How to use
- Copy the installation command and review the source package before installing it in your own agent environment.
- Check the source document for required tools, credentials and supported hosts.
- Describe your input and desired deliverable; review the output against the source material.
npx skills add https://github.com/arcjet/skills --skill integrate-arcjet-guard-google-adk-pyBefore you start
- Installation does not include a model subscription, API allowance or permission to access your files.
- Repository stars and installation counts describe activity, not an independent quality or security test.
Rendered from the source repository. Headings, examples, code, tables, links, and referenced images are preserved.
Integrate Arcjet Guard into Python Google ADK
arcjet.guard.google_adk wraps the agent's existing Arcjet client. It never talks to the Arcjet API itself. Shared Guard fundamentals (client, rules, labels, decisions, capture, registration) live in ../arcjet/references/guards_python.md. Load that reference for anything that is not Google ADK-specific.
Official Python google-adk>=2.0.0,<3 only — not JS @google/adk (@arcjet/guard/google-adk/v2, docs https://docs.arcjet.com/guards/google-adk/), not @google/genai, not Go / Java ADK. Importing arcjet.guard.google_adk does not load LangChain, CrewAI, or the JS adapter. The extra is safe (no chromadb).
Exports: guard_tool, guard_plugin, google_adk_context. There is no inbound helper and no approval helper.
Three surfaces, one decision rule:
- An authored `LlmAgent` →
guard_tool. Assign the returned
callback to LlmAgent(before_tool_callback=...). This is not a wrap around FunctionTool.
- Runner-wide / tools you did not attach a callback to →
guard_plugin. A Runner BasePlugin whose before_tool_callback is the run-wide gate. Put it first.
- Correlation →
google_adk_contextreads a caller-owned id.
It never mints. It never reads invocation_id. It never reads trace_id. It never reads session-service auto-ids.
DENY is a skip dict with arcjetDenied: true (ArcjetDenialResult, camelCase keys). ADK treats any mapping — including {} — as skip and uses the dict as the tool result, except {} is falsy in the callback chain and the tool would run. None is the only allow. Never return {} to allow. Do not raise — a throw is a plugin / callback error, not skip.
There is no /guards/google-adk-py/ docs page. Do not invent one. The JS adapter page is https://docs.arcjet.com/guards/google-adk/ — this skill is the Python teaching. Example: `examples/fastapi-google-adk-guard` on arcjet-py main. Do not invent a second example name.
The gate is before_tool_callback skip dict
Both helpers evaluate Guard and, on DENY or unevaluated Guard under the default on_guard_error="deny", return a deny dict so the original tool function never runs. Fail closed: always return that deny dict on error — do not return None (that executes the tool) and do not raise. On ALLOW they return None. Same fail-closed default as #196: only "allow" fails open; a DENY always blocks. Core guard() still fails open (has_failed_open()).
guard_tool is the positional callback (tool, args, tool_context). guard_plugin is the keyword-only plugin callback (*, tool, tool_args, tool_context). Same skip dict. guard_tool requires action. guard_plugin defaults action to "{tool_name}.invoked".
PluginManager is first-win on a returned dict. If another plugin returns a dict first, Guard never runs. On ALLOW the plugin returns None and a later agent before_tool_callback still runs — do not stack guard_plugin and guard_tool on the same tools or Guard is called twice.
require_confirmation is not a policy gate
require_confirmation / request_confirmation / adk_request_confirmation / ADK SecurityPlugin / confirmation resume is human-in-the-loop. After a human yes, Guard still runs on the tool call. Same trap as CrewAI human_input, JS requireConfirmation, LangGraph interrupt(), OpenAI Agents needs_approval, and Genkit interrupt(). There is no inbound helper and no approval helper.
Screen inbound before runner.run_async
There is no inbound helper. Agent / model callbacks (before_model_callback, before_run_callback, on_user_message_callback) are not this policy gate. Call aj.guard(...) in the application and act on the decision. Core guard() fails open: ALLOW is not proof the rules ran. Gate on decision.has_failed_open() if this call site must fail closed; guard_tool / guard_plugin already default to that.
actor / inputs — omit and remote rules never fire
A remote policy that declares actor or typed inputs only evaluates those values when this call sends them. Pass actor= and inputs= on guard_tool / guard_plugin (and on inbound aj.guard(...)). Build each input with server_input / local_input from arcjet.guard — that is the Python policyInput equivalent. Do not import JS policyInput and do not invent a second helper.
