Feature request: Make provider dependencies optional (don't force anthropic on OpenAI users) #3208
Description
Description
Issue:
pydantic-ai forces anthropic>=0.52.0 dependency on all users (via pydantic-ai-slim[anthropic]), even when only using OpenAI.
Current behavior:
pip install pydantic-ai[openai] # Still installs anthropic
Requested behavior:
pip install pydantic-ai[openai] # Only installs openai
pip install pydantic-ai[anthropic] # Only installs anthropic
Benefits:
- Smaller dependency trees
- Fewer version conflicts
- Faster installs
- Aligns with extras philosophy
Example implementation:
Make pydantic-ai-slim truly minimal (no providers), then add providers only via extras.
References
No response