gRPC
ExplainedProtocol / format
Google’s fast RPC framework built on Protocol Buffers. Efficient for service-to-service traffic.
gRPC, explained
Written by EduVerseWhat it is
gRPC is an open-source framework for remote procedure calls, originally built at Google. You describe services and messages in a .proto file, and tooling generates client and server code for many languages from it. Calls travel over HTTP/2 as compact binary Protocol Buffers rather than readable JSON.
Why teams use it
When many internal services call each other all day, small payloads and strict contracts pay off. Because both sides generate code from the same .proto file, a mismatch in fields or types often shows up when you compile, not in production. Browsers can’t speak it natively, so public APIs mostly stay REST.
An example from work
Your team adds a delivery date to the order service, so you edit order.proto and run the code generator. The new field shows up as a typed property in the generated code. To test a call by hand you reach for grpcurl, because the messages are binary instead of readable JSON.
Our own explanation, not a quote from the book.
Where it fits
Internal communication between microservices
Coverage in the book
Explained and compared with alternatives, so you know where and why it’s used.