- Omit `actor` / `inputs` and a remote policy that requires
them never fires. The call still contacts Guard; the remote rules just have nothing to read.
- A resolver that throws is degraded and fail-closes under the
default on_guard_error="deny". The tool does not run.
- `actor` is the authenticated caller, never a model-produced
tool argument. An order id or email to= the model chose is not who is acting. Take actor from a signed session, verified token, or other server-side identity.
Resolvers see the tool-call envelope: model args plus tool_name (applied last so a tool argument of that name cannot hide the callback's name).
Questions to ask the human first
Ask only what you cannot infer from the code; suggest defaults.
- Which tools are risky (external side effects, irreversible,
spends money, sends messages)? An agent you authored gets guard_tool. Runner-wide / unwrapped tools get guard_plugin.
- What limits? (e.g. "10 lookups/min per user" →
TokenBucket.)
- Who is the user for metadata — an opaque user/tenant ID
(never PII)? Default: none. That same authenticated id is actor. Put the conversation / session id you already have on guard_tool / guard_plugin (session_id=...) and on runner.run_async(..., session_id=...). That id is the correlation id, not the user. Do not use invocation_id or a session-service auto-id.
- Is an Arcjet outage unacceptable? Every helper defaults to
on_guard_error="deny". Ask explicitly about inbound screening before runner.run_async: failing closed there means the run does not start, so "allow" is a routine and legitimate choice at that one call site.
The things readers get wrong
- This is not JS `@arcjet/guard/google-adk/v2`. Import
arcjet.guard.google_adk. The JS adapter is plugin-only (no guardTool).
- There is no inbound helper. Screen with core
guard()
before runner.run_async.
require_confirmation/request_confirmationis HITL, not
policy.** Do not use SecurityPlugin as the Arcjet gate.
- **Fail closed = always return a deny dict with
arcjetDenied
on error.** Do not raise, do not return None, and never return {}.
- `guard_tool` is a callback, not a FunctionTool wrap. Assign
it to LlmAgent(before_tool_callback=...).
- **Do not stack
guard_pluginandguard_toolon the same
tools.** Plugin ALLOW still reaches the agent callback.
- Put Arcjet first on
Runner(..., plugins=). - Correlation is read, never minted. Never
invocation_id,
never trace_id, never session auto-ids.
- Key rate limits on the authenticated caller, not a
model-supplied order id. Same for actor.
- Omit `actor` / `inputs` and remote rules never fire. A
resolver throw fail-closes. Use server_input / local_input, not JS policyInput.
- Do not hand-wrap every ADK tool with raw `guard()`.
Step 1: Install and find the guard client
Install the published extra. Use the package manager the project already uses — do not pin a git SHA:
pip install "arcjet[google-adk]"
uv add "arcjet[google-adk]"The extra pulls google-adk>=2.0.0,<3. If the agent has no guard client yet, launch one once at module scope:
import os
from arcjet.guard import launch_arcjet
aj = launch_arcjet(key=os.environ["ARCJET_KEY"])Step 2: Gate an authored agent — guard_tool
Build the callback (and the agent) from the current request's authenticated caller. Do not freeze user_id / conversation_id at import time.
from google.adk.agents import LlmAgent
from google.adk.tools import FunctionTool
from arcjet.guard import TokenBucket, launch_arcjet, server_input
from arcjet.guard.google_adk import google_adk_context, guard_plugin, guard_tool
aj = launch_arcjet(key=os.environ["ARCJET_KEY"])
lookup_limit = TokenBucket(
label="order.looked-up",
bucket="lookups",
refill_rate=10,
interval_seconds=60,
max_tokens=10,
)
# Per request: authenticated caller + caller-owned conversation id.
user_id = authenticated_user_id
conversation_id = authenticated_conversation_id
def lookup_order(order_id: str) -> dict:
"""Look up an order by ID."""
