SDK PR for the first of the settings changes (review bot approved and I can merge it, but wanted a second look): https://github.com/OpenHands/software-agent-sdk/pull/3539

Oh, I was just looking into this

LOL. Sorry

The PR was adding settings that belong in the client, it seems to me, not in the SDK. I appreciate if we can pause to understand the consequences: Conceptually, we have tried for a long time for keep the SDK an SDK, that is: • client applications use it as a dependency • it's a library at heart, with some tooling for building on it. Client applications can be various “apps” which may or may not have much in common with agent-canvas frontend or cloud web platform. Analytics consent or sound notifications, for example, are definitely client-side. Architecturally, the client depends on the SDK. The SDK should not depend on the shape of a particular client settings. It's not that introducing client-side stuff is necessarily heinous right now, but it points to a future where these are much more tightly coupled than they could be.

So the issue we are trying to tackle is to limit what is stored in browser local storage. I can look into whether there is a better place for these settings.

Could you please point it out if there is an actual issue on it?

There is not a github issue for this, it was created in Linear directly. I can fix that.

I agree with Engel here, this feels weird to add into an SDK 😕 But I also see why this was moved into our "backend" instead of localStorage

Just for clarity, I’m not against moving the boundaries somewhat. I just think it needs a little thinking, where is the codebase going, code design wise, and what can we do to not fall into some pitfalls

I'll rework it.

What if we could: • take settings out of the core SDK, into their own package • and make them extensible, so a client can send their own shape, but the SDK package doesn’t know the details? Just stores it

There was this one https://github.com/OpenHands/agent-canvas/issues/68

Thanks @hundreds-twilight-32833! I was working off of: https://linear.app/all-hands-ai/issue/APP-2183

Yea I realized just now we had that one from a while back that wasn't the same thing you were working from

We should merge them (or deprecate the new linear ticket).

@calm-artist-7206, that sounds like a good approach.

Nope, I lied. It was duplicated over

The github issue doesn’t mention these settings, I think?

Sorry for derailing, no it doesn't

It's probably solved, it seems to me

The new issue was just generally limit the use of local storage to only what is absolutely necessary.

nod We need some backend

I'll revert that PR and look for a better approach.

I can see a few alternatives at a quick brush 1. we do it, and hope the ‘relaxation’ of our guidelines will not go further than this little “sin” 2. make settings their own package w/ extensibility built in 3. merge the sdk with canvas in a single repo, and accept more of this kind of code design since maybe it looks and feels like a proper “backend” for this frontend

Are all the settings in the SDK now, used by the SDK? Should we be adding the non-SDK related settings as you mentioned above?

Yeah, all settings in the SDK are used by the SDK AFAIK

I like the idea of “misc_settings”

I wonder about something basic like • sdk has some

Settings

class • client apps can extend it,

MyAppSettings

• sdk accepts the second for the first, stores it and… doesn’t know the object 🤔 but maybe I’m wrong

I think that could work. Or the

Settings

class has a

misc

or

extra

settings field that could be set/get from a

MyAppSettings

object (or whatever the client wants to do with it).

I thought about the MyAppSettings idea, but the issue is that this would require changing the agent-server code before launching it, whereas the misc_settings (or whatever) solution wouldn’t. That seems like a big advantage for client app developers.

A similar problem with dynamic tools registration… 🤔

Yes. I think that should cover just about anything.

Yeah, agreed!

PR to update SDK settings (misc_settings): https://github.com/OpenHands/software-agent-sdk/pull/3543