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[Feat]: PushNotificationConfig.authentication is ignored; no Authorization header is sent in push notifications #585

@Tareqox

Description

@Tareqox

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.

The A2A protocol spec states that when a client provides a PushNotificationConfig with an authentication scheme (e.g. "schemes": ["Bearer"]), the A2A server must authenticate when sending push notifications to the client’s webhook.
Example config:

"configuration": {
  "pushNotificationConfig": {
    "url": "CALLBACK-URL",
    "token": "secure-client-token-for-task-aaa",
    "authentication": {
      "schemes": ["Bearer"]
    }
  }
}

However, the Python implementation (BasePushNotificationSender) completely ignores authentication and sends no Authorization header.
It only attaches:

X-A2A-Notification-Token: <token>

This means that webhook endpoints cannot authenticate the caller and cannot follow the security model described in the spec.

This appears to be a spec compliance gap: push notification authentication is described by the protocol but not implemented in the Python server.

Describe the solution you'd like

I would like the Python server to:

  • Honor PushNotificationConfig.authentication

  • Support at least the "Bearer" scheme

  • Automatically add the appropriate Authorization header

  • Match the spec examples by sending both:

    • X-A2A-Notification-Token
    • Authorization: Bearer <token_or_jwt>

Describe alternatives you've considered

As a workaround, we currently:

  • Subclass BasePushNotificationSender
  • Override _dispatch_notification
  • Inject our own Authorization: Bearer <jwt> header

This works, but:

  • It duplicates logic that should be part of the framework
  • It breaks consistency between Python and other A2A implementations
  • It makes spec-compliant webhook security non-standard and harder to maintain

A built-in implementation would make push notification authentication reliable, consistent, and aligned with the A2A spec.

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