[Live] `run_live()`: Fire-and-forget tool calls cause duplicate model responses via orphaned function response reinjection

[smwitkowski]

🔴 Required Information

Describe the Bug

When using run_live() (or bidi_stream_query()) with tools that the model calls after finishing speech ("fire-and-forget" pattern), the function response sent via send_content() arrives after turnComplete has already broken the receive() loop. On re-entry via the while True loop in _receive_from_model(), the orphaned response is consumed by the model as fresh input, triggering a complete duplicate response.

This affects any tool where the model has finished speaking before calling it — UI suggestion chips, session state updates, FAQ/search tools on short answers. The duplication rate correlates with how many zero-audio tool calls occur per turn: 100% on greeting turns with 3 tools, 47-80% on other tool-calling turns.

This is distinct from the multi-agent transfer duplication fixed in v1.20.0 (cf21ca3). That fix addressed agent_transfer tool calls. This covers single-agent fire-and-forget tool calls, which follow the same code path but are not covered by the existing guard.

Reproduces on adk web (Google's own dev server) — not specific to any custom infrastructure.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Create a file greeter/agent.py:

from google.adk.agents import Agent

def suggest_topics(topics: list[str]) -> dict:
 """Display follow-up topic suggestions to the user."""
 return {"displayed": topics}

root_agent = Agent(
 model="gemini-live-2.5-flash-native-audio",
 name="greeter",
 instruction=(
 "You are a friendly greeter. "
 "Greet the user warmly in 1-2 sentences. "
 "After greeting, call suggest_topics with 3 relevant follow-up topics."
 ),
 tools=[suggest_topics],
)

2. Create an empty greeter/__init__.py.

3. Start adk web:

export GOOGLE_GENAI_USE_VERTEXAI=True
export GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT=<your-project>
export GOOGLE_CLOUD_LOCATION=us-central1
adk web . --port 9001 --no-reload

4. Open http://127.0.0.1:9001 in browser, select greeter agent.

5. Click the microphone button and say "Hello" (text input uses generateContent which doesn't support the live audio model).

6. Observe two symptoms:

   • Empty turns: The model calls suggest_topics, an empty turnComplete fires (no audio), then a second turnComplete delivers the actual greeting. The user hears one greeting but the session contains two turn cycles.
   • Lost tool results: On subsequent turns, ask the model to search for topics. It may say "Sure, let me find some topics," call the tool, receive results, but then never verbalize the results — the user has to prompt again. The tool response is consumed by the feedback loop but produces no spoken output.

Alternatively, reproduce programmatically via Runner.run_live():

import asyncio
from google.adk.agents import Agent
from google.adk.runners import Runner
from google.adk.sessions import InMemorySessionService
from google.adk.agents.live_request_queue import LiveRequestQueue, LiveRequest
from google import genai

def suggest_topics(topics: list[str]) -> dict:
 """Display follow-up topic suggestions to the user."""
 return {"displayed": topics}

agent = Agent(
 model="gemini-live-2.5-flash-native-audio",
 name="greeter",
 instruction="Greet the user warmly. After greeting, call suggest_topics with 3 topics.",
 tools=[suggest_topics],
)

session_service = InMemorySessionService()
runner = Runner(agent=agent, app_name="repro", session_service=session_service)

async def run():
 session = await session_service.create_session(app_name="repro", user_id="test")
 queue = LiveRequestQueue()
 queue.send(LiveRequest(content=genai.types.Content(
 role="user", parts=[genai.types.Part(text="Hello")]
 )))
 turn_completes = 0
 async for event in runner.run_live(
 user_id="test", session_id=session.id, live_request_queue=queue
 ):
 if getattr(event, "turn_complete", None) is not None:
 turn_completes += 1
 print(f"turnComplete #{turn_completes}")
 if turn_completes >= 2:
 queue.close()
 print("BUG: Duplicate response detected")
 return

asyncio.run(run())

Expected Behavior

The model should respond once per user turn. Tool responses sent back to the model after turnComplete should not trigger a new model turn with duplicate content.

