feat: Add skip_feature_view_validation parameter to push() for ODFVs with missing UDF dependencies#5894

Copilot

What this PR does / why we need it:

store.push() fails with ModuleNotFoundError when On-Demand Feature Views contain UDFs that reference modules unavailable in the current environment (e.g., training code not deployed to serving infrastructure). This blocks data ingestion in production environments.

Changes

Transformation deserialization bypass:

PandasTransformation.from_proto() and PythonTransformation.from_proto() accept skip_udf parameter
Returns explicit identity functions instead of deserializing with dill.loads() when enabled
Preserves type signatures for both DataFrame and Dict transformations

Call chain propagation:

push(), push_async(), write_to_online_store(), write_to_online_store_async() accept skip_feature_view_validation parameter
Flows through list_all_feature_views() → registry → proto_registry_utils
OnDemandFeatureView.from_proto() propagates skip_udf to transformation parsing

Selective UDF skipping (Critical safeguard):

skip_feature_view_validation only skips UDF deserialization for ODFVs with write_to_online_store=False
ODFVs with write_to_online_store=True always load their actual UDFs since they will be executed during push operations
This prevents hiding legitimate errors where the UDF is actually needed for transformation execution
Logic implemented in list_on_demand_feature_views() to check write_to_online_store flag before applying skip_udf

Caching strategy:

Modified list_all_feature_views() and list_on_demand_feature_views() to support conditional caching
When skip_udf=False (default): Uses cached versions (_list_all_feature_views_cached, _list_on_demand_feature_views_cached) with @registry_proto_cache_with_tags decorator for performance
When skip_udf=True: Bypasses caching to prevent cache pollution with dummy UDFs
Maintains backward compatibility by preserving caching behavior for default case
The @registry_proto_cache_with_tags decorator was moved from the public functions to new internal cached versions because the decorator's signature only supports 3 parameters (registry_proto, project, tags) and cannot accommodate the additional skip_udf parameter

API Consistency:

Parameter named skip_feature_view_validation to match the naming convention from PR feat: Add skip_feature_view_validation parameter to FeatureStore.apply() and plan() #5859 for apply() and plan() methods
Ensures consistent API across all FeatureStore methods that handle feature view validation

Usage

# Before: Fails if UDF references unavailable modules
store.push("push_source", df)

# After: Skips UDF deserialization for ODFVs that won't execute transformations
store.push("push_source", df, skip_feature_view_validation=True)

Important: ODFVs with write_to_online_store=True will always have their UDFs deserialized even when skip_feature_view_validation=True, as their transformations are executed during push. Only ODFVs that don't execute transformations during push can safely skip UDF loading.

All parameters default to False for backward compatibility. No API breaking changes.

Which issue(s) this PR fixes:

Addresses ModuleNotFoundError when pushing data with ODFVs containing UDFs that reference environment-specific modules.

Misc

CodeQL scan: 0 alerts
Added unit tests for transformation skip logic and parameter propagation
Added test test_skip_feature_view_validation_only_applies_to_non_writing_odfvs() to validate that write_to_online_store=True ODFVs always load real UDFs
Follows pattern suggested by @franciscojavierarceo for consistency with apply() method
Parameter naming matches PR feat: Add skip_feature_view_validation parameter to FeatureStore.apply() and plan() #5859 (skip_feature_view_validation) for API consistency across all FeatureStore methods
Caching implementation reviewed and confirmed to maintain performance for default use case while preventing cache pollution when skip_feature_view_validation is enabled
Follow-up issue recommended for cleaning up async methods (write_to_online_store_async, push_async) as async functionality should be server-specific going forward

Original prompt

This section details on the original issue you should resolve

<issue_title>Read On-Demand Feature View and deserialization while pushing data</issue_title>
<issue_description> ## Description

A ModuleNotFoundError occurs when calling store.push() to ingest data into the Online Store. The error is triggered when Feast attempts to synchronize the registry and encounters an On-Demand Feature View.

Because Feast uses dill to serialize/deserialize User Defined Functions (UDFs), it fails if the execution environment lacks the specific Python module (in this case, training) that was present when the UDF was originally defined and registered.
🔍 Error Traceback

