[C#] Expose cached Generator through IChatClient.GetService

[ZedingZhang (ZedingZhang)]

Description

Expose the currently cached Generator through IChatClient.GetService<Generator>(). This enables callers to retrieve it between requests for operations such as RewindTo.

The returned generator remains owned by the chat client and is documented as a borrowed reference. Callers must not dispose it, retain it across requests, or use it concurrently with an active request.

Changes

• Return the cached Generator when requested without a service key.
• Use Volatile.Read to access the cache consistently with its existing interlocked updates.
• Document the lifetime and concurrency constraints of the returned generator.
• Add C# coverage using the repository-bundled tiny GPT-2 model.

Testing

• dotnet build src/csharp/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntimeGenAI.csproj --configuration Release
  • net8.0 and netstandard2.0 passed with 0 errors.
• dotnet test test/csharp/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntimeGenAI.Tests.csproj --configuration Release --no-build
  • 9 passed, 10 skipped because optional external models were unavailable, 0 failed.
• TestChatClientGetServiceGenerator
  • 1 passed, 0 failed.
• macOS arm64 native Release build completed successfully.

Fixes #1553

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[Copilot]

Pull request overview

This PR updates the C# OnnxRuntimeGenAIChatClient to expose the currently cached Generator instance via IChatClient.GetService<Generator>(serviceKey: null), enabling advanced callers to perform operations like RewindTo between requests while keeping ownership and lifecycle with the chat client.

Changes:

• Expose the cached Generator from IChatClient.GetService when requested with a null service key.
• Use Volatile.Read for consistent, thread-safe cache access alongside existing Interlocked updates.
• Add a C# test validating the Generator service is unavailable before a request and available after a cached request completes.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 2 out of 2 changed files in this pull request and generated no comments.

File	Description
src/csharp/OnnxRuntimeGenAIChatClient.cs	Exposes the cached generator via GetService and documents borrowing/lifetime constraints.
test/csharp/TestOnnxRuntimeGenAIAPI.cs	Adds a unit test covering GetService<Generator>(null) behavior with caching enabled.

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[ZedingZhang (ZedingZhang)]

@microsoft-github-policy-service agree

[ZedingZhang (ZedingZhang)]

Hi Baiju Meswani (@baijumeswani), friendly ping on this small C# PR addressing #1553. It exposes the cached Generator through IChatClient.GetService, with lifetime/concurrency documentation and tiny-model test coverage. The GitHub Actions runs are still awaiting maintainer approval, and Azure Pipelines also needs an authorized trigger. Could you please take a look or route it to the appropriate reviewer? Thanks!

[kunal-vaishnavi]

Thanks for your contribution!

[ZedingZhang (ZedingZhang)]

Thanks for the review, kunal-vaishnavi! The new C# test passed in CI. The only failing check is Linux CUDA, where test_engine_run_releases_gil[cpu] failed at worker_progressed.is_set() (76 passed, 1 failed). This appears unrelated to the C#-only changes. Could you please rerun the failed job?

[kunal-vaishnavi]

/azp run macOS arm64 Build

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[kunal-vaishnavi]

/azp run macOS arm64 Build

[azure-pipelines]

Azure Pipelines:
Successfully started running 1 pipeline(s).