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Firestore session and memory services: fix nested state merge, package exports and memory duplicates聽#7192
Description
馃敶 Required Information
Is your feature request related to a specific problem?
Yes. Python has shipped FirestoreSessionService and FirestoreMemoryService since v1.31.0
(#5088), but they don't behave like the other session and memory services, and there is no
Python documentation for them. Testing them against a real Firestore database on 2.9.1 and
main (f33d4923), I reproduced these problems:
- Nested
user:/app:state is merged instead of replaced. Updatinguser:profile
from{"name": "Alice", "role": "admin"}to{"name": "Alice"}stores
{"name": "Alice", "role": "admin"}, so the removed key comes back on the next
get_session. The in-memory, SQLite and database session services replace the value.
Cause:user_states/app_statesare written withtransaction.set(..., merge=True)in
bothcreate_sessionandappend_event, and Firestore deep-merges nested maps.
Session-scoped state is not affected (it is stored as JSON). - The services can't be imported from their package.
from google.adk.integrations.firestore import FirestoreSessionServiceraisesImportError
becauseintegrations/firestore/__init__.pyexports nothing. It is the only package under
integrations/like this. GetSessionConfig(after_timestamp=...)returns the wrong events. Events are stored with
"timestamp": firestore.SERVER_TIMESTAMP, so the filter and event ordering use the write
time instead ofevent.timestamp.get_user_stateis not supported. It raisesNotImplementedError, while the in-memory,
database, SQLite and Redis session services implement it.add_session_to_memorystores duplicates. Each call writes a new document per event, so
adding the same session again (for example after every turn) stores every memory again.
Search hides this by de-duplicating results, but storage keeps growing.
add_events_to_memoryis also not implemented;InMemoryMemoryServicesupports it.- Positional-filter warnings.
list_sessionsandget_sessionwithafter_timestamp
call.where("field", op, value), sogoogle-cloud-firestoreemits
UserWarning: Detected filter using positional argumentson every call.
Describe the Solution You'd Like
Make the Firestore services behave like the other backends, with no change to their public
API other than implementing two existing base-class methods:
- Write
user:/app:state back whole so a new value replaces the old one. - Export
FirestoreSessionServiceandFirestoreMemoryServicefrom
google.adk.integrations.firestore, loaded lazily (asintegrations/model_armordoes) so
importing the package still does not requiregoogle-cloud-firestore. - Store each event's own timestamp so
after_timestampand event ordering use event time. - Implement
get_user_stateby reading theuser_statesdocument the service already writes. - Give each memory entry a stable document ID derived from app, user, session and event IDs,
so re-adding a session overwrites instead of duplicating, and implement
add_events_to_memory. - Pass query filters as
where(filter=FieldFilter(...)), asFirestoreMemoryServicealready
does.
Impact on your work
I build agents for Google Cloud customers, and Firestore is the natural serverless session
store for agents on Cloud Run. Today:
- A value removed from nested user or app state (for example a role or a permission flag)
silently stays in Firestore and comes back on the next turn. - Memory storage grows with every turn when sessions are added to memory after each turn.
- Moving an agent between session services changes its behavior.
- Python users have no documentation showing how to use these services: the adk.dev
Firestore page covers Java only.
Willingness to contribute
Yes. I have the fix ready with unit tests, one commit per item above, and can open the PR
once this is triaged. I will also open a PR in google/adk-docs adding Python usage to the
Firestore page.
馃煛 Recommended Information
Describe Alternatives You've Considered
DatabaseSessionServicewith Cloud SQL or AlloyDB: works correctly, but needs a database
instance to run and manage, which Firestore avoids.VertexAiSessionService: works, but ties sessions to Agent Engine.- Workarounds on the current Firestore services: import from the full module path, avoid dict
values inuser:/app:state, and add each session to memory only once. These avoid the
symptoms but are easy to miss, and nothing in the docs mentions them.
Proposed API / Implementation
No new public API. The changes stay inside src/google/adk/integrations/firestore/ and its
unit tests:
# 1. create_session / append_event: write the full, already-updated dict
transaction.set(user_ref, current_user) # was: transaction.set(user_ref, current_user, merge=True)
# 3. append_event: store the event's own time
"timestamp": datetime.fromtimestamp(event.timestamp, tz=timezone.utc) # was: firestore.SERVER_TIMESTAMP
# 5. memory: stable document ID per event
doc_id = sha256("\x00".join((app_name, user_id, session_id or "", event.id)))After the change, a local run of the shared session contract suite
(tests/unittests/sessions/test_session_service.py) against a real Firestore database goes
from 18 passed / 13 failed to 27 passed / 4 failed. The 4 remaining failures are covered below.
