Saving artifacts, In `BaseArtifactService` what if the artifact is required across sessions for the specific user?

[smartsastram]

In BaseArtifactService

  @abstractmethod
  def save_artifact(
      self,
      *,
      app_name: str,
      user_id: str,
      session_id: str,
      filename: str,
      artifact: types.Part,
  ) -> int:

Saving artifacts, In runners.py, what if the fetched/uploaded file/artifact is required across sessions for the specific user?
I suggest removing the binding to the session_id or making it as optional argument.

Regards,
Ratnaker

[holtskinner]

Hi Ratnaker,

Thank you for your valuable feedback and for raising this important point about artifact persistence and accessibility.

It appears the code snippet you're referencing (BaseArtifactService and its save_artifact method) might be from an older version or a different part of the A2A ecosystem, as it doesn't directly match the current structure of this Python SDK.

However, your underlying concern about accessing artifacts across different sessions is a very valid one. The current design of the A2A protocol addresses this by scoping artifacts to a Task, which in turn has a contextId that is analogous to a session ID.

Here's how artifacts can be shared across different interactions or "sessions" in the current implementation:

1. Artifacts are part of a Task: When an agent generates an artifact, it's stored as part of a Task object, which is managed by the TaskStore.

2. Context Linking via referenceTaskIds: The A2A protocol provides a mechanism to link contexts. When a client sends a new Message, it can include a list of previous task IDs in the referenceTaskIds field.

3. Accessing Referenced Artifacts: On the server side, the RequestContextBuilder can be configured to fetch these referenced tasks from the TaskStore. This makes the artifacts, history, and status of those previous tasks available to the agent in the RequestContext for the new interaction.

This design allows an agent to "look up" and utilize artifacts from previous sessions without needing to remove the session_id (or contextId) from the core task structure. It keeps individual tasks self-contained while providing an explicit mechanism for sharing context when needed.

So, while the implementation details are different from what you described, the goal of making artifacts available across sessions is supported by the protocol. The client just needs to pass the relevant referenceTaskIds to give the agent the necessary context.

Thanks again for your insightful question! Let us know if you have any more feedback.

[smartsastram]

Hi @holtskinner, Thank you for acknowledging the validity of the request. For any session, if that particular session requires specific context and artifacts, it should be able to be accessed independently without needing to reference other tasks. Let me try with the latest version of the a2a-python, and will reach out for further help.