protoregistry

A multi-namespace protobuf schema registry for Go, with versioning, staging, backward compatibility enforcement, and hot-swap capabilities.

Status: v0.x pre-stable. The gRPC service in proto/protoregistry/v1/ is the durable integration point; the Go library API may change at minor versions until v1.0. See STABILITY.md for the full contract.

Protoregistry compiles .proto files at runtime using protocompile, stores versioned schemas in PostgreSQL with content-addressable deduplication, and serves compiled descriptors for dynamic message creation and validation via gRPC.

Features

• Multi-namespace isolation — each namespace is a self-contained scope (chroot model); proto imports resolve only within the same namespace
• Two-phase staging — publish compiles and stages; promote atomically swaps all staged versions to current, enabling coordinated multi-schema changes
• Backward compatibility enforcement — breaking changes (field deletion, type changes, cardinality changes) are rejected at promote time
• Content-addressable storage — proto sources are normalized, SHA-256 hashed, and deduplicated; rollback is a pointer move with zero data duplication
• Hot-swap — readers access compiled descriptors via atomic.Pointer; swaps are instant and lock-free
• Dynamic message support — create dynamicpb.Message instances from any registered schema at runtime
• Custom built-in types — extend the standard Google well-known types with your own shared protos via the reserved __builtins__ namespace
• Well-known type shadowing protection — publishing files that shadow Google well-known types is rejected by default; requires explicit force flag
• Startup recovery — rebuilds in-memory state from pre-compiled descriptors in Postgres without recompilation
• CLI tool — protoregistry binary for managing the registry and running the gRPC server
• Go client SDK — protoregistry/client provides a remote-backed protoreflect.MessageTypeResolver / protodesc.Resolver with eager population, polling refresh, version pinning, and atomic hot-swap (see Go client SDK)

Quick Start

Running the server

# Build the binary
go build -o protoregistry ./cmd/protoregistry/

# Start the server (runs migrations and listens on :50051)
protoregistry serve --db "postgres://localhost:5432/protoregistry?sslmode=disable" --migrate --listen :50051

# Optionally bootstrap built-in types from a directory
protoregistry serve --db "$DATABASE_URL" --migrate --builtins ./company-types/

Using the CLI

# Create a namespace
protoregistry namespace create acme

# Push proto files (publish + stage)
protoregistry push acme billing ./protos/billing/

# Promote staged changes to current
protoregistry promote acme

# Load an entire directory of proto files in dependency order
protoregistry load acme ./protos/ --promote

# List namespaces and schemas
protoregistry namespace list
protoregistry schema list acme
protoregistry schema info acme billing

# Retrieve source or compiled descriptors
protoregistry schema source acme billing --version 2
protoregistry schema descriptor acme billing --out billing.binpb

# Rollback to a previous version
protoregistry rollback acme billing 1 --promote

# Discard all staged changes
protoregistry discard acme

Using as a Go library

package main

import (
    "context"
    "fmt"
    "log"

    "github.com/jackc/pgx/v5/pgxpool"

    protoregistry "github.com/trendvidia/protoregistry"
    "github.com/trendvidia/protoregistry/store/postgres"
)

func main() {
    ctx := context.Background()

    pool, err := pgxpool.New(ctx, "postgres://localhost:5432/protoregistry?sslmode=disable")
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatal(err)
    }
    defer pool.Close()

    store := postgres.New(pool)
    reg := protoregistry.New(store)

    if err := reg.Restore(ctx); err != nil {
        log.Fatal(err)
    }

    result, err := reg.Publish(ctx, &protoregistry.PublishRequest{
        NamespaceID: "acme",
        SchemaID:    "billing",
        Sources: map[string][]byte{
            "billing/config.proto": []byte(`
                syntax = "proto3";
                package billing;
                message Config {
                    string name = 1;
                    int32 timeout_ms = 2;
                }
            `),
        },
        CreatedBy: "deploy-bot",
    })
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatal(err)
    }
    fmt.Printf("Published version %d (no_change=%v)\n", result.Version, result.NoChange)

    promoted, err := reg.Promote(ctx, "acme")
    if err != nil {
        log.Fatal(err)
    }
    fmt.Printf("Promoted %d schema(s)\n", len(promoted.Promoted))

    snap := reg.Current("acme", "billing")
    msg, _ := snap.NewMessage("billing.Config")
    fmt.Printf("Created dynamic message: %s\n", msg.ProtoReflect().Descriptor().FullName())
}

CLI Reference

Global flags

Flag	Env var	Default	Description
--server, -s	PROTOREGISTRY_SERVER	localhost:50051	gRPC server address
--namespace, -n			Default namespace for commands
--output, -o		table	Output format: table or json
--token	PROTOREGISTRY_TOKEN		Bearer token for authentication
--tls		false	Connect over TLS using the system root CA pool
--tls-ca			PEM-encoded CA file to verify the server cert (implies --tls)
--tls-cert			PEM-encoded client certificate for mTLS (implies --tls)
--tls-key			PEM-encoded client key for mTLS (implies --tls)
--tls-server-name			Override the server name used for cert verification (implies --tls)
--tls-skip-verify		false	Skip server cert verification — testing only (implies --tls)