Observed Behavior

The observable symptoms vary depending on whether the orphaned tool response triggers a spoken response or an empty turn:

1. Duplicate spoken responses (common in programmatic/text input): The model responds twice with substantially identical content — a full re-generation (34-70 audio chunks). Most visible in automated testing.

2. Lost tool results (common in browser/mic input): The model calls a tool, an empty turnComplete fires immediately (fire-and-forget), and the tool results are consumed by the feedback loop but produce no spoken follow-up. The user has to re-prompt. Example from a live mic session — user asks about topics, model says "Sure, let me search," calls suggest_topics, receives results, but never verbalizes them.

3. Silent extra turns: Empty turnComplete events (no audio, no transcription) appear between spoken turns, inflating turn counts and disrupting session state.

adk web session DB from a live microphone interaction shows the pattern clearly:

+ 0ms USER: "hello"
+ 29281ms FUNCTION_CALL: suggest_topics
+ 29283ms FUNCTION_RESPONSE: suggest_topics
+ 29287ms TURN_COMPLETE ← empty, no audio (fire-and-forget)
+ 30699ms TRANSCRIPTION: "Hello there! Welcome..."
+ 30703ms TURN_COMPLETE ← actual spoken response

... later in conversation:

+129273ms FUNCTION_CALL: suggest_topics
+129275ms FUNCTION_RESPONSE: suggest_topics
+129287ms TURN_COMPLETE ← empty
+129405ms TURN_COMPLETE ← empty again, results NEVER spoken

Traced event sequence from the programmatic minimal repro:

+1164ms FUNCTION_CALL: suggest_topics
+1164ms FUNCTION_RESPONSE: suggest_topics
+1174ms TURN_COMPLETE #1 ← fire-and-forget (10ms after tool call)
+6168ms TRANSCRIPTION: "Hello! It's great to chat with you..."
+6170ms TURN_COMPLETE #2 ← DUPLICATE (5s later, full greeting)

Sub-millisecond trace data from 5 instrumented trials on a production agent (3 tools):

Trial	turnComplete (ms)	tool_response_sent (ms)	Delta	Outcome
0	455716.8	455718.2	+1.4ms	Orphaned (TC first)
1	467824.1	467821.7	-2.4ms	Sent first, model ignores
2	486189.5	486190.1	+0.6ms	Orphaned (TC first)
3	500995.8	500997.8	+2.0ms	Orphaned (TC first)
4	515989.3	515989.8	+0.5ms	Orphaned (TC first)

Environment Details

• ADK Library Version: 1.27.1 (also reproduced on 1.24.1)
• Desktop OS: macOS 15.4 (also reproduced on Debian 12 / Cloud Run)
• Python Version: 3.13.0 (also tested 3.12)
• genai SDK: google-genai 1.14.0

Model Information

• Are you using LiteLLM: No
• Which model: gemini-live-2.5-flash-native-audio (via Vertex AI, GOOGLE_GENAI_USE_VERTEXAI=True)

---

🟡 Optional Information

Regression

This affects ADK 1.24.1 through 1.27.1 (all versions tested). The v1.20.0 fix (cf21ca3) addressed multi-agent transfer duplication but did NOT cover this single-agent fire-and-forget pattern.

ADK Version	Greeting duplication rate (3 tools)
1.24.1	95% (50 trials)
1.27.1	100% (10 trials)

How often has this issue occurred?

Always (100%) on greeting turns with post-speech tool calls. 47-80% on other tool-calling turns depending on audio duration.

Minimal Reproduction Code

See Steps to Reproduce above — both adk web browser and programmatic Runner.run_live() reproductions included.

