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Feature Request: Run Cancellation / Abort Support for Java ADK

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@hemasekhar-p is already working on this.

Since Jul 9, 2026.

  • #1434 by @rohan-naik07 — open
  • #1621 by @sangkyoonnam — open

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Description

needs review

Summary

Java ADK currently lacks a mechanism to cancel/abort a running agent invocation. TypeScript ADK already ships mature AbortSignal-based cancellation (docs/runtime/cancel.md), and Python ADK has active work in progress (google/adk-python#4825, google/adk-python#5983). Java ADK has no equivalent — no API, no internal checkpoints, and no graceful shutdown path.

Motivation

Cancellation is essential for production agent deployments:

  • User-facing "Stop" button — long-running multi-tool loops need immediate, graceful termination when the user clicks stop.
  • Timeout enforcement — server-side request deadlines (e.g., HTTP gateway timeouts) must propagate into the agent execution.
  • Resource cleanup — without cooperative cancellation, in-flight LLM streaming connections and tool executions leak resources.
  • Cost control — aborting early avoids unnecessary LLM token consumption.

Current State

Language Status Mechanism
TypeScript ✅ Shipped runner.runAsync(params, { signal }) with AbortSignal; checkpoints in LLM call, tool execution, and plugin callbacks; graceful generator completion (no throw)
Python 🚧 In progress google/adk-python#4825 (stop_event: asyncio.Event), google/adk-python#5983 (/cancel API + task.cancel())
Java ❌ Missing Only InvocationContext.endInvocation (internal flag, not externally triggerable); Disposable.dispose() is a hard RxJava cut (not graceful, tools don't check it); no RunConfig timeout/cancel field

Proposed Design (aligned with TypeScript)

API Surface
// Option A: CancellationToken (similar to .NET / structured concurrency)
CancellationTokenSource cts = new CancellationTokenSource();
RunConfig config = RunConfig.builder()
    .cancellationToken(cts.token())
    .build();

Flowable<Event> events = runner.runAsync(userId, sessionId, content, config);
// Later:
cts.cancel(); // triggers graceful shutdown

// Option B: RxJava-native (Disposable already exists, but needs cooperative checks)
// Enhance internal checkpoints to check subscription disposal state
Internal Checkpoints (minimum)

Following TypeScript's lead, cancellation should be checked at:

  1. Before each LLM call — BaseLlmFlow.runOneStep() (already checks endInvocation, easy to extend)
  2. Before each tool execution — Functions.handleFunctionCalls() (currently has NO cancellation check)
  3. During LLM streaming — between chunks (for long generations)
  4. Plugin/callback boundaries — beforeModel / afterModel / beforeTool / afterTool
Semantics (align with TypeScript cancel.md)
  • Graceful: the Flowable completes normally (no error signal), already-emitted events are preserved in the session.
  • Cooperative: cancellation is checked at defined points; in-flight atomic operations (single LLM call, single tool run) may complete before the next checkpoint.
  • Idempotent: calling cancel multiple times is safe.

Questions for Maintainers

  1. API preference: CancellationToken (explicit, testable) vs. leveraging RxJava Disposable semantics (less new API surface but less portable)?
  2. Scope: Should cancellation also cover runLive (streaming/live mode), or start with runAsync only?
  3. Event emission on cancel: Should the framework emit a final "cancelled" event (like Python's temp:cancelled state proposal), or just complete silently (like TypeScript)?

References

I'm happy to contribute the implementation once the API direction is agreed upon. I have production experience implementing cooperative cancellation in a Java ADK-based agent platform (checkpoint-based, with checks at beforeModel/beforeTool/afterEvent boundaries).

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