Python - Plugins to be async

[akozhikkot]

Is it possible to have kernel functions as async ones ?

[moonbox3]

Hi @akozhikkot, definitely - all of SK is async focused, so yes, plugins that can contain async kernel functions work well. Most of our plugin samples are so simple, we've just made them sync, but you can see the following works:

# Copyright (c) Microsoft. All rights reserved.

import asyncio

from semantic_kernel.agents import ChatCompletionAgent, ChatHistoryAgentThread
from semantic_kernel.connectors.ai.open_ai import AzureChatCompletion
from semantic_kernel.functions import kernel_function

class WeatherPlugin:
    @kernel_function(description="Provides the weather for the requested city.")
    async def get_weather(self, city: str) -> str:
        await asyncio.sleep(1.0)  # Simulate a delay for some underlying processing
        return f"The weather in {city} is sunny!"

# Simulate a conversation with the agent
USER_INPUTS = ["What is the weather like today in Seattle?"]

async def main():
    # 1. Create the agent
    agent = ChatCompletionAgent(
        service=AzureChatCompletion(),  # This assumes you have the necessary vars set in the .env file
        name="WeatherAgent",
        instructions="Answer questions about the weather.",
        plugins=[WeatherPlugin()],
    )

    # 2. Create a thread to hold the conversation
    # If no thread is provided, a new thread will be
    # created and returned with the initial response
    thread: ChatHistoryAgentThread = None

    for user_input in USER_INPUTS:
        print(f"# User: {user_input}")
        # 4. Invoke the agent for a response
        response = await agent.get_response(messages=user_input, thread=thread)
        print(f"# {response.name}: {response} ")
        thread = response.thread

    # 4. Cleanup: Clear the thread
    await thread.delete() if thread else None


if __name__ == "__main__":
    asyncio.run(main())

I see the following output:

# User: What is the weather like today in Seattle?
# WeatherAgent: The weather in Seattle today is sunny!