Pipeline SDK — tracking issue

[rickstaa]

Outcome

Developers go from "I have a Python ML model" to a discoverable BYOC
capability on Livepeer in under 5 minutes — surfaced in the
developer dashboard
ready for any caller to invoke.

The Pipeline SDK is the authoring surface that makes that possible:
write a Python class, get a containerised, BYOC-compatible,
schema-described capability.

Spec: pipeline-sdk.md

What we're building

A FastAPI + Pydantic-native authoring SDK delivered as a staircase
of small, shippable commits. Each step yields a working SDK that's
strictly more capable than the previous one. Status updated as work
lands.

Roadmap

• C1 — Pipeline base + serve() + hello-world BYOC E2E
• C2 — setup() lifecycle + HuggingFace sentiment example
• C3 — FastAPI HTTP layer (/health, /predict, /docs, /openapi.json)
• C4 — Pydantic BaseModel for inputs/outputs via signature introspection (/docs shows real fields instead of additionalProp1)
• C5 — Image upscale example (binary I/O via Pydantic Base64Bytes)
• C6 — /health state machine (LOADING / OK / ERROR / IDLE) matching go-livepeer's HealthCheck wire format
• C7 — SSE auto-detection from generator predict() + LLM chat example
• C8 — LivePipeline for trickle transport (real-time video)
• C9 — livepeer push CLI + livepeer.yaml manifest
• C10 — Schema as Docker image label (org.livepeer.pipeline.schema)
• C11 — Agent-friendly docs (AGENTS.md, expanded Pipeline docstring, examples/runner/_template/) so AI tooling and new contributors can scaffold pipelines without parsing the whole codebase
• C12 — Migrate to monorepo with PEP 420 namespace packages: split into livepeer-runner (authoring SDK), livepeer-client (caller-side BYOC), livepeer-trickle (shared transport). User-facing imports become livepeer.runner.*, livepeer.client.*, livepeer.trickle.*. See Architecture: monorepo + namespace packages below for rationale and layout.

Architecture: monorepo + namespace packages

The repo will be reorganized into a uv workspace publishing three
distributions under a shared livepeer.* namespace.

Why monorepo (vs separate repos)

• One team owns all packages — no cross-team coordination overhead
• Atomic refactors across packages (BYOC contract changes touch both runner and client)
• Shared transport code (livepeer.trickle) becomes a workspace dep, not a publish-and-depend dance
• Future users of the client will also deploy pipelines — single resolution surface for pip install livepeer-runner livepeer-client
• Single repo for issues, PRs, CI

Why namespace packages (vs flat package or extras)

• Coherent user-facing identity: livepeer.runner, livepeer.client, livepeer.trickle
• Modular install: pipeline authors install only livepeer-runner, callers only livepeer-client
• Industry-standard pattern (Apache Airflow airflow.providers.*, Google Cloud SDK google.cloud.*, Azure SDK azure.*)
• Future packages join the namespace cleanly (livepeer.cli, livepeer.adapters.cog, etc.)
• Hides the multi-package detail from users — they see one namespace

Layout

livepeer-python/                          # Repo (rename from livepeer-python-gateway)
├── pyproject.toml                         # uv workspace root
├── uv.lock                                # Single lockfile, all packages
├── packages/
│   ├── livepeer-runner/
│   │   ├── pyproject.toml                 # publishes "livepeer-runner"
│   │   ├── src/livepeer/runner/           # PEP 420: no __init__.py at livepeer/
│   │   │   ├── __init__.py
│   │   │   ├── pipeline.py
│   │   │   └── serve.py
│   │   └── examples/
│   ├── livepeer-client/
│   │   ├── pyproject.toml                 # publishes "livepeer-client"
│   │   └── src/livepeer/client/
│   └── livepeer-trickle/
│       ├── pyproject.toml                 # publishes "livepeer-trickle"
│       └── src/livepeer/trickle/
└── README.md

Critical convention

No __init__.py at src/livepeer/ — that empty directory IS the
namespace marker (PEP 420 implicit namespace package). Each
livepeer/X/__init__.py is a regular package. Adding an __init__.py
at the namespace level breaks cross-distribution discovery and has
historically bitten Airflow contributors. Add a CI check.

Tooling

• uv workspaces — one lockfile, workspace-aware deps, per-package builds via uv build --package <name>
• PyPI — three independent packages, can version sync or independent
• CI — single GitHub Actions workflow with path filtering for per-package test/build/publish
• Migration cost — ~1-2 days mechanical work (file moves, import updates, pyproject splits, CI adjustments)

Migration strategy

Clean break, no compatibility shim — the SDK is pre-1.0 and not yet
widely consumed externally. Coordinate with the in-flight fork to
contribute back upstream rather than maintain divergence.

Framework adapters (deferred — build on demand)

Migration paths for users from existing ML frameworks. Each ships as
its own pip package with its own foreign dep, isolated from core SDK.
Build only when a real migration ask shows up.

• livepeer-gateway-cog — wraps cog.BasePredictor
• livepeer-gateway-fal — wraps fal.App
• livepeer-gateway-modal — wraps Modal @app.function
• livepeer-gateway-bentoml — wraps @bentoml.service

Future protocol work (cross-team, gated on C9 + upstream go-livepeer)

Cross-cutting changes to BYOC capability identity that span the SDK,
go-livepeer, and the spec. Tracked here so the SDK side is captured;
implementation lands once C9 (livepeer push) provides the publish
hook and upstream protocol changes are agreed.

• Capability identity via OCI digest — replace free-form
  capability names with content-hashed references like
  byoc/<repo>@sha256:<digest>. Aligns BYOC with Replicate's
  reproducibility model: orchestrators advertise the digest, gateway
  pins it, callers always invoke against an exact build. SDK side:
  livepeer push captures the digest at publish time and bakes it
  into the manifest. Upstream side: orchestrator registration +
  gateway routing + OrchestratorInfo carry the digest.
• Cosign / Sigstore signing of capability digests — optional
  layer on top of digest pinning. Publisher signs the digest, gateway
  verifies signature against publisher's key. Same security property
  as a Livepeer-specific PKI but identity lives in standard registry
  / Sigstore tooling.
• Name:version aliases over digest-pinned wire — Replicate-
  style mutable names (byoc/text-reverser:v2) that resolve to a
  digest at lookup time. Wire protocol always pins the digest;
  aliases are a UX layer for humans and dashboards.

Related

• Draft PR: feat(runner): minimal Pipeline SDK + BYOC hello-world E2E #7
• Caller-side BYOC SDK: feat(byoc): BYOC streaming and payments with examples #6
• Spec follow-ups: livepeer-specs/docs/developer-journey/_followups.md
• Repo follow-ups: TODO.md
• Upstream BYOC offchain: BYOC: requires Eth keystore in -network offchain mode go-livepeer#3905, byoc: support offchain mode without an Eth keystore go-livepeer#3906
• Prior art: livepeer/ai-runner — pioneered the Pydantic-class I/O pattern this SDK adopts
• Monorepo + namespace package precedents: Apache Airflow providers, Google Cloud SDK, Azure SDK for Python
• uv workspace docs: https://docs.astral.sh/uv/concepts/projects/workspaces/
• PEP 420 (namespace packages): https://peps.python.org/pep-0420/