- Target invariants, not completion claims; these supersede the crate guidance below where they conflict
- Keep this crate the product-specific PyO3 consumer of `litellm-host-python`
  - Own registration, input projection, the route host and the caller callables it answers operations with (file readers, token providers), public response/error construction and the per-call composition of machine, route host and callback contract
  - Legacy callback sharing (the caller's args, kwargs and request object, body/header roots, re-aliasing unchanged body keys) lives in `litellm-callbacks-legacy` behind `PublicCall` and `run_legacy_call`; the bridge hands the public call over and keeps no copy
  - Value-oriented execution, sync waiting, nested-runtime checks, signal polling and panic containment live in `litellm-host-python`; native async work uses `pyo3-async-runtimes`, Serde output uses `Pythonized<T>`
  - Core owns typed native state, the route machine, provider preparation/I/O and normalization; the host driver owns terminal events; the legacy adapter in `litellm-callbacks-legacy` owns `Logging` dispatch policy
  - Python, Rust SDK and gateway use one lifecycle-bearing core route entrypoint; provider helpers stay private, never bridge-accessible transport drivers
  - Built-in provider/config/secret/auth/document preparation stays in Rust; caller-authored callbacks and focused Python-file reads run only at core-selected points
- Target GIL-enabled CPython explicitly with `#[pymodule(gil_used = true)]`; detach Rust-only work
  - Free-threading requires separate runtime/concurrency validation; omitting the attribute does not opt out on PyO3 0.28+
- Preserve public argument binding and Python object provenance
  - Project only consumed fields at reference read points; no eager whole-graph serialization or equality-based alias reconstruction
  - Preserve provider-specific upload/submission/poll observation and encoding boundaries; signed/build-captured bytes must not be silently reserialized
- Conversion errors and every failure after the call starts are terminal
  - Disabled/unavailable native execution may select legacy once; callback exceptions never authorize fallback or replay
- Use one ordinary inline `async def` driver in `litellm/rust_bridge/lifecycle.py`, with the native handle and call driver in `litellm-host-python`
  - Contract: `start`, `resume_value`, `resume_error`, idempotent `close`; explicitly tagged `Await`/`Complete` preserve awaitable final values
  - Validate Created/Running/Suspended/Closed protocol states; the machine yields ops, the driver emits one terminal event, the adapter chooses dispatch policy
  - Defer effectful setup/context reads/timestamps until start; unstarted-handle destruction releases inputs independently of Python `finally`
  - Catch only the selected await's errors; start/resume errors propagate, `GeneratorExit` closes without further awaits
  - Inline hooks preserve caller task/thread/loop and context writes; `into_future` creates a separate task and cannot satisfy this contract
- Finalize fallible public response/error construction, replacements and metadata before terminal dispatch
- Make ownership safe across suspension, re-entry, cancellation and GC
  - Keep native provider state typed in core; do not shuttle it through opaque Python transport/response classes
  - Prefer one retained `Py<PyBaseException>` via `PyErr::into_value(py)`; reconstruct transient `PyErr`s, preserving identity, traceback, cause and context
  - Traverse every owned Python edge, including duplicate references; traversal cannot call Python
  - Take state out and mark Running under a short borrow, release borrows/locks before Python invocation, publish terminal state before finalizer-capable drops
  - Close/GC/deferred release are idempotent and re-entry-safe, including during Rust unwinding; release only owned references, never clear caller containers or mask the selected error
  - The machine owns its in-flight provider future; `interrupt` drops it synchronously, so provider captures are released before the driver returns and no task outlives the call
- Verify behavior through a fresh, provenance-checked installed extension and positive native execution evidence before replacing the custom coroutine
  - Cover admitted provider workflows, binding/read-point/identity behavior, failure continuation, finalization, no replay, deferred gates, re-entry, GC and cancellation termination
  - Measure real conversion/copy costs before optimizing; preserve input contracts and capture lifetimes with `PyBackedBytes`, and lookup timing when interning names
  - Ship accurate `_native.pyi` declarations and typing markers; distinguish Future-returning bindings from coroutine-returning bindings
- References: [ownership](https://pyo3.rs/v0.29.2/types.html), [GC](https://pyo3.rs/v0.29.2/class/protocols.html#garbage-collector-integration), [exception transfer](https://docs.rs/pyo3/0.29.2/pyo3/struct.PyErr.html#method.into_value), [re-entry](https://pyo3.rs/v0.29.2/class/call.html)
  - [GIL policy](https://pyo3.rs/v0.29.2/free-threading.html), [experimental async limits](https://pyo3.rs/v0.29.2/async-await.html), [task conversion](https://docs.rs/pyo3-async-runtimes/0.29.0/pyo3_async_runtimes/fn.into_future_with_locals.html), [native cancellation/delivery](https://docs.rs/pyo3-async-runtimes/0.29.0/pyo3_async_runtimes/tokio/fn.future_into_py.html)
  - [performance](https://pyo3.rs/v0.29.2/performance.html), [PyBackedBytes](https://docs.rs/pyo3/0.29.2/pyo3/pybacked/struct.PyBackedBytes.html), [typing](https://pyo3.rs/v0.29.2/python-typing-hints.html)

Rules for `litellm-rust/crates/python-bridge`.

## Responsibility

`python-bridge` is the PyO3 boundary between Python LiteLLM and Rust transforms.
Keep this crate thin. It exposes LiteLLM Rust APIs, assembles domain requests,
maps domain errors to Python exceptions, and delegates generic conversion and
GIL handling to `litellm-host-python`.

## Bridge Shape

- Prefer one stable method per top-level LiteLLM route, for example
  `messages(...)`, calling the matching `litellm-core` entrypoint.
- Do not add one exported PyO3 function per provider helper unless there is a
  measured reason.
- Provider dispatch belongs in the `litellm-core` route module (e.g.
  `litellm_core::messages`), not in this PyO3 crate.
- Python owns rollout state and fallback. Rust should return errors; Python
  decides whether to raise or fall back. For a rust-only provider/route (no
  Python reference), the Python side is a thin dispatch that calls Rust and
  raises when the bridge is unavailable, with no fallback.
- Keep the Python interface minimal (well under 100 lines per route): it only
  marshals inputs and calls Rust. Do not add per-route feature flags, and do
  not put provider dispatch in `litellm/main.py`; it lives in a thin dispatch
  class under `litellm/llms/<provider>/<route>/`.

## Data Handling

- OCR payloads can contain personal data and large base64 images. Do not log
  payloads or provider responses.
- Avoid copying large payloads more than needed. The current JSON round-trip is
  acceptable for the first scaffold, but future performance work should evaluate
  direct PyO3 conversion before expanding Rust coverage to image-heavy paths.
- Do not expose raw Rust errors that include document contents or upstream
  bodies.

## Tests

- `cargo test --workspace` must compile this crate.
- Python tests must cover bridge disabled, bridge enabled, and module-missing
  fallback behavior for every exposed route.