ADR-004: Keep the base install dependency-free

• Status: Accepted
• Date: 2026-05-11
• Updated: 2026-07-28

Context

Required HTTP, validation, and telemetry libraries increase installation size, version conflicts, and security-maintenance work.

Decision

Keep project.dependencies empty. Implement the base behavior with the Python standard library and expose focused extras:

• httpx for the async HTTP transport;
• jsonschema for full tool-argument schema validation;
• otel for OpenTelemetry API support;
• dev and docs for contributor tooling.

Consequences

• The base package can make requests through urllib.
• Optional capabilities must have a defined fallback or fail clearly.
• Code paths with and without each extra require tests.
• A new required dependency needs a new architecture decision.

Rejected alternatives

Making the optional libraries required would simplify some code paths but would remove the small base-install contract.