Logs

Traced output from the programmatic reproduction:

ADK Duplicate Response — Minimal Reproduction
 Model: gemini-live-2.5-flash-native-audio
 Iterations: 5
 ADK: 1.27.1

 + 1164ms FUNCTION_CALL: suggest_topics
 + 1164ms FUNCTION_RESPONSE: suggest_topics
 + 1174ms TURN_COMPLETE #1
 + 6168ms TRANSCRIPTION_FINISHED: Hello! It's great to chat with you. How can I help you today?
 + 6170ms TURN_COMPLETE #2
 Trial 0: DUPE (tc=2)
 + 1155ms FUNCTION_CALL: suggest_topics
 + 1155ms FUNCTION_RESPONSE: suggest_topics
 + 1156ms TURN_COMPLETE #1
 + 2806ms TRANSCRIPTION_FINISHED: Hello! I'm the greeter agent...
 + 2808ms TURN_COMPLETE #2
 Trial 1: DUPE (tc=2)

 BUG CONFIRMED: 5/5 trials produced duplicate responses.

Session DB from adk web live microphone interaction (ADK's own SQLite storage):

+ 0ms USER: hello
+ 29281ms FUNCTION_CALL: suggest_topics
+ 29283ms FUNCTION_RESPONSE: suggest_topics
+ 29287ms TURN_COMPLETE ← empty, fire-and-forget (no audio)
+ 30699ms TRANSCRIPTION: "Hello there! Welcome..."
+ 30703ms TURN_COMPLETE ← actual spoken response (2nd turn cycle)

Additional Context

Root cause analysis

The interaction between two code sections in base_llm_flow.py creates a feedback cycle:

Function response reinjection (lines ~536-543):

yield event
# send back the function response to models
if event.get_function_responses():
 invocation_context.live_request_queue.send_content(event.content)

The yield suspends the generator. While suspended, turnComplete arrives and is buffered. When execution resumes, send_content() fires but receive() has already exited.

The while-True loop (lines ~700+):

while True:
 async with llm_connection.receive() as resp:
 async for event in self._postprocess_live(...):
 yield event
 await asyncio.sleep(0)

After receive() returns on turnComplete, the loop re-enters receive(). The orphaned tool response lands in this new cycle as fresh input.

Why fire-and-forget happens: The model registers tools as BLOCKING (default), but when it has nothing to say alongside the tool call, it emits turnComplete with 0 audio and empty transcription simultaneously. The model treats the tool as a side-effect and does not wait.

Audio duration correlation: When the model is still streaming audio while calling a tool, the response has time to arrive before turnComplete. When the model has 0 remaining audio, the 0-2ms window is too narrow.

Scenario	Audio chunks	Response arrives before TC?	Duplicate?
Tool called mid-speech	52 chunks (~3s)	Yes	No
Tool called post-speech	0 chunks	No (0-2ms race)	Yes

Isolation testing

Layer	Duplicates	Trials
Direct Gemini API (no ADK)	0%	40
ADK with while-True loop removed	0%	275
ADK unmodified (1.27.1)	44% overall, 100% on greeting	275
adk web (Google's server)	100% on greeting	10

Proposed fixes

Option A: Send function response before yielding — TESTED, does NOT work

We tested moving send_content() before yield (10 trials). Result: 10/10 still duplicate. The race is not between send_content and yield — it's between the model sending turnComplete and ADK processing the tool call. By the time ADK sees the FUNCTION_CALL, the turnComplete is already buffered on the WebSocket. send_content() only enqueues to the LiveRequestQueue; it doesn't prevent the already-buffered turnComplete from being read by receive().

# Tested (still races — turnComplete already buffered before send_content runs):
if event.get_function_responses():
 invocation_context.live_request_queue.send_content(event.content)
yield event
# Result: 10/10 DUPE

Option B: Drain the WebSocket receive buffer before re-entering the while-True loop. Ensure any pending send_content responses are delivered and acknowledged before receive() reads the next message.

Option C: Extend the v1.20.0 guard (cf21ca3) to cover fire-and-forget tool calls (not just agent transfers). Detect when a cycle had function responses + 0 audio output, and suppress re-entry.

Option D (validated): Remove the while-True loop entirely

We monkey-patched _receive_from_model() to process one receive() cycle and return (no while True re-entry). Result: 0% duplication across 275 trials (10 conversation patterns, 4 tiers, LLM-judged). Trade-off: +11pp no-response rate (the loop was implicitly retrying on silence), mitigable with client-side retry.

