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feat: Separate task state building from persistence
This refactoring introduces TaskStateProcessor as a global singleton to manage task state lifecycle and addresses a critical architectural issue in task state management. Problem: - Task state was persisted multiple times during event propagation, causing redundant database writes and tight coupling between event processing and persistence Solution: - Created TaskStateProcessor as @ApplicationScoped singleton to maintain in-flight tasks globally - Separated state building (TaskStateProcessor) from persistence (TaskStore) - Tasks are now persisted once at appropriate lifecycle points instead of for each event - Tasks are explicitly removed from TaskStateProcessor after final persistence, ensuring bounded memory usage Changes: - New: TaskStateProcessor - global singleton managing task state in memory - Modified: DefaultRequestHandler - injects TaskStateProcessor and ensures cleanup after task completion - Modified: ResultAggregator - uses TaskStateProcessor for state building, removes tasks after background consumption - Modified: TaskManager - delegates state building to TaskStateProcessor - Updated: All test files to inject TaskStateProcessor instances - Fixed: Test isolation issues with defensive cleanup Impact: - Performance: Significantly reduced I/O operations (one write vs multiple) - Memory: Bounded usage that scales with concurrent tasks, not total tasks - Reliability: Improved test isolation and clearer task lifecycle See doc/adr/0001_task_state_management_refactoring.md for detailed architectural decision record.
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client/base/src/main/java/io/a2a/client/ClientTaskManager.java

