What is gRPC and what is it used for?

gRPC is a modern framework for remote procedure calls (RPC), developed by Google. It allows clients and servers to communicate with each other with high performance and low latency.

Main features of gRPC:

• Uses HTTP/2 for transport, which provides multiplexing and efficient network utilization.
• Protocol Buffers for data serialization — a compact and fast format.
• Support for various programming languages.
• Automatic generation of client and server code based on service descriptions in .proto files.

gRPC is often used for microservices architecture, where high performance and strict API typing are important.

Example of defining a service in gRPC (a .proto file):

syntax = "proto3";

service Greeter {
  rpc SayHello (HelloRequest) returns (HelloReply) {}
}

message HelloRequest {
  string name = 1;
}

message HelloReply {
  string message = 1;
}

This service can be used for message exchange between frontend and backend or between microservices.