File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/data_dataflow/core/io.py", line 201, in process
    self.store.push(push_source_name, df, to=PushMode.ONLINE)  # type: ignore
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/feast/feature_store.py", line 1698, in push
    self.write_to_online_store(
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/feast/feature_store.py", line 1946, in write_to_online_store
    feature_view, df = self._get_feature_view_and_df_for_online_write(
                       ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/feast/feature_store.py", line 1904, in _get_feature_view_and_df_for_online_write
    for fv_proto in self.list_all_feature_views(allow_registry_cache)
                    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/feast/feature_store.py", line 294, in list_all_feature_views
    return self._list_all_feature_views(allow_cache, tags=tags)
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/feast/feature_store.py", line 269, in _list_all_feature_views
    for fv in self.registry.list_all_feature_views(
              ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/feast/infra/registry/registry.py", line 647, in list_all_feature_views
    return proto_registry_utils.list_all_feature_views(
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/feast/infra/registry/proto_registry_utils.py", line 67, in wrapper
    cache_value = func(registry_proto, project, tags)
                  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/feast/infra/registry/proto_registry_utils.py", line 243, in list_all_feature_views
    + list_on_demand_feature_views(registry_proto, project, tags)
      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/feast/infra/registry/proto_registry_utils.py", line 67, in wrapper
    cache_value = func(registry_proto, project, tags)
                  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/feast/infra/registry/proto_registry_utils.py", line 285, in list_on_demand_feature_views
    OnDemandFeatureView.from_proto(on_demand_feature_view)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/feast/on_demand_feature_view.py", line 400, in from_proto
    transformation = PandasTransformation.from_proto(
                     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/feast/transformation/pandas_transformation.py", line 150, in from_proto
    udf=dill.loads(user_defined_function_proto.body),
        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/dill/_dill.py", line 311, in loads
    return load(file, ignore, **kwds)
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/dill/_dill.py", line 297, in load
    return Unpickler(file, ignore=ignore, **kwds).load()
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/dill/_dill.py", line 452, in load
    obj = StockUnpickler.load(self)
          ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/site-packages/dill/_dill.py", line 442, in find_class
    return StockUnpickler.find_class(self, module, name)
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'training'

Steps to Reproduce

- Define an OnDemandFeatureView in an environment where put transformation code to a local module.

- The UDF inside this view references a function, class, or constant from the training module.

- Run feast apply to save the definition to the remote registry (e.g., S3, GCS, or SQL).

- Run store.push() from a different environment that does not have the training module installed in its Python path.

Root Cause Analysis

This is a serialization dependency issue. When dill (the library Feast uses for pickling) serializes a function, it often stores references to the modules where global variables or dep...

Fixes Read On-Demand Feature View and deserialization while pushing data #5893

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Co-authored-by: franciscojavierarceo <4163062+franciscojavierarceo@users.noreply.github.com>

franciscojavierarceo

@copilot maybe we should word it as skip_feature_view_validation to be consistent with #5859

…tency Co-authored-by: franciscojavierarceo <4163062+franciscojavierarceo@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot

@copilot maybe we should word it as skip_feature_view_validation to be consistent with #5859

Renamed in commit 885536e. Changed all occurrences of skip_validation to skip_feature_view_validation to match the naming convention from PR #5859.

devin-ai-integration

Devin Review found 1 potential issue.

View issue and 4 additional flags in Devin Review.

Initial plan

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Copilot AI assigned Copilot and franciscojavierarceo Jan 23, 2026

Copilot started work on behalf of franciscojavierarceo January 23, 2026 06:35 View session

Copilot AI and others added 4 commits January 23, 2026 06:39

Add skip_validation parameter to push method and related methods …

6b2bf7f

Co-authored-by: franciscojavierarceo <4163062+franciscojavierarceo@users.noreply.github.com>

Fix caching decorator compatibility with skip_udf parameter …

f9542e5

Co-authored-by: franciscojavierarceo <4163062+franciscojavierarceo@users.noreply.github.com>

Apply code formatting with ruff …

79d6744

Co-authored-by: franciscojavierarceo <4163062+franciscojavierarceo@users.noreply.github.com>

Use explicit identity functions instead of lambda for better type safety …

a735bfb

Co-authored-by: franciscojavierarceo <4163062+franciscojavierarceo@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot AI changed the title ~~[WIP] Fix ModuleNotFoundError in On-Demand Feature View~~ Jan 23, 2026

Copilot AI requested a review from franciscojavierarceo January 23, 2026 06:51

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Copilot started work on behalf of franciscojavierarceo January 23, 2026 18:45 View session

Copilot AI and others added 2 commits January 23, 2026 18:48

Only skip UDF validation for ODFVs without write_to_online_store …

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Co-authored-by: franciscojavierarceo <4163062+franciscojavierarceo@users.noreply.github.com>

Minor wording improvement in test documentation …

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Co-authored-by: franciscojavierarceo <4163062+franciscojavierarceo@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot AI requested a review from franciscojavierarceo January 23, 2026 18:50

Copilot finished work on behalf of franciscojavierarceo January 23, 2026 18:50

Copilot started work on behalf of franciscojavierarceo January 24, 2026 05:15 View session

Rename skip_validation to skip_feature_view_validation for API consis… …

885536e

…tency Co-authored-by: franciscojavierarceo <4163062+franciscojavierarceo@users.noreply.github.com>

Copilot AI changed the title ~~feat: Add skip_validation parameter to push() for ODFVs with missing UDF dependencies~~ Jan 24, 2026

Copilot finished work on behalf of franciscojavierarceo January 24, 2026 05:20

franciscojavierarceo added 3 commits January 25, 2026 00:01

Merge branch 'master' into copilot/fix-module-not-found-error

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Merge branch 'master' into copilot/fix-module-not-found-error

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Merge branch 'master' into copilot/fix-module-not-found-error

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feat: Add skip_feature_view_validation parameter to push() for ODFVs with missing UDF dependencies#5894