Lines changed: 1 addition & 1 deletion
Original file line numberDiff line numberDiff line change
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ public Task saveTaskEvent(TaskArtifactUpdateEvent taskArtifactUpdateEvent) {
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.contextId(contextId == null ? "" : contextId)
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.build();
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}
104-
currentTask = appendArtifactToTask(task, taskArtifactUpdateEvent, taskId);
104+
currentTask = appendArtifactToTask(task, taskArtifactUpdateEvent);
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return currentTask;
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}
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@@ -0,0 +1,150 @@
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# ADR 0001: Task State Management Refactoring
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## Status
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Accepted
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## Context
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The original implementation of task state management had a significant architectural issue:
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**Multiple Persistence Operations**: Task state changes were being persisted multiple times during event propagation. The `ResultAggregator` would save task state for each event processed, resulting in redundant writes to `TaskStore` for a single request. This created unnecessary I/O load and coupling between event processing and persistence.
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## Decision
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We refactored the task state management to follow a two-phase approach with proper lifecycle management:
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### Separate State Building from Persistence
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**Introduced `TaskStateProcessor` for In-Memory State Management**:
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- Created per `DefaultRequestHandler` instance to maintain request handler's in-flight tasks
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- Maintains task state in memory during event processing
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- Provides methods to build task state from events without persisting
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- Includes `removeTask()` method for explicit cleanup
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**Modified Task Lifecycle**:
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- Events are processed to build state in `TaskStateProcessor` without immediate persistence
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- State is persisted **once** to `TaskStore` at appropriate lifecycle points (completion, cancellation, etc.)
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- Tasks are explicitly removed from `TaskStateProcessor` after final persistence
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### Task Cleanup Strategy
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Tasks are removed from the state processor when they reach their final state:
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1. **Blocking Message Sends**: After all events are processed and final state is persisted
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2. **Task Cancellations**: After the canceled task state is persisted
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3. **Non-blocking/Background Operations**: After background consumption completes and final state is persisted
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### Component Architecture
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**TaskStateProcessor** (new component):
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- Instance created per `DefaultRequestHandler` to manage its in-flight tasks
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- Provides thread-safe access via `ConcurrentHashMap`
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- Separates state building from persistence concerns
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- Enables explicit lifecycle management with `removeTask()`
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**DefaultRequestHandler**:
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- Creates and manages its own `TaskStateProcessor` instance
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- Ensures tasks are removed after final persistence
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- Passes state processor to components that need it
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**ResultAggregator**:
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- Uses `TaskStateProcessor` to build state during event consumption
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- No longer performs persistence during event processing
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- Removes tasks after background consumption completes
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**TaskManager**:
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- Delegates state building to `TaskStateProcessor`
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- Coordinates between state processor and persistent store
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- Supports dynamic task ID assignment for new tasks
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## Consequences
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### Positive
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1. **Reduced I/O Operations**: Task state is persisted once per request lifecycle instead of multiple times during event propagation, significantly reducing database/storage load
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2. **No Memory Leaks**: Tasks are explicitly removed from in-memory state after completion, ensuring memory usage scales with concurrent tasks rather than total tasks processed
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3. **Better Test Isolation**: Each test creates its own state processor instance, providing natural isolation
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4. **Clear Separation of Concerns**: State building logic is separate from persistence logic, improving maintainability
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5. **Thread-Safe Design**: Uses concurrent data structures for safe access from multiple threads
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### Negative
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1. **Increased Complexity**: More components involved in task lifecycle management
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2. **Lifecycle Management Responsibility**: Must ensure cleanup is called at all task completion points
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3. **Constructor Changes**: All components creating `TaskManager` and `ResultAggregator` need updates to pass `TaskStateProcessor`
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### Test Impact
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Test infrastructure was updated to create `TaskStateProcessor` instances:
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- Test utilities updated to create and pass `TaskStateProcessor` instances
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- Each test creates its own state processor for proper isolation
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- Test helper methods updated to handle non-existent tasks gracefully
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## Impacts
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### Performance
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- **Improved**: Significantly reduced database/storage operations
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### Memory
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- **Bounded**: Memory usage scales with concurrent tasks, not total tasks processed
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- **Predictable**: Tasks are removed from memory after completion
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### Reliability
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- **Improved**: Test isolation ensures reproducible test results
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- **Improved**: Clearer task lifecycle reduces potential for bugs
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## Outstanding Considerations
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### Streaming Task Lifecycle
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For streaming responses where clients disconnect mid-stream, background consumption handles cleanup. Tasks remain in memory until background processing completes, creating a brief retention window.
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**Impact**: Low - tasks are eventually cleaned up, retention is temporary
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### Error Handling Edge Cases
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If catastrophic failures occur during event processing before final persistence, tasks might remain orphaned in `TaskStateProcessor`.
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**Mitigation**: Most error paths persist task state (including error information), triggering cleanup
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**Recommendation**: Consider adding periodic sweep of old tasks or timeout-based cleanup
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### Concurrent Access Patterns
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The `TaskStateProcessor` ensures thread-safe access via concurrent data structures. Event ordering is maintained by the underlying `EventQueue` system.
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**Impact**: None - existing event ordering guarantees are preserved
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## Future Enhancements
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1. **Observability**: Add metrics for in-flight task count to monitor system health
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2. **Cleanup Monitoring**: Add logging/metrics when tasks are removed for debugging
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3. **Timeout Cleanup**: Implement periodic sweep of tasks exceeding age threshold
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4. **Retention Policies**: Consider configurable retention for debugging (e.g., keep recent tasks for N minutes)
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## Verification
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All tests passing with the refactoring:
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- server-common: 223 tests
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- QuarkusA2AJSONRPCTest: 42 tests
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- QuarkusA2AGrpcTest: 42 tests
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Recommended manual testing:
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- Long-running tasks to verify no memory growth
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- Streaming scenarios with client disconnects
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- Error scenarios to verify cleanup
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- Concurrent task processing
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## Files Changed
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Core implementation:
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- `server-common/src/main/java/io/a2a/server/tasks/TaskStateProcessor.java` (new)
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- `server-common/src/main/java/io/a2a/server/requesthandlers/DefaultRequestHandler.java`
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- `server-common/src/main/java/io/a2a/server/tasks/ResultAggregator.java`
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- `server-common/src/main/java/io/a2a/server/tasks/TaskManager.java`
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Test infrastructure:
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- `server-common/src/test/java/io/a2a/server/tasks/TaskStateProcessorTest.java` (new)
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- `tests/server-common/src/test/java/io/a2a/server/apps/common/AbstractA2AServerTest.java`
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- All test files using `TaskManager` and `ResultAggregator`

server-common/src/main/java/io/a2a/server/requesthandlers/DefaultRequestHandler.java