Additional Context
Minimal reproduction for item 1 (pip install google-adk==2.9.1 google-cloud-firestore, a
Firestore Native database):
import asyncio, time
from google.adk.events.event import Event
from google.adk.events.event_actions import EventActions
from google.adk.integrations.firestore.firestore_session_service import FirestoreSessionService
from google.cloud import firestore
async def main():
client = firestore.AsyncClient(project="PROJECT", database="DATABASE")
svc = FirestoreSessionService(client=client)
s = await svc.create_session(app_name="demo", user_id="alice")
for i, value in enumerate(({"name": "Alice", "role": "admin"}, {"name": "Alice"})):
await svc.append_event(s, Event(
author="user", invocation_id=f"i{i}", timestamp=time.time(),
actions=EventActions(state_delta={"user:profile": value})))
print("same Session object right after update :", s.state["user:profile"])
fresh = await svc.get_session(app_name="demo", user_id="alice", session_id=s.id)
print("after reload (get_session) :", fresh.state["user:profile"])
asyncio.run(main())same Session object right after update : {'name': 'Alice'}
after reload (get_session) : {'name': 'Alice', 'role': 'admin'}
Not proposed here, open questions:
- The 4 remaining contract failures: three come from
last_update_timeusing Firestore's
serverupdateTimeinstead of the appended event's timestamp, which looks intentional after
Firestore Session Service does not handle timestamp correctly聽#5632 / fix(firestore): populate last_update_time in list_sessions from Firestore updateTime聽#5642. The fourth islist_sessions(user_id=None), which needs a single-field
collection-group index onsessions.appName; I would document that. - Should the CLI accept
--session_service_uri firestore://...and
--memory_service_uri firestore://...? Today an unregistered session scheme falls back to
DatabaseSessionServiceand fails withValueError: Invalid database URL format. I have a
workingservices.pyregistration and can propose a built-in scheme if that is wanted. - Registering Firestore in
tests/unittests/sessions/_conformance.pyneeds a stateful Firestore
fake. I can do that as a follow-up.
Activity
surajksharma07 commentedon Sep 21, 2026
@vishal-bulbule Went through all seven points and see the same behaviour on v2.9.2 and current main, none of it is in a release yet so upgrading won't help.
Until #7195 is merged a suggested workaround for anyone hitting this: import from the full module path, keep nested dicts out of user:/app: state (flat keys instead) and add each session to memory only once. Could you verify that holds up on your Firestore setup?
Also before you mark #7195 ready it'd be good to re-run its tests once more on top of the latest main so the review goes smoothly.
fix(firestore): replace nested app and user state instead of merging it
fix(firestore): export the session and memory services from the package
fix(firestore): pass session query filters by keyword
fix(firestore): store each event's own timestamp
feat(firestore): support get_user_state
fix(firestore): stop duplicating memories when a session is re-added
feat(firestore): support add_events_to_memory
vishal-bulbule commentedon Sep 22, 2026
Thanks for going through all seven.
I rebased #7195 onto current main (3833976) and re-ran everything:
last_update_timesource (3 tests) and the collection-group index needed bylist_sessions(user_id=None)(1 test), both left out of scope in this issue.#7195 is already marked ready for review, it was not opened as a draft.
On the workaround, I ran one script against a real Firestore database, once on current main and once with #7195:
user:/app:state mergedNonerather than absentafter_timestampfilters on write timeget_user_stateNotImplementedErrorUserWarningadd_events_to_memoryNotImplementedErrorSo the workaround holds for 1, 2 and 6. Points 3, 4, 5 and 7 need #7195.
surajksharma07 commentedon Sep 24, 2026
@vishal-bulbule. Went through the diff and ran the Firestore tests on the branch: all 50 pass and 16 of them fail against the current main source so the new tests really do catch the old behaviour.
Nothing under integrations/firestore has changed on main since 3833976 and v2.9.2 is still the latest release so your table stands: the workaround covers 1, 2 and 6 and 3, 4, 5 and 7 have to wait for #7195.
One small thing for the review: an event added with add_events_to_memory without a session_id and later with one gets two different doc IDs so might be worth a line in the docstring.
@DeanChensj could you take a look at #7195 when you get a chance? Its 2 workflows are still waiting for approval.
vishal-bulbule commentedon Sep 24, 2026
Thanks for running it yourself.
Added the docstring note on
add_events_to_memory, since the session ID is hashed into the entry ID:The second sentence is worth stating because
search_memoryde-duplicates on author, text and timestamp, so the extra document does not show up twice in results, only in the collection.The branch is rebased on main (3833976) and the 50 Firestore tests, the full unit suite, mypy and pre-commit all pass.
surajksharma07 commentedon Sep 25, 2026
The docstring note reads well @vishal-bulbule and the second sentence matches what search_memory does since it drops repeats on (author, text, timestamp).
Merged the updated branch (987a012) onto current main (9625b06): merges cleanly, the 50 Firestore tests pass and the same 16 still fail when run against main's own Firestore code so nothing has drifted since 3833976.
Nothing else needed from your side. v2.9.2 is still the latest release so the workaround for 1, 2 and 6 stands until #7195 lands.
@DeanChensj #7195 is ready for review whenever you get to it, the 2 workflows still need approval.
fix: make the firestore session and memory services usable