Happy to contribute a PR if the team confirms the preferred direction.

Related Issues

• [Live] Multiple responses after agent transfer and repeat response on session resumption #3395 — Multiple responses after agent transfer + session resumption (multi-agent variant)
• Single input triggers duplicate LLM processing cycle #930 — Single input triggers duplicate LLM processing cycle (closed as logging-only)
• LiteLLM Streaming Content Duplication in Tool Call Responses #3697 — Streaming content duplication in tool call responses
• ADK removes all events between last function response and function event that triggered it #2215 — ADK removes events between function responses
• v1.20.0 (cf21ca3) — Multi-agent transfer duplication fix; single-agent NOT covered
• v1.22.0 (e32f017) — Orphaned function responses from ContextFilterPlugin; different mechanism
• python-genai #2117 — Premature turnComplete (P2, ~40 devs, 8 months open)
• LiveKit #4554 — Gemini Live speaks twice after function calls
• Pipecat #1564 — Long-running function calls break tool response processing
• Google AI Forum — SILENT scheduling doesn't prevent duplicate audio

[seanzhou1023]

The function response is not orphaned — it's the expected agentic loop flow:

1. Model returns greeting + function_call + turnComplete upon receving "hello"
2. ADK executes the tool, sends function response back via send_content()
3. Model receives the function response and responds to it
4. _receive_from_model re-enters receive() to pick up that response

everything works expected, the problem is in the agent instruction, we didn't specify what to actually respond upon receiving the function response.

I don't quite understaind the comparison with "Direct Gemini API (no ADK)" above, could you show the codes for it ? Comparing Agentic Loop with single Gemini API call doesn't make sense to me. Agentic loop is exactly what ADK is providing.

[smwitkowski]

@seanzhou1023 Thank you for looking into this.

On the agentic loop being "expected behavior"

We agree that the while True loop in _receive_from_model() is designed to handle tool call -> response -> model follow-up sequences. That pattern works correctly for tools where the model intends to speak about the result (e.g., search tools).

However, our instrumented traces show a different pattern. Here is the exact event sequence from a traced trial (ADK 1.27.1, gemini-live-2.5-flash-native-audio):

Cycle 1:
 +0ms receive_enter
 +544ms function_call: set_session_state → response sent
 +736ms function_call: choice_group → response sent 
 +1094ms function_call: set_session_state → response sent
 +1419ms transcription: "Hello Sailor! I'm Ruby..."
 +1500ms audio_chunk x52
 +4274ms transcription_finished (full greeting)
 +4279ms turn_complete (52 audio chunks) ← REAL response
 +4281ms receive_exit

Cycle 2 (while True re-enters):
 +4283ms receive_enter
 +4709ms function_call: choice_group ← NEW call, different ID
 +4713ms transcription_finished ("") ← empty
 +4717ms turn_complete (0 audio chunks) ← fire-and-forget
 +4718ms receive_exit
 +4718ms tool_response_sent (choice_group) ← orphaned into cycle 3

Cycle 3 (while True re-enters again):
 +5242ms transcription: "Hello there! I'm Ruby..." ← DUPLICATE
 +5293ms audio_chunk x34
 +7207ms turn_complete (34 audio chunks) ← duplicate greeting

The model sent turnComplete with 0 audio chunks and empty transcription in cycle 2. It called the tool as a fire-and-forget side-effect and ended the turn without speaking. The while True loop re-enters receive(), the orphaned choice_group response lands in cycle 3 as if it were new input, and the model generates a complete second greeting. Prompt tokens increase from 1523 to 1603 (+80 tokens), confirming the tool response was injected as new context.

This is not "the model responding to a function result it needs to act on." The model already delivered a complete greeting with 52 audio chunks in cycle 1. It has nothing more to say.

