ADK creating unicode escape error

[kayleigh222]

Environment details

• OS type and version:
• Python version: 3.13.7
• pip version: 25.2
• google-cloud-aiplatform version: 1.133.0

Steps to reproduce

1. adk create test-agent
2. add requirements.txt file with
   google-adk
   google-cloud-aiplatform[adk,agent_engines]
3. Run adk deploy agent_engine
   --project="roa-agent"
   --region="us-central1"
   --staging_bucket="gs://roa-agent"
   --display_name="Test Agent"
   test-agent
4. google cloud logs say there's a unicode escape error - which must be being created by the ADK

Code example

from google.adk.agents.llm_agent import Agent

root_agent = Agent(
    model='gemini-2.5-flash',
    name='root_agent',
    description='A helpful assistant for user questions.',
    instruction='Answer user questions to the best of your knowledge',
)

Stack trace

"Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/multiprocessing/process.py", line 314, in _bootstrap
    self.run()
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/multiprocessing/process.py", line 108, in run
    self._target(*self._args, **self._kwargs)
  File "/home/appuser/.cache/pypoetry/virtualenvs/reasoning-engine-assembly-service-MATOk_fk-py3.12/lib/python3.12/site-packages/uvicorn/_subprocess.py", line 80, in subprocess_started
    target(sockets=sockets)
  File "/home/appuser/.cache/pypoetry/virtualenvs/reasoning-engine-assembly-service-MATOk_fk-py3.12/lib/python3.12/site-packages/uvicorn/supervisors/multiprocess.py", line 64, in target
    return self.real_target(sockets)
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/home/appuser/.cache/pypoetry/virtualenvs/reasoning-engine-assembly-service-MATOk_fk-py3.12/lib/python3.12/site-packages/uvicorn/server.py", line 67, in run
    return asyncio_run(self.serve(sockets=sockets), loop_factory=self.config.get_loop_factory())
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/asyncio/runners.py", line 195, in run
    return runner.run(main)
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/asyncio/runners.py", line 118, in run
    return self._loop.run_until_complete(task)
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/asyncio/base_events.py", line 691, in run_until_complete
    return future.result()
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/home/appuser/.cache/pypoetry/virtualenvs/reasoning-engine-assembly-service-MATOk_fk-py3.12/lib/python3.12/site-packages/uvicorn/server.py", line 71, in serve
    await self._serve(sockets)
  File "/home/appuser/.cache/pypoetry/virtualenvs/reasoning-engine-assembly-service-MATOk_fk-py3.12/lib/python3.12/site-packages/uvicorn/server.py", line 78, in _serve
    config.load()
  File "/home/appuser/.cache/pypoetry/virtualenvs/reasoning-engine-assembly-service-MATOk_fk-py3.12/lib/python3.12/site-packages/uvicorn/config.py", line 445, in load
    self.loaded_app = self.loaded_app()
                      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/code/app/api/app.py", line 60, in create_app
    raise e
  File "/code/app/api/app.py", line 45, in create_app
    utils.load_agent_from_python_spec()
  File "/code/app/api/factory/utils.py", line 423, in load_agent_from_python_spec
    agent_module = importlib.import_module(ENTRYPOINT_MODULE)
                   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.12/importlib/__init__.py", line 90, in import_module
    return _bootstrap._gcd_import(name[level:], package, level)
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1387, in _gcd_import
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1360, in _find_and_load
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 1331, in _find_and_load_unlocked
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 935, in _load_unlocked
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap_external>", line 995, in exec_module
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap_external>", line 1133, in get_code
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap_external>", line 1063, in source_to_code
  File "<frozen importlib._bootstrap>", line 488, in _call_with_frames_removed
  File "/code/test-agent_tmp20260115_093405/agent_engine_app.py", line 10
    root_agent = config_agent_utils.from_config("C:\Users\<user>\RoA_agent_parent_folder\test-agent/root_agent.yaml")
                                                ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
SyntaxError: (unicode error) 'unicodeescape' codec can't decode bytes in position 2-3: truncated \UXXXXXXXX escape"
timestamp: "2026-01-14T22:45:31.168138Z"