return {"order_id": order_id, "status": "shipped"}
# require_confirmation=True is HITL — not this policy gate
lookup = FunctionTool(func=lookup_order)
agent = LlmAgent(
name="support_agent",
description="Help the user.",
instruction="Help the user.",
tools=[lookup],
before_tool_callback=guard_tool(
guard=aj,
action="order.looked-up",
# Authenticated caller — never a model-produced order id.
actor=user_id,
inputs=lambda call: {
"order_id": server_input.string(str(call.get("order_id", ""))),
},
rules=[lookup_limit(key=user_id, requested=1)],
session_id=conversation_id,
on_guard_error="deny",
),
)Use action + rules on guard_tool. action may be a function of the tool-call envelope (tool_name plus input). Empty rules still contacts Guard. Key rate limits on the authenticated caller, not a model-supplied order id.
Step 3: Gate the Runner — guard_plugin
Use this for tools you did not attach guard_tool to. Put Arcjet first. Do not also assign guard_tool on those same agents.
from google.adk.runners import Runner
from google.adk.sessions import InMemorySessionService
session_service = InMemorySessionService()
runner = Runner(
app_name="support",
agent=agent,
session_service=session_service,
# Arcjet first: a deny dict skips the tool before later plugins run.
plugins=[
guard_plugin(
guard=aj,
action=lambda call: f"{call['tool_name']}.invoked",
actor=user_id,
inputs=lambda call: {
"tool": server_input.string(str(call.get("tool_name", ""))),
},
rules=[lookup_limit(key=user_id, requested=1)],
session_id=conversation_id,
on_guard_error="deny",
),
],
)Step 4: Screen inbound before runner.run_async
google_adk_context accepts sessionId or session_id (same for correlationId / conversationId). CamelCase is not required.
from google.genai import types
from arcjet.guard import DetectPromptInjection
inbound = DetectPromptInjection()
app_context = {"sessionId": conversation_id}
derived = google_adk_context(app_context)
decision = await aj.guard(
label="message.received",
actor=user_id,
inputs={"content": server_input.string(user_text)},
rules=[inbound(user_text)],
correlation_id=derived.correlation_id,
)
if decision.conclusion == "DENY":
raise RuntimeError("message blocked")
if decision.has_failed_open():
raise RuntimeError("inbound guard unavailable")
async for event in runner.run_async(
user_id=user_id,
session_id=conversation_id,
new_message=types.Content(
role="user",
parts=[types.Part(text=user_text)],
),
):
_ = eventThere is no inbound helper.
Step 5: Correlation
google_adk_context reads a caller-owned id. Preference: correlationId / correlation_id, then sessionId / session_id, then conversationId / conversation_id on the object (or a bare mapping), then the same names on application-owned state, then correlation_id= / session_id= / conversation_id= kwargs, then an enclosing arcjet_sequence. It never mints an id. It never reads invocation_id (ADK always generates it). It never reads trace_id. It never reads toolContext.sessionId / session.id (session auto-ids) and never walks into .session. Do not invent a correlation id per turn. Put the same id on the helper and on runner.run_async(...). If nothing valid remains, the call is uncorrelated rather than joined to a generated id.
Verify the integration
python -m py_compile(or the project's type-check) passes.- Exercise inbound PI (before
run_async, including
has_failed_open()), a guard_tool deny-dict skip (arcjetDenied: true), a guard_plugin deny-dict skip, None execute, first-plugin short-circuit (Arcjet first), no-raise, never-{}, never-mint, omitted actor / inputs (remote rules silent), a resolver throw (fail-closed deny dict), and fail-closed (an unreachable guard → deny dict, never None). Confirm require_confirmation is never treated as the gate and that stacking both helpers does not double-call Guard on ALLOW.
- Confirm in the Arcjet Console / CLI that decisions share the
caller-owned session / conversation id — not an invocation_id or session auto-id — and that actor is the authenticated caller.
- Manual E2E with a real
ARCJET_KEYis still-to-verify until you
run it.
Worked example: `examples/fastapi-google-adk-guard` on arcjet-py main. Do not invent a second example name. Do not add an example in this skills repo.