On the instruction fix:

We cannot instruct the model to "not respond after receiving a choice_group response" because:

1. The model already IS trying not to respond (0 audio, empty transcription in cycle 2)
2. The duplication is triggered by the tool response arriving in a new receive cycle, which the model cannot distinguish from fresh input
3. We also use tools like FAQ search where the model MUST speak after receiving the function response — a blanket instruction would break those tools
4. Our minimal repro with the simplest possible instruction ("Greet warmly. Call suggest_topics.") duplicates responses 10 out of 10 times on adk web

On the direct Gemini API comparison:

Our direct API test is not a "single Gemini API call." It is a persistent live session with full tool call/response handling — the same pattern ADK uses internally. The only difference is we do not wrap receive() in a while True that automatically re-enters after turnComplete. Result: 0/40 duplicates vs. ADK's 100% duplication on greeting turns.

Here is the direct API test:

async with client.aio.live.connect(
 model="gemini-2.5-flash-native-audio-latest",
 config=types.LiveConnectConfig(
 response_modalities=["AUDIO"],
 system_instruction=types.Content(parts=[types.Part(text=system_instruction)]),
 tools=tools,
 ),
) as session:
 # Send user message
 await session.send_client_content(
 turns=types.Content(role="user", parts=[types.Part(text="Hello")]),
 turn_complete=True,
 )

 # Receive with full tool handling
 async for msg in session.receive():
 if msg.tool_call:
 # Send tool responses back — same as ADK does
 responses = [
 types.FunctionResponse(name=fc.name, id=fc.id, response={...})
 for fc in msg.tool_call.function_calls
 ]
 await session.send_tool_response(function_responses=responses)

 if msg.server_content and msg.server_content.turn_complete:
 turn_complete_count += 1

 # Check for second turnComplete (the duplicate)
 async with asyncio.timeout(8.0):
 async for msg in session.receive():
 if msg.server_content and msg.server_content.turn_complete:
 turn_complete_count += 1 # Would indicate duplication
 break

Same model, same tools, same instructions, same tool response handling. 0/40 duplicates. The while True re-entry is the only variable.

On adk web reproducing the bug:

We ran adk web (Google's own dev server) with this minimal agent:

# greeter/agent.py — complete file, 35 lines
from google.adk.agents import Agent

def suggest_topics(topics: list[str]) -> dict:
 """Display follow-up topic suggestions to the user."""
 return {"displayed": topics}

root_agent = Agent(
 model="gemini-live-2.5-flash-native-audio",
 name="greeter",
 instruction=(
 "You are a friendly greeter. "
 "Greet the user warmly in 1-2 sentences. "
 "After greeting, call suggest_topics with 3 relevant follow-up topics."
 ),
 tools=[suggest_topics],
)

Steps to reproduce:

export GOOGLE_GENAI_USE_VERTEXAI=True
export GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT=<project>
export GOOGLE_CLOUD_LOCATION=us-central1
adk web . --port 9001 --no-reload
# Open browser, select "greeter", click mic, say "Hello"

Results: 10/10 duplication in both text-only and audio modes. The session.db file shows every suggest_topics call followed by two TURN_COMPLETEs.

On our proposed fix:

The core issue is that the while True loop does not distinguish between:

• (a) Tool calls where the model is waiting for the response before speaking — the model has NOT sent turnComplete
• (b) Fire-and-forget tool calls where the model has already spoken and ended the turn — the model HAS sent turnComplete with 0 audio

Case (a) is handled correctly within a single receive() cycle. Case (b) should not trigger a re-entry, but the unconditional while True makes no distinction.

Our PR (#4907) adds ~20 lines that track whether content has been yielded and whether a function response was processed in the current cycle. After content delivery, the loop only continues if a function response is pending. 0/275 duplication across 10 test sequences, with all existing unit tests passing.

Happy to discuss further or provide additional trace data.

[wuliang229]

@smwitkowski I was occasionally able to reproduce the duplicate greetings. Most of the time there's only one greeting but multiple turn completes. Will need to take a deeper look to see why this is happening. Will update next week.