gRPC Fundamentals
gRPC is a framework for calling a service method across a network through a typed contract. You define services and messages once, generate language-specific code, and use it to build clients and servers that can communicate across different languages.
itDistributed systems, messaging, and integration | OpenSkills.info
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Intro
gRPC Fundamentals
gRPC is a remote procedure call framework. A client calls a method on a service running elsewhere. The call looks like a local method invocation in application code, but it crosses a network boundary.
That boundary still matters. The network can be slow, unavailable, or partitioned. A request can finish on the server after the client has already given up. gRPC makes the contract and generated code easier to work with. It does not remove distributed-system failure.
Start with the contract
gRPC commonly uses Protocol Buffers for both the interface definition language and message format. You write a .proto file that declares messages and service methods. The Protocol Buffers compiler, with a gRPC plugin, generates message code plus client and server interfaces for your chosen language.
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Sources
- https://grpc.io/docs/what-is-grpc/introduction/
Supports
- gRPC service definitions, generated client and server code, and cross-language clients and servers
- Protocol Buffers as the usual interface definition language and message format
- `.proto` definitions, messages, `protoc`, and the gRPC compiler plugin
- https://grpc.io/docs/what-is-grpc/core-concepts/
Supports
- service definitions, stubs, and client and server responsibilities
- unary, server-streaming, client-streaming, and bidirectional streaming RPCs
- message ordering, call lifecycle, deadlines, cancellation, metadata, status details, and channels
- independent client and server conclusions and the lack of automatic rollback after cancellation
- https://grpc.io/docs/languages/
Supports
- supported-language documentation, quick starts, tutorials, and references
- https://grpc.io/docs/guides/
Supports
- task-oriented official guidance for authentication, deadlines, errors, health checking, retries, performance, and observability
- https://protobuf.dev/overview/
Supports
- Protocol Buffers message definitions, generated code, fields, serialization, and schema-language concepts
- https://github.com/grpc-ecosystem/awesome-grpc
Supports
- grpcurl as a command-line tool for interacting with gRPC servers
- Buf as a Protocol Buffers tool with linting and breaking-change detection
- ghz as a gRPC benchmarking and load-testing tool