Lines changed: 56 additions & 16 deletions
Original file line numberDiff line numberDiff line change
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@
2828
import io.a2a.server.ServerCallContext;
2929
import io.a2a.server.agentexecution.AgentExecutor;
3030
import io.a2a.server.agentexecution.RequestContext;
31+
import io.a2a.server.tasks.TaskStateProcessor;
3132
import io.a2a.server.agentexecution.SimpleRequestContextBuilder;
3233
import io.a2a.server.events.EnhancedRunnable;
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import io.a2a.server.events.EventConsumer;
@@ -103,6 +104,7 @@ public class DefaultRequestHandler implements RequestHandler {
103104

104105
private final AgentExecutor agentExecutor;
105106
private final TaskStore taskStore;
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private final TaskStateProcessor stateProcessor;
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private final QueueManager queueManager;
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private final PushNotificationConfigStore pushConfigStore;
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private final PushNotificationSender pushSender;
@@ -119,6 +121,7 @@ public DefaultRequestHandler(AgentExecutor agentExecutor, TaskStore taskStore,
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PushNotificationSender pushSender, @Internal Executor executor) {
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this.agentExecutor = agentExecutor;
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this.taskStore = taskStore;
124+
this.stateProcessor = new TaskStateProcessor();
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this.queueManager = queueManager;
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this.pushConfigStore = pushConfigStore;
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this.pushSender = pushSender;
@@ -223,9 +226,10 @@ public Task onCancelTask(TaskIdParams params, ServerCallContext context) throws
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task.getId(),
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task.getContextId(),
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taskStore,
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stateProcessor,
226230
null);
227231

228-
ResultAggregator resultAggregator = new ResultAggregator(taskManager, null, executor);
232+
ResultAggregator resultAggregator = new ResultAggregator(taskManager, null, executor, stateProcessor);
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230234
EventQueue queue = queueManager.tap(task.getId());
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if (queue == null) {
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throw new InternalError("Agent did not return valid response for cancel");
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}
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256+
// Persist the final task state (after all cancel events have been processed)
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// This ensures state is saved ONCE before returning to client
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Task finalTask = taskManager.getTask();
259+
if (finalTask != null) {
260+
finalTask = taskManager.saveTask(finalTask);
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} else {
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finalTask = tempTask;
263+
}
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// Verify task was actually canceled (not completed concurrently)
253-
if (tempTask.getStatus().state() != TaskState.CANCELED) {
266+
if (finalTask.getStatus().state() != TaskState.CANCELED) {
254267
throw new TaskNotCancelableError(
255-
"Task cannot be canceled - current state: " + tempTask.getStatus().state().asString());
268+
"Task cannot be canceled - current state: " + finalTask.getStatus().state().asString());
256269
}
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258-
return tempTask;
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// Remove task from state processor after cancellation is complete
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stateProcessor.removeTask(finalTask.getId());
273+
LOGGER.debug("Removed task {} from state processor after cancellation", finalTask.getId());
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return finalTask;
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}
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261278
@Override
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267284
LOGGER.debug("Request context taskId: {}", taskId);
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EventQueue queue = queueManager.createOrTap(taskId);
270-
ResultAggregator resultAggregator = new ResultAggregator(mss.taskManager, null, executor);
287+
ResultAggregator resultAggregator = new ResultAggregator(mss.taskManager, null, executor, stateProcessor);
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272289
boolean blocking = true; // Default to blocking behavior
273290
if (params.configuration() != null && Boolean.FALSE.equals(params.configuration().blocking())) {
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320337
// 1. Wait for agent to finish enqueueing events
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// 2. Close the queue to signal consumption can complete
322339
// 3. Wait for consumption to finish processing events
323-
// 4. Fetch final task state from TaskStore
340+
// 4. Persist final task state ONCE to TaskStore
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325342
try {
326343
// Step 1: Wait for agent to finish (with configurable timeout)
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360377
throw new InternalError(msg);
361378
}
362379

