gRPC = HTTP/2 + Protobuf. Binary, streaming, code-gen client stubs. Dominates internal service comms + high-throughput APIs.

Clientgenerated stubSerializerprotobuf encodeHTTP/2 TransportmultiplexedUnary RPCone-shotServer streamingClient streamingBidi streamingServer StubsService LogicInterceptorsauth, loggingHealth Checks
gRPC: proto → stubs → HTTP/2 transport → 4 RPC styles
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Protobuf encoding

Binary. Field numbers + typed values. 10x smaller than JSON. Fast parsing. Backwards-compatible via optional fields.

Protobuf encoding

Binary. Field numbers + typed values. 10x smaller than JSON. Fast parsing. Backwards-compatible via optional fields.

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HTTP/2 transport

Multiplexed streams. Bi-directional. Header compression (HPACK). Solves HOL blocking of HTTP/1.1.

Four RPC types

  • Unary: one req → one res.
  • Server streaming: one req → many res.
  • Client streaming: many req → one res.
  • Bidi: many ↔ many.

Code-generated stubs

Proto file → clients + servers in 10+ languages. Type-safe. No manual serialization.

Interceptors + observability

Middleware chain for auth, logging, metrics. Standardized across languages.

Protobuf + HTTP/2 + streaming + codegen. Best-in-class internal RPC.