Problem
Agent applications often need to send application payloads that are larger than the practical size for a data packet. LiveKit already provides the underlying primitives: data packets for small control messages and byte streams for larger ordered byte payloads. In practice, developers need to manually combine those primitives and add their own descriptor, size checks, and checksum validation.
Proposed scope
Add a small helper in the Python Agents utilities that:
- publishes small payloads inline as a compact descriptor on a data topic
- falls back to
stream_bytes for larger payloads
- includes generic descriptor metadata such as payload id, content type, size, checksum, stream topic, and stream name
- provides receiver-side helpers to parse descriptors and validate streamed bytes
- includes unit tests and a generic example
Why this belongs in Agents
This is not a server/protocol change. The server already transports data packets and byte streams. The missing piece is SDK ergonomics for agent authors who want a safe default pattern without rewriting this glue in each application.
Problem
Agent applications often need to send application payloads that are larger than the practical size for a data packet. LiveKit already provides the underlying primitives: data packets for small control messages and byte streams for larger ordered byte payloads. In practice, developers need to manually combine those primitives and add their own descriptor, size checks, and checksum validation.
Proposed scope
Add a small helper in the Python Agents utilities that:
stream_bytesfor larger payloadsWhy this belongs in Agents
This is not a server/protocol change. The server already transports data packets and byte streams. The missing piece is SDK ergonomics for agent authors who want a safe default pattern without rewriting this glue in each application.