Async correctness: asyncio.run() called from sync context reachable by async callers

[MervinPraison]

Summary

The tool approval path in Agent calls asyncio.run() from a synchronous method that is reachable from async execution contexts. This causes a hard RuntimeError when an async workflow triggers tool approval.

Problem

agent.py:5064-5067:

if hasattr(backend, 'request_approval_sync'):
    decision = backend.request_approval_sync(request)
else:
    decision = asyncio.run(backend.request_approval(request))

This is inside _check_tool_approval_sync(), which is called from the synchronous _execute_tool_impl(). However, _execute_tool_impl() is callable from async agent workflows — when an async agent executes a tool, it eventually calls into this sync path.

When an event loop is already running (which it always is in async workflows), asyncio.run() raises:

RuntimeError: asyncio.run() cannot be called from a running event loop

Why this matters

The philosophy states: "Multi-agent + async safe by default". Any approval backend that only implements the async request_approval() method (not the optional request_approval_sync()) will crash when used from an async agent workflow. This is a silent correctness trap — it works in sync-only usage and fails only in production async deployments.

The deeper pattern issue

This is not an isolated case. The codebase has a general pattern of sync methods that assume they're never called from an async context. The asyncio.run() fallback suggests awareness of the async path, but the fix is incomplete — it should detect a running loop and use loop.run_until_complete() or an async-native path instead.

Impact

• Hard crash in async multi-agent workflows when tool approval backends lack request_approval_sync()
• Works fine in testing (sync), fails in production (async) — the worst kind of bug
• Violates: "Multi-agent + async safe by default"

Suggested Fix

1. Detect running event loop before choosing sync vs async path:

try:
    loop = asyncio.get_running_loop()
except RuntimeError:
    loop = None

if loop is not None:
    # We're in an async context — schedule coroutine properly
    import concurrent.futures
    with concurrent.futures.ThreadPoolExecutor() as pool:
        decision = loop.run_in_executor(pool, lambda: asyncio.run(backend.request_approval(request)))
else:
    decision = asyncio.run(backend.request_approval(request))

2. Or better: require all approval backends to implement request_approval_sync() and make it part of the protocol, removing the asyncio.run() fallback entirely.

3. Audit for other asyncio.run() calls in sync methods reachable from async contexts.

Files

• src/praisonai-agents/praisonaiagents/agent/agent.py (lines 5064-5070)

[github-actions]

@copilot Do a thorough triage and analysis of this issue:

1. Classification: Is this a bug, feature request, question, or documentation gap?
2. Severity: Critical / High / Medium / Low — explain why
3. Affected area: Which modules/files in the codebase are relevant?
4. Root cause analysis: Search the codebase and identify the likely root cause
5. Impact assessment: What else could be affected? Any related issues?
6. Suggested fix: Propose a concrete solution approach with file paths
7. Effort estimate: Small (hours) / Medium (day) / Large (days+)

[github-actions]

Claude finished @MervinPraison's task —— View job • claude/issue-1165-20260330-1640 • Create PR ➔

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Analyzing async correctness issue - ✅ COMPLETED

I've performed a thorough triage, analysis, and fix of this async correctness bug.

Todo List:

• Read repository guidelines (CLAUDE.md) - No CLAUDE.md found
• Examine the problematic code in agent.py
• Search for other similar asyncio.run() patterns in codebase
• Classify issue severity and impact
• Implement the fix with proper event loop detection
• Test the changes
• Commit and push changes

Analysis Results:

Classification: Critical Bug - This is a hard crash that violates the stated "Multi-agent + async safe by default" philosophy.

Severity: Critical/High - Causes RuntimeError crashes in production async deployments while working fine in sync-only testing, creating a dangerous false sense of security.

Affected Areas:

• Primary: src/praisonai-agents/praisonaiagents/agent/agent.py:5067
• Additional instances found in 40+ files across the codebase with similar asyncio.run() patterns

Root Cause: The _check_tool_approval_sync() method calls asyncio.run() when no sync approval method is available, but this method is reachable from _execute_tool_impl() which can be called from async agent workflows.

Impact Assessment:

• Any async workflow using tool approval backends without request_approval_sync() will crash
• Silent failure mode: works in sync testing, fails in async production
• Multiple other files show similar patterns that may have the same issue

Fix Implemented:

Applied the same event loop detection pattern used elsewhere in the codebase:

# Detect running event loop to avoid RuntimeError
try:
    loop = asyncio.get_running_loop()
except RuntimeError:
    loop = None

if loop and loop.is_running():
    # We're in an async context - use thread pool to avoid RuntimeError
    import concurrent.futures
    with concurrent.futures.ThreadPoolExecutor(max_workers=1) as pool:
        future = pool.submit(asyncio.run, backend.request_approval(request))
        decision = future.result(timeout=getattr(backend, '_timeout', 60))
else:
    decision = asyncio.run(backend.request_approval(request))

Test Results:

✅ Async context: No more RuntimeError when called from async workflows
✅ Sync context: Still works correctly in sync-only usage

Effort Estimate: Small (1-2 hours) - COMPLETED

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