Python: [BREAKING]: removed display_name, renamed context_providers, middleware and AggregateContextProvider

[eavanvalkenburg]

Motivation and Context

First round of updates to based on the reviews we've been going through.

• Used attributes rather then properties for members of protocols (items 1 and 2)
• Removed display_name (item 3)
• Renamed context_provider to singular, only allow 1 context provider, removed AggregateContextProvider from code, added sample with that as inspiration, if users need multiple they can leverage that or roll their own. (item 5)
• Renamed middleware to multiple (middlewares), and mandate a list of middlewares instead of single or list. (item 6)
• refactored some test classes accordingly
• remove some init.py files from test folders, as that breaks test discovery in some instances

Addresses several items in #2902

Description

Contribution Checklist

• The code builds clean without any errors or warnings
• The PR follows the Contribution Guidelines
• All unit tests pass, and I have added new tests where possible
• Is this a breaking change? If yes, add "[BREAKING]" prefix to the title of the PR.

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

This pull request implements breaking changes to simplify and clarify the Agent Framework API by:

• Removing the display_name property (agents now use name or id directly)
• Converting AgentProtocol from properties to attributes for better protocol definition
• Renaming middleware to middlewares (consistently as a list)
• Renaming context_providers to context_provider (singular)
• Removing AggregateContextProvider from the core framework and providing it as a sample implementation

Key Changes

• Simplification of agent identification by removing redundant display_name
• Consistent parameter naming with middlewares always being a list
• Singular context_provider parameter reflecting that agents have one provider (which can be an aggregate)

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 91 out of 92 changed files in this pull request and generated 11 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
Python samples (middleware/*.py)	Updated all middleware parameter references from middleware to middlewares
Python samples (context_providers/*.py)	Updated context provider parameter from context_providers to context_provider
Python samples (observability/*.py)	Replaced agent.display_name with agent.name
Python samples (aggregate_context_provider.py)	New sample showing how to implement AggregateContextProvider
agent_framework/_agents.py	Changed AgentProtocol to use attributes instead of properties; removed display_name
agent_framework/_memory.py	Removed AggregateContextProvider class from core
agent_framework/_clients.py	Updated parameter names to context_provider and middlewares
agent_framework/_middleware.py	Updated all middleware references and documentation
agent_framework/_workflows/	Updated handoff and participant logic to use name/id instead of display_name
agent_framework/observability.py	Updated telemetry to use name or id fallback
TypeScript files (devui/frontend)	Updated to reflect new parameter names
Test files	Updated all test cases to use new parameter names and removed display_name assertions
Integration test files	Removed init.py files and fixed import paths

[markwallace-microsoft]

Python Test Coverage Report •

File	Stmts	Miss	Cover	Missing
packages/azurefunctions/agent_framework_azurefunctions
_orchestration.py	99	12	87%	109–110, 114, 333, 338–345
packages/copilotstudio/agent_framework_copilotstudio
_agent.py	75	4	94%	153–154, 189, 197
packages/core/agent_framework
_agents.py	275	50	81%	349–351, 397, 451, 619, 800, 803–805, 941–944, 946, 949–951, 1047, 1088, 1090, 1099–1104, 1110, 1112, 1122–1123, 1130, 1132–1133, 1141–1145, 1153–1154, 1156, 1161, 1163, 1197, 1242–1243, 1245, 1247, 1258
_clients.py	102	9	91%	267, 378, 426–429, 473, 802, 804
_memory.py	26	5	80%	113, 134, 152, 162, 179
_middleware.py	404	11	97%	805, 821, 868–869, 1072–1073, 1118, 1268, 1486, 1541–1542
_serialization.py	105	10	90%	335, 347–348, 357, 516, 532, 542, 554, 610, 613
_threads.py	136	21	84%	145, 177–178, 180, 257–260, 343, 355, 467–471, 474–475, 494, 496, 499, 505
_tools.py	711	67	90%	224, 270, 321, 323, 486, 518–519, 621, 623, 643, 661, 675, 687, 692, 694, 701, 734, 788–790, 831, 854, 856–865, 874–880, 916, 926, 1110, 1524–1528, 1649, 1718, 1811, 1817, 1860–1861, 1874–1875, 2004, 2045–2046, 2074–2076, 2118–2119, 2184–2185, 2192–2193
observability.py	642	154	76%	244, 312–317, 319, 321–322, 324, 326–328, 331–333, 338–339, 345–346, 352–353, 360, 362–364, 367–369, 374–375, 381–382, 388–389, 396, 433, 436, 439–441, 444, 447–448, 451–453, 455–457, 460, 547, 549, 631, 649–650, 652, 655, 663–664, 667–670, 672, 675–677, 680–681, 694–700, 702–711, 714–718, 721–724, 726–729, 732–733, 741, 842, 844, 869–871, 993, 995, 999–1004, 1006, 1009–1013, 1015, 1285, 1365–1367, 1439–1441, 1614, 1622, 1626, 1630, 1636, 1638, 1640, 1648, 1658, 1699–1702, 1716, 1718, 1725, 1741, 1744, 1804, 1820, 1824, 1958, 1960
packages/core/agent_framework/_workflows
_handoff.py	615	142	76%	63, 76–78, 85–86, 88, 90, 204, 212–217, 220–221, 235, 240, 259–262, 271–273, 284, 287, 297–308, 310, 316, 322, 357, 373, 375, 378, 380, 429, 538, 547–552, 554–555, 566, 583, 601, 616, 628, 650, 662–664, 670, 713–715, 718–721, 723–725, 1087, 1092, 1096, 1101, 1176, 1186, 1279, 1282, 1298, 1303, 1315, 1321–1324, 1367–1368, 1507, 1789, 1801, 1824, 1830, 1839, 1843, 1848, 1868, 1890, 1901, 1913, 1946, 1957, 1961, 1963–1967, 1983–1985, 1987–1994, 1996–1998, 2000–2001, 2003, 2005, 2025–2031, 2033, 2039
_participant_utils.py	76	3	96%	40, 52, 65
_sequential.py	112	16	85%	73, 87, 158, 178, 189, 195, 241, 243–245, 260, 267, 297, 301–302, 315
packages/core/agent_framework/openai
_shared.py	100	12	88%	63, 69–72, 150, 152, 159, 161, 174, 250, 274
packages/purview/agent_framework_purview
_middleware.py	93	11	88%	68–70, 95, 97–99, 103, 163, 187, 191
TOTAL	16803	2604	84%

Python Unit Test Overview

Tests	Skipped	Failures	Errors	Time
2577	154 💤	0 ❌	0 🔥	1m 1s ⏱️