Fix silent serialization failure when publishing non-JSON-serializable objects (#229)

* PubNub SDK 10.6.1 release.

---------

Co-authored-by: PubNub Release Bot <120067856+pubnub-release-bot@users.noreply.github.com>

Author: jguz-pubnub

.pubnub.yml

@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 name: python
-version: 10.6.0
+version: 10.6.1
 schema: 1
 scm: github.com/pubnub/python
 sdks:
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ sdks:
         distributions:
           - distribution-type: library
             distribution-repository: package
-            package-name: pubnub-10.6.0
+            package-name: pubnub-10.6.1
             location: https://pypi.org/project/pubnub/
             supported-platforms:
               supported-operating-systems:
@@ -94,8 +94,8 @@ sdks:
           -
             distribution-type: library
             distribution-repository: git release
-            package-name: pubnub-10.6.0
-            location: https://github.com/pubnub/python/releases/download/10.6.0/pubnub-10.6.0.tar.gz
+            package-name: pubnub-10.6.1
+            location: https://github.com/pubnub/python/releases/download/10.6.1/pubnub-10.6.1.tar.gz
             supported-platforms:
               supported-operating-systems:
                 Linux:
@@ -169,6 +169,11 @@ sdks:
                 license-url: https://github.com/encode/httpx/blob/master/LICENSE.md
                 is-required: Required
 changelog:
+  - date: 2026-02-10
+    version: 10.6.1
+    changes:
+      - type: bug
+        text: "Fix silent serialization failure when publishing non-JSON-serializable objects."
   - date: 2026-01-29
     version: 10.6.0
     changes:

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -1,3 +1,9 @@
+## 10.6.1
+February 10 2026
+
+#### Fixed
+- Fix silent serialization failure when publishing non-JSON-serializable objects.
+
 ## 10.6.0
 January 29 2026
 

pubnub/enums.py

@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ class PNStatusCategory(Enum):
     PNInternalExceptionCategory = 17
     PNSubscriptionChangedCategory = 18
     PNConnectionErrorCategory = 19
+    PNSerializationErrorCategory = 20
 
 
 class PNOperationType(object):

pubnub/utils.py

@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 from pubnub.models.consumer.common import PNStatus
 from pubnub.errors import PNERR_JSON_NOT_SERIALIZABLE
 from pubnub.exceptions import PubNubException
+from pubnub.models.consumer.pn_error_data import PNErrorData
 
 
 def get_data_for_user(data):
@@ -29,10 +30,17 @@ def get_data_for_user(data):
 def write_value_as_string(data):
     try:
         return json.dumps(data)
-    except TypeError:
-        raise PubNubException(
+    except TypeError as e:
+        exc = PubNubException(
+            errormsg=str(e),
             pn_error=PNERR_JSON_NOT_SERIALIZABLE
         )
+        status = PNStatus()
+        status.category = PNStatusCategory.PNSerializationErrorCategory
+        status.error = True
+        status.error_data = PNErrorData(str(exc), exc)
+        exc.status = status
+        raise exc
 
 
 def url_encode(data):

setup.py

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 setup(
     name='pubnub',
-    version='10.6.0',
+    version='10.6.1',
     description='PubNub Real-time push service in the cloud',
     author='PubNub',
     author_email='support@pubnub.com',

tests/integrational/asyncio/test_publish_serialization.py

@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+from datetime import datetime
+
+import pytest
+
+from pubnub.enums import PNStatusCategory
+from pubnub.exceptions import PubNubAsyncioException
+from pubnub.models.consumer.common import PNStatus
+from pubnub.models.consumer.pn_error_data import PNErrorData
+from pubnub.pubnub_asyncio import PubNubAsyncio
+from tests.helper import pnconf_copy
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_publish_non_serializable_returns_usable_error():
+    pubnub = PubNubAsyncio(pnconf_copy())
+
+    result = await pubnub.publish().channel("ch1").message({
+        "text": "Hello",
+        "timestamp": datetime.now(),
+    }).future()
+
+    assert isinstance(result, PubNubAsyncioException)
+    assert result.is_error() is True
+    assert isinstance(result.status, PNStatus)
+    assert result.status.error is True
+    assert result.status.category == PNStatusCategory.PNSerializationErrorCategory
+    assert isinstance(result.status.error_data, PNErrorData)
+    assert str(result) == (
+        "Trying to publish not JSON serializable object: "
+        "Object of type datetime is not JSON serializable"
+    )
+
+    await pubnub.stop()