363-
// Step 4: Fetch the final task state from TaskStore (all events have been processed)
364-
Task updatedTask = taskStore.get(taskId);
365-
if (updatedTask != null) {
366-
kind = updatedTask;
380+
// Step 4: Persist the final task state (all events have been processed into currentTask)
381+
// This ensures task state is saved ONCE before returning to client
382+
Task finalTask = mss.taskManager.getTask();
383+
if (finalTask != null) {
384+
finalTask = mss.taskManager.saveTask(finalTask);
385+
kind = finalTask;
367386
if (LOGGER.isDebugEnabled()) {
368-
LOGGER.debug("Fetched final task for {} with state {} and {} artifacts",
369-
taskId, updatedTask.getStatus().state(),
370-
updatedTask.getArtifacts().size());
387+
LOGGER.debug("Persisted final task for {} with state {} and {} artifacts",
388+
taskId, finalTask.getStatus().state(),
389+
finalTask.getArtifacts().size());
371390
}
391+
// Remove task from state processor after final persistence
392+
stateProcessor.removeTask(taskId);
393+
LOGGER.debug("Removed task {} from state processor after final persistence", taskId);
394+
}
395+
} else if (interruptedOrNonBlocking) {
396+
// For non-blocking calls: persist the current state immediately
397+
// Note: Do NOT remove from state processor here - background consumption may still be running
398+
Task currentTask = mss.taskManager.getTask();
399+
if (currentTask != null) {
400+
currentTask = mss.taskManager.saveTask(currentTask);
401+
kind = currentTask;
402+
LOGGER.debug("Persisted task state for non-blocking call: {}", taskId);
372403
}
373404
}
374405
if (kind instanceof Task taskResult && !taskId.equals(taskResult.getId())) {
@@ -401,7 +432,7 @@ public Flow.Publisher<StreamingEventKind> onMessageSendStream(
401432
AtomicReference<String> taskId = new AtomicReference<>(mss.requestContext.getTaskId());
402433
EventQueue queue = queueManager.createOrTap(taskId.get());
403434
LOGGER.debug("Created/tapped queue for task {}: {}", taskId.get(), queue);
404-
ResultAggregator resultAggregator = new ResultAggregator(mss.taskManager, null, executor);
435+
ResultAggregator resultAggregator = new ResultAggregator(mss.taskManager, null, executor, stateProcessor);
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406437
EnhancedRunnable producerRunnable = registerAndExecuteAgentAsync(taskId.get(), mss.requestContext, queue);
407438

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419450
Flow.Publisher<EventQueueItem> processed =
420451
processor(createTubeConfig(), results, ((errorConsumer, item) -> {
421452
Event event = item.getEvent();
453+
454+
// For streaming: persist task state after each event before propagating
455+
// This ensures state is saved BEFORE the event is sent to the client
456+
Task currentTaskState = mss.taskManager.getTask();
457+
if (currentTaskState != null) {
458+
mss.taskManager.saveTask(currentTaskState);
459+
}
460+
422461
if (event instanceof Task createdTask) {
423462
if (!Objects.equals(taskId.get(), createdTask.getId())) {
424463
errorConsumer.accept(new InternalError("Task ID mismatch in agent response"));
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600639
throw new TaskNotFoundError();
601640
}
602641

603-
TaskManager taskManager = new TaskManager(task.getId(), task.getContextId(), taskStore, null);
604-
ResultAggregator resultAggregator = new ResultAggregator(taskManager, null, executor);
642+
TaskManager taskManager = new TaskManager(task.getId(), task.getContextId(), taskStore, stateProcessor, null);
643+
ResultAggregator resultAggregator = new ResultAggregator(taskManager, null, executor, stateProcessor);
605644
EventQueue queue = queueManager.tap(task.getId());
606645
LOGGER.debug("onResubscribeToTask - tapped queue: {}", queue != null ? System.identityHashCode(queue) : "null");
607646

@@ -797,6 +836,7 @@ private MessageSendSetup initMessageSend(MessageSendParams params, ServerCallCon
797836
params.message().getTaskId(),
798837
params.message().getContextId(),
799838
taskStore,
839+
stateProcessor,
800840
params.message());
801841

802842
Task task = taskManager.getTask();

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