuf. This is encapsulated in the PR already.

Any concerns here?

a2a_pb2 seems to depend on google-api-core:

a2a-python/src/a2a/grpc/a2a_pb2.py

Line 26 in 89e9b7c

from google.api import client_pb2 as google_dot_api_dot_client__pb2

I think we need to include it here as well.

README.md

vinoo999 added 2 commits October 23, 2025 07:33

Separate protobuf dependencies

c3cef00

fix google-api-core as well

8ffaa43

vinoo999 requested a review from a team as a code owner October 24, 2025 18:17

vinoo999 changed the title ~~refactor: Separate protobuf dependencies into sensible extras~~ feat: Separate protobuf dependencies into sensible extras Oct 24, 2025

gemini-code-assist bot reviewed Oct 24, 2025

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pyproject.toml Outdated Show resolved Hide resolved

vinoo999 and others added 3 commits October 24, 2025 14:28

re-order dependencies

0e23416

Co-authored-by: gemini-code-assist[bot] <176961590+gemini-code-assist[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>

patch to readme, remove rest-server extra

16ab7cc

Merge branch 'main' into split_proto_deps

9a8fe5d

holtskinner requested changes Oct 27, 2025

View reviewed changes

holtskinner changed the title ~~feat: Separate protobuf dependencies into sensible extras~~ refactor: Separate protobuf dependencies into sensible extras Oct 27, 2025

Update README.md

66b42d1

Co-authored-by: Holt Skinner <[email protected]>

holtskinner assigned pstephengoogle Oct 27, 2025

vinoo999 added 5 commits November 3, 2025 10:31

remove proto extra, consolidate in http-server, grpc

b956806

Update README.md

965c371

Update proto_utils.py

285ff7a

Merge branch 'main' into split_proto_deps

09bb4f1

Merge branch 'main' into split_proto_deps

4be36ea

lkawka reviewed Nov 18, 2025

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vinoo999 commented Nov 19, 2025

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README.md Outdated Show resolved Hide resolved

vinoo999 added 3 commits November 19, 2025 00:53

Update README.md

b7e2c71

Merge branch 'main' into split_proto_deps

5813558

revert spelling allow.txt

30af48b

lkawka assigned lkawka and unassigned pstephengoogle Nov 19, 2025

refactor: Separate protobuf dependencies into sensible extras #522

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refactor: Separate protobuf dependencies into sensible extras #522

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holtskinner commented Oct 27, 2025

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sambhav commented Nov 12, 2025

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vinoo999 commented Oct 24, 2025 •

edited

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