Feature Request: Add configurable batching for offline store writes in Feature Server push API

[devin-ai-integration[bot]]

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

Currently, when using the Feature Server's push API with streaming ingestion, offline store writes are not automatically batched. Users must either:

1. Manually batch calls to write_to_offline_store() in their application code
2. Set up a separate stream processing pipeline (e.g., Spark with Kafka) to handle batching

For users receiving high-frequency feature updates (e.g., 100 requests/second) who want to write to both online and offline stores, this creates unnecessary complexity and can lead to inefficient writes to offline stores like BigQuery or Parquet.

Describe the solution you'd like

Add configurable automatic batching for offline store writes in the Feature Server, similar to how the Spark-Kafka processor handles batching via the processingTime parameter.

Proposed configuration options:

• offline_write_batch_size: Number of records to buffer before flushing to offline store
• offline_write_batch_interval: Time interval (seconds) to wait before flushing to offline store
• Flush on whichever threshold is reached first

Example configuration in feature_store.yaml:

online_store:
  type: redis
  ...
offline_store:
  type: bigquery
  ...
feature_server:
  offline_write_batching:
    enabled: true
    batch_size: 1000
    batch_interval_seconds: 30

Describe alternatives you've considered

1. Current approach with stream processor: Users can set up a Spark Structured Streaming job that reads from Kafka and uses processingTime to control batching. This works but requires additional infrastructure and complexity.

2. Manual batching in application code: Users can implement their own buffering logic before calling write_to_offline_store(), but this duplicates effort across different applications.

3. Use only online store: Skip offline store writes entirely during streaming and rely on periodic materialization from batch sources, but this loses the real-time historical logging capability.

Additional context

This feature request came from a community discussion about streaming ingestion patterns. When using PushMode.ONLINE_AND_OFFLINE with high-frequency updates, the lack of automatic batching can result in:

• Excessive API calls to offline stores (one per feature update)
• Higher costs for cloud data warehouses like BigQuery
• Increased latency for write operations

Current implementation reference: The Spark-Kafka processor already implements batching at sdk/python/feast/infra/contrib/spark_kafka_processor.py:134-173 using foreachBatch. Similar batching logic could be added to the Feature Server's push endpoint.

Benefits:

• Simplified architecture for users who want real-time serving + historical logging
• Reduced costs for offline store writes
• Better alignment with best practices for data warehouse ingestion
• No breaking changes (feature would be opt-in via configuration)

Related code:

• Feature Server: sdk/python/feast/feature_store.py:1786-1828 (write_to_offline_store)
• Spark batching example: sdk/python/feast/infra/contrib/spark_kafka_processor.py:134-173

cc @feast-dev/maintainers

[jfw-ppi]

👀

[jfw-ppi]

I will handle this issue, please assign me if possible. I used the config suggested by Devin, but only changed the push endpoint, NOT write_to_offline_store method.

feature_server:
  offline_write_batching:
    enabled: true
    batch_size: 1000
    batch_interval_seconds: 30

This config is already implemented on a local branch, I'm still integration testing and can push later this week. Do you agree with this config switch design? @franciscojavierarceo @HaoXuAI

[jfw-ppi]

Pull Request: https://github.com/feast-dev/feast/pull/5729