gRPC in 3 minutes (Node.js)

PREREQUISITES

  • node: This requires Node 0.12.x or greater.

INSTALL

$ # Get the gRPC repository
$ export REPO_ROOT=grpc # REPO root can be any directory of your choice
$ git clone https://github.com/grpc/grpc.git $REPO_ROOT
$ cd $REPO_ROOT

$ cd examples/node
$ npm install

TRY IT!

There are two ways to generate the code needed to work with protocol buffers in Node.js - one approach uses Protobuf.js to dynamically generate the code at runtime, the other uses code statically generated using the protocol buffer compiler protoc. The examples behave identically, and either server can be used with either client.

  • Run the server

    $ # from this directory
    $ node ./dynamic_codegen/greeter_server.js &
    $ # OR
    $ node ./static_codegen/greeter_server.js &
    
  • Run the client

    $ # from this directory
    $ node ./dynamic_codegen/greeter_client.js
    $ # OR
    $ node ./dynamic_codegen/greeter_client.js
    

TUTORIAL

You can find a more detailed tutorial in gRPC Basics: Node.js