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+---
+title: RFC6 - Add an optional plugin context and remove pydantic from core
+---
+
+# RFC - Add an optional plugin context and remove pydantic from core
+
+- date: 2026-03-28
+- author: Francesco Bartoli
+- contact: xbartolone@gmail.com
+- status: draft
+- modified: 2026-03-29
+
+## Overview
+
+This RFC describes the introduction of a `PluginContext` dataclass to inject optional dependencies in the plugin system and the migration of core pydantic models to standard library dataclasses.
+
+Currently, pygeoapi plugins rely on global state for runtime dependencies (logger, locales) and use pydantic `BaseModel` for configuration and metadata validation in core modules. The following issues arise from this design:
+
+- plugins cannot receive per-instance dependencies, making unit testing difficult
+- pydantic is a required core dependency even though most providers do not use its validation features
+- the pydantic v1/v2 compatibility layer adds maintenance burden
+- downstream projects cannot easily extend or override validation behaviour
+
+## Proposed solution
+
+### Optional PluginContext class to add more dependencies to plugins
+
+An optional `context` parameter is added to `load_plugin()` and the base classes (`BaseProvider`, `BaseProcessor`, `BaseManager`):
+
+```python
+@dataclass
+class PluginContext:
+    config: Dict[str, Any]
+    logger: Optional[Any] = None
+    locales: Optional[List[str]] = None
+    base_url: Optional[str] = None
+```
+
+Plugins that accept `context` gain access to injected dependencies. Plugins that do not are unaffected -- the parameter defaults to `None` and all base classes fall back to global state.
+
+### Dataclasses replacing pydantic in core
+
+All pydantic `BaseModel` classes in `pygeoapi/models/` are replaced with `@dataclass` equivalents that:
+
+- validate types at construction via a shared `validate_type()` utility
+- expose a `model_dump(exclude_none=False)` method for serialization
+- can be overridden downstream via duck typing (any class with the same interface satisfies a Protocol check)
+
+The affected models are:
+
+- `APIRules` in `pygeoapi/models/config.py`
+- `OAPIFormat` in `pygeoapi/models/openapi.py`
+- `TileMatrixSetEnumType`, `TileMatrixLimitsType`, `TwoDBoundingBoxType`, `LinkType`, `GeospatialDataType`, `StyleType`, `TilePointType`, `TileSetMetadata` in `pygeoapi/models/provider/base.py`
+- `VectorLayers`, `MVTTilesJson` in `pygeoapi/models/provider/mvt.py`
+
+Pydantic remains fully usable at the plugin level. Providers that need pydantic validation (e.g. MVT providers for tile metadata) can continue using it as a plugin-level dependency.
+
+## Implementation
+
+### PluginContext
+
+- `PluginContext` dataclass is added to `pygeoapi/plugin.py`
+- `load_plugin()` accepts an optional `context` keyword argument and forwards it to the plugin constructor
+- `BaseProvider`, `BaseProcessor`, `BaseManager` accept `context: Optional[PluginContext] = None` with typed parameter
+- base classes use injected logger/locales when provided, falling back to module-level globals otherwise
+
+### Dataclass migration
+
+- a `validate_type()` function is added to `pygeoapi/models/validation.py` providing runtime type checking equivalent to pydantic's behaviour
+- each `BaseModel` is replaced with a `@dataclass` that calls `validate_type(self)` in `__post_init__`
+- `model_dump()` is implemented on each dataclass to maintain serialization compatibility
+- `MVTTilesJson` accepts and silently ignores unknown kwargs and coerces string values to int where needed, matching pydantic's behaviour when instantiated from arbitrary JSON metadata
+
+### Backwards Compatibility Issues
+
+This change is designed for full backwards compatibility:
+
+- `context` defaults to `None` -- existing plugins work unchanged
+- `model_dump()` method signature and behaviour are preserved
+- `APIRules.create()` factory method is preserved
+- all existing tests pass without modification (except `test_models.py` which switches from `ModelFactory` to `DataclassFactory` for polyfactory)
+
+The `api/` module continues to call `load_plugin()` without a context. Wiring `PluginContext` into the API layer is a natural follow-up but intentionally out of scope to keep this change focused and low-risk.
+
+### Testing
+
+- unit tests for all dataclass models (creation, validation, type errors, `model_dump`, `exclude_none`)
+- unit tests for `PluginContext` and dependency injection in plugin loading
+- integration tests verifying tile metadata serialization (`test_tiles.py`)
+- integration tests verifying `APIRules` through `get_api_rules()` and framework apps
+
+### Documentation
+
+Documentation will be updated to reflect the new `PluginContext` parameter and the dataclass-based models.
+
+## Issue and Pull Request tracking
+
+Issue: [Summit discussion](https://github.com/geopython/pygeoapi/wiki/Code-Sprint-2024-02-29-to-2024-03-01#notes), [meeting](https://github.com/geopython/pygeoapi/wiki/Meeting-2025-05-02)
+
+Pull Request: [#2307](https://github.com/geopython/pygeoapi/pull/2307)
+
+## Voting History
+
+TBD
diff --git a/docs/development/rfc/index.md b/docs/development/rfc/index.md
index 1e64e8e4..b5d3d753 100644
--- a/docs/development/rfc/index.md
+++ b/docs/development/rfc/index.md
@@ -15,3 +15,4 @@ the project.
 * [RFC3: Architectural Decision Records](3)
 * [RFC4: GitHub Issue and Pull Request management](4)
 * [RFC5: Enhanced data limit handling](5)
+* [RFC6: Add an optional plugin context and remove pydantic from core](6)