starpc

Stream RPC (starpc)

A high-performance Protobuf 3 RPC framework supporting bidirectional streaming over any multiplexer.

Table of Contents

• Features
• Installation
• Quick Start
• Examples
  • Protobuf Definition
  • Go Implementation
  • TypeScript Implementation
• Development Setup
• Support

Features

• Full Proto3 services implementation for both TypeScript and Go
• Bidirectional streaming support in web browsers
• Built on libp2p streams with @chainsafe/libp2p-yamux
• Efficient RPC multiplexing over single connections
• Zero-reflection Go code via protobuf-go-lite
• TypeScript interfaces via protobuf-es-lite
• Sub-streams support through rpcstream

Installation

# Clone the template project
git clone -b starpc https://github.com/aperturerobotics/protobuf-project
cd protobuf-project

# Install dependencies
yarn install

# Generate TypeScript and Go code
yarn gen

Quick Start

• Start with the protobuf-project template repository (starpc branch)
• Add your .proto files to the project
• Run yarn gen to generate TypeScript and Go code
• Implement your services using the examples below

Protobuf

The following examples use the echo protobuf sample.

syntax = "proto3";
package echo;

// Echoer service returns the given message.
service Echoer {
  // Echo returns the given message.
  rpc Echo(EchoMsg) returns (EchoMsg);
  // EchoServerStream is an example of a server -> client one-way stream.
  rpc EchoServerStream(EchoMsg) returns (stream EchoMsg);
  // EchoClientStream is an example of client->server one-way stream.
  rpc EchoClientStream(stream EchoMsg) returns (EchoMsg);
  // EchoBidiStream is an example of a two-way stream.
  rpc EchoBidiStream(stream EchoMsg) returns (stream EchoMsg);
}

// EchoMsg is the message body for Echo.
message EchoMsg {
  string body = 1;
}

Go

This example demonstrates both the server and client:

// construct the server
echoServer := &echo.EchoServer{}
mux := srpc.NewMux()
if err := echo.SRPCRegisterEchoer(mux, echoServer); err != nil {
	t.Fatal(err.Error())
}
server := srpc.NewServer(mux)

// create an in-memory connection to the server
openStream := srpc.NewServerPipe(server)

// construct the client
client := srpc.NewClient(openStream)

// construct the client rpc interface
clientEcho := echo.NewSRPCEchoerClient(client)
ctx := context.Background()
bodyTxt := "hello world"
out, err := clientEcho.Echo(ctx, &echo.EchoMsg{
	Body: bodyTxt,
})
if err != nil {
	t.Fatal(err.Error())
}
if out.GetBody() != bodyTxt {
	t.Fatalf("expected %q got %q", bodyTxt, out.GetBody())
}

TypeScript

See the ts-proto README to generate the TypeScript for your protobufs.

For an example of Go <-> TypeScript interop, see the integration test. For an example of TypeScript <-> TypeScript interop, see the e2e test.

Supports any AsyncIterable communication channel.

WebSocket Example

This examples demonstrates connecting to a WebSocket server:

import { WebSocketConn } from 'srpc'
import { EchoerClient } from 'srpc/echo'

const ws = new WebSocket('ws://localhost:1347/demo')
const channel = new WebSocketConn(ws)
const client = channel.buildClient()
const demoServiceClient = new EchoerClient(client)

const result = await demoServiceClient.Echo({
  body: "Hello world!"
})
console.log('output', result.body)

In-memory Demo with TypeScript Server and Client

This example demonstrates both the server and client with an in-memory pipe:

import { pipe } from 'it-pipe'
import { createHandler, createMux, Server, Client, Conn } from 'srpc'
import { EchoerDefinition, EchoerServer, runClientTest } from 'srpc/echo'
import { pushable } from 'it-pushable'

// Create the server and register the handlers.
const mux = createMux()
const echoer = new EchoerServer()
mux.register(createHandler(EchoerDefinition, echoer))
const server = new Server(mux.lookupMethod)

// Create the client connection to the server with an in-memory pipe.
const clientConn = new Conn()
const serverConn = new Conn(server)
pipe(clientConn, serverConn, clientConn)
const client = new Client(clientConn.buildOpenStreamFunc())

// Examples of different types of RPC calls:

// One-shot request/response (unary):
console.log('Calling Echo: unary call...')
let result = await demoServiceClient.Echo({
  body: 'Hello world!',
})
console.log('success: output', result.body)

// Streaming from client->server with a single server response:
const clientRequestStream = pushable<EchoMsg>({objectMode: true})
clientRequestStream.push({body: 'Hello world from streaming request.'})
clientRequestStream.end()
console.log('Calling EchoClientStream: client -> server...')
result = await demoServiceClient.EchoClientStream(clientRequestStream)
console.log('success: output', result.body)

// Streaming from server -> client with a single client message.
console.log('Calling EchoServerStream: server -> client...')
const serverStream = demoServiceClient.EchoServerStream({
  body: 'Hello world from server to client streaming request.',
})
for await (const msg of serverStream) {
  console.log('server: output', msg.body)
}

Attribution

protoc-gen-go-starpc is a heavily modified version of protoc-gen-go-drpc.

Be sure to check out drpc as well: it's compatible with grpc, twirp, and more.

Uses vtprotobuf to generate Go Protobuf marshal / unmarshal code.

Uses protobuf-es-lite (fork of protobuf-es) to generate TypeScript Protobuf marshal / unmarshal code.

protoc-gen-es-starpc is a heavily modified version of protoc-gen-connect-es.

Development Setup

MacOS Requirements

• Install required packages:

brew install bash make coreutils gnu-sed findutils protobuf
brew link --overwrite protobuf

• Add to your .bashrc or .zshrc:

export PATH="/opt/homebrew/opt/coreutils/libexec/gnubin:$PATH"
export PATH="/opt/homebrew/opt/gnu-sed/libexec/gnubin:$PATH"
export PATH="/opt/homebrew/opt/findutils/libexec/gnubin:$PATH"
export PATH="/opt/homebrew/opt/make/libexec/gnubin:$PATH"

Attribution

• protoc-gen-go-starpc: Modified version of protoc-gen-go-drpc
• protoc-gen-es-starpc: Modified version of protoc-gen-connect-es
• Uses vtprotobuf for Go Protobuf marshaling
• Uses protobuf-es-lite for TypeScript Protobuf interfaces

Support

Need help? We're here:

• File a GitHub Issue
• Join our Discord
• Matrix Chat