async-grpc

An async grpc implementation for ruby. Build on top of Async, and google-protobuf

Supports:

• Code Generation
• Request Response RPCs

Why async?

TLDR; For many workloads it can handle higher concurrency, with lower latency then the reference grpc implimentation for ruby.

The reference implimentation of grpc for ruby is built on top of a c++ server implimentation, with c shims, and a ruby wrapper. It has a concurrency model that does not suit low lantancy responses when there are concurrent requests. The reason for this is due to the fact that it uses a bounded thread pool to execute application code. While this might work for some use cases it is limiting due the GIL, and switching/memory overhead of threads. Reference.

How do I use it?

For users of the reference implimentation it should be a drop in replacement (TODO: fix some things that make this statement not true).

Installation

add the following line to you gem file

source "https://rubygems.pkg.github.com/shidel-dev" do
  gem "async-grpc", "0.1"
end

Code generation

Requires a working go installation

go get github.com/shidel-dev/async-grpc/protoc-gen-async_grpc_ruby

Make sure protoc-gen-async_grpc_ruby is in your path

protoc --proto_path=. --ruby_out=lib --async_grpc_ruby_out=lib my_service.proto

Start a server

require "async/grpc"
require "hello_service_def"
class MyService < Helloworld::GreeterService
  def say_hello(req, metadata)
    Helloworld::HelloReply.new( message: "Hello #{req.name}" )
  end
end
server = Async::GRPC::Server.new()
server.handle(MyService)
server.start