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Integration · Evaluate

Evaluate for Google ADK agents

Capture every event flowing through Google ADK's own Event Loop — the same message format the Runner uses between your agents, the LLM, and tools — as structured trace data.

TL;DR

Prefactor evaluates your Google ADK agents — score outcome quality against the captured spans, track drift by comparing custom spans across versions and environments, and classify every run's risk on two axes: data sensitivity and action consequence.

Evaluate
pillar
TS + Py
official SDKs
Spans
LLM · tools · agents
Tokens
usage captured

How to add evaluate to Google ADK

1

Install the SDK

Add prefactor-core to your environment.

2

Register & create spans

Register the agent instance and record spans around your Google ADK run.

3

Spans flow to Prefactor

Structured trace data lands in Prefactor as your agent runs.

# pip install prefactor-core
import os
from prefactor_core import PrefactorCoreClient, PrefactorCoreConfig
from prefactor_http import HttpClientConfig

config = PrefactorCoreConfig(
    http_config=HttpClientConfig(
        api_url="https://app.prefactorai.com",
        api_token=os.environ["PREFACTOR_API_TOKEN"],
    )
)

client = PrefactorCoreClient(config)
await client.initialize()

# then instrument your Google ADK run with spans — see docs.prefactor.ai

Shown with the Prefactor SDK — a first-class, working integration today.

How the Google ADK integration actually works

What Prefactor captures for Google ADK agents

Outcome quality

Score agent outputs against your own criteria, task by task, using the continuous run history as the record to measure against.

Drift detection

Compare custom spans for the same operation across versions and environments — a model update or prompt change shows up as a difference between spans, before it shows up as a quality drop.

Risk classification

Every run scored on data sensitivity and action consequence, weighted into a Low / Medium / High / Critical classification.

Data tagging

Tag PII and other sensitive fields once in the schema; every run carrying that tag becomes searchable — the record enforcement acts on.

Trace anything — not just LLM calls

The SDK captures LLM, tool, and agent spans automatically. With withSpan you wrap any operation in your own span type — an API call, a database query, a quality check, a business action — each with its own payload and schema. It all flows into the same Observe, Evaluate, and cost views.

research_competitorquality_checkpricing_lookuprefund_decisiondoc_retrieval …anything you define
import { withSpan } from "@prefactor/core";

// Wrap ANY operation in a span you define — an API call, a quality
// check, a business action — with its own spanType, inputs and schema
await withSpan(
  {
    name: "research competitor",
    spanType: "research_competitor",
    inputs: { competitor },
  },
  async () => {
    const results = await search(competitor); // your tool / API calls
    return summarize(results);                // captured as one span
  },
);

Nest spans to capture business-level actions, and start with permissive schemas you tighten over time. Instrumentation strategy →

An example run, span by span

Illustrative — a single Google ADK run as nested spans.

Trace · Google ADK run
1.84s6 spans1,210 tokensok
invoke_agent 1840
llm: plan 440
tool: search_kb 330
retriever: vector_search 210
llm: synthesize 700
tool: send_reply 320
agentllm calltool callretriever

Illustrative example.

Manual logging vs DIY vs Prefactor

CapabilityManualDIY OpenTelemetryPrefactor
LLM / tool / agent spansHand-rolled✓ build it✓ via the SDK
Token usage captured per callBuild it
Configurable capture & samplingPartial
Hosted Admin UI (agents, instances)
Risk profiles & audit trail

Google ADK evaluate — FAQ

Does evaluation reuse the same Google ADK integration?+

Yes — evaluation runs on the spans the SDK already records for Google ADK, so there is one integration, not a separate one for evaluation.

What is quality drift and how is it detected for Google ADK agents?+

Drift is a change in behaviour over time — after a model update, a prompt change, or a data shift. Because a custom span records the same Google ADK operation every time it runs, this week's spans can be compared directly against last week's, or against a different version or environment.

How is risk scored for Google ADK runs?+

On two axes — data sensitivity (what kind of data the run touched) and action consequence (what the agent did with it) — combined via configurable weights into a Low/Medium/High/Critical classification per run.

Can I tag and find PII across Google ADK runs?+

Yes — tag the fields that matter once in your agent's data schema, and every run carrying that tag becomes searchable across your whole Google ADK deployment, not just the run it was tagged in.

Do I need a dedicated package for Google ADK?+

You can instrument Google ADK today with the framework-agnostic prefactor-core SDK; a dedicated package can be added on request.

What does Prefactor capture from Google ADK?+

Prefactor records agent-tree steps, tool invocations and LLM calls as structured, timestamped spans — so every Google ADK run is captured as trace data you can reconstruct, search and export end to end.

Does Prefactor add latency or change how Google ADK runs?+

No. Observability capture is designed to stay off your agent's critical path, so it doesn't alter your Google ADK logic or your users' responses. The only part that acts inline is the optional runtime guardrails you enable per agent — by design, so a high-risk or low-confidence action can be held for human approval before it executes.

Can I evaluate agents built with Google ADK and catch regressions?+

Yes. Once runs are captured, eval suites score quality and groundedness on real traffic, drift detection flags behaviour changes after deployment, and versioned eval history catches regressions before they ship — the observe → evaluate → improve loop applied to your Google ADK agents.

Keep going

See it on your Google ADK agents

Book a 15-minute setup and our team gets you evaluate in production.