Commands

Command	Description
serve	Start the gRPC registry server
namespace list	List all namespaces
namespace create <id>	Create a namespace
schema list [namespace]	List schemas in a namespace
schema info [namespace] <schema>	Show schema details
schema source [namespace] <schema>	Show proto source files
schema descriptor [namespace] <schema>	Get compiled FileDescriptorSet
push [namespace] <schema> <path...>	Publish proto files as a schema version
load [namespace] <path>	Load all protos from a directory in dependency order
promote [namespace]	Promote all staged versions to current
discard [namespace]	Discard all staged versions
rollback [namespace] <schema> <version>	Stage a previous version

serve flags

Flag	Env var	Default	Description
--db	DATABASE_URL		PostgreSQL connection URL (required)
--listen		:50051	gRPC listen address
--builtins			Directory of built-in .proto files to bootstrap
--migrate		false	Run database migrations on startup

push / load flags

Flag	Default	Description
--created-by	$USER	Author of this version
--promote	false	Promote immediately after publishing
--force	false	Allow shadowing well-known types
--metadata		Key=value metadata pairs (push only)

Staging Workflow

Schema updates follow a two-phase model, similar to git staging:

1. Publish    ->  compile + store + stage
2. Promote    ->  compat check + atomic swap (all staged -> current)

Multiple schemas can be staged independently, then promoted together as a coordinated set. The compiler resolves imports against the "proposed" state (staged where available, current otherwise), so cross-schema changes compile against each other before going live.

Developer pushes "common" v3 to staging
Developer pushes "billing" v5 to staging  (compiles against common v3)
Developer promotes                         ->  both go live atomically

Rollback stages a previous version, then promotes it:

protoregistry rollback acme billing 1    # stages v1
protoregistry promote acme               # v1 becomes current

Built-in Types

The compiler provides Google well-known types (google/protobuf/timestamp.proto, etc.) automatically via protocompile. To add your own shared types available to all namespaces, publish them to the reserved __builtins__ namespace:

# Push company-wide shared types as built-ins
protoregistry push __builtins__ company-types ./protos/company/
protoregistry promote __builtins__

# Now any namespace can import them:
#   import "company/base.proto";

The import resolution order during compilation is:

1. Namespace sources — the schema's own files + other schemas in the same namespace
2. Built-ins — files from the __builtins__ namespace
3. Google well-known types — google/protobuf/*.proto (provided by protocompile)

Well-known type protection

Publishing a file that shadows a Google well-known type (e.g., google/protobuf/timestamp.proto) is rejected by default. The check exists because shadowing happens silently — the protocompile resolver picks the namespace-local file before falling back to standard imports, so a typo'd or malicious filename can replace the well-known type for every schema in the namespace and break compilation in confusing ways down the line.

When you genuinely need to substitute a well-known type (for example, to provide a richer Timestamp with extra fields), pass --force:

protoregistry push __builtins__ custom-timestamp ./my-timestamp/ --force

This flag is intended for operator use; it should not be exposed to self-service publishers.

The server can also bootstrap built-ins from a directory on disk at startup:

protoregistry serve --db "$DATABASE_URL" --builtins ./company-types/

Architecture

.proto source -> protocompile -> compiled descriptors
                                      |
                            +-------------------+
                            |     Registry      |
                            |  (orchestrator)   |
                            +--------+----------+
                     +---------------+---------------+
                     v               v               v
              +-------------+ +------------+ +--------------+
              |  Namespace  | |   Store    | |    Compat    |
              | (in-memory) | | (Postgres) | |  (checker)   |
              +-------------+ +------------+ +--------------+
                     v
              +-------------+
              |  Snapshot   |  <- atomic.Pointer, lock-free reads
              | (immutable) |
              +-------------+
                     v
              +-------------+
              |  Resolver   |  <- protobuf-go bridge
              | (dynamicpb) |
              +-------------+

Database

Protoregistry uses PostgreSQL with sqlc for type-safe queries and goose for migrations.

# Run migrations
goose -dir migrations postgres "$DATABASE_URL" up

Storage uses a content-addressable design with a versioning indirection layer:

proto_blobs (namespace_id, sha256) -> original source
     ^
schema_version_files (version, filename) -> blob_sha256
     ^
schema_versions (version) -> compiled FileDescriptorSet + compiler_version
     ^
schemas (namespace_id, schema_id) -> current_version / staged_version

Same content submitted multiple times (or across tenants) is stored once. Rollback is a pointer move — no data is copied.

gRPC API

The RegistryService exposes the full lifecycle over gRPC:

RPC	Description
Publish	Compile and stage a new schema version
Promote	Atomically move all staged versions to current
DiscardStaging	Clear all staged versions in a namespace
Rollback	Stage a previous version for promotion
GetSchema	Get schema metadata and version list
ListSchemas	List all schemas in a namespace
GetDescriptor	Get compiled FileDescriptorSet for a version
GetSource	Get original .proto source files for a version
ListNamespaces	List all namespaces
CreateNamespace	Create a new namespace

See proto/protoregistry/v1/registry.proto for the full definition.

Type Resolution

The resolve package bridges namespace snapshots with protobuf-go's standard resolver interfaces:

import "github.com/trendvidia/protoregistry/resolve"

// Namespace-wide resolver — searches all schemas.
r := resolve.NewResolver(namespace)
mt, _ := r.FindMessageByName("billing.Config")
msg := dynamicpb.NewMessage(mt.Descriptor())

// Schema-scoped resolver.
sr := resolve.NewSchemaResolver(namespace, "billing")
msg, _ := sr.NewMessage("billing.Config")

Resolvers are live — they always read the current snapshot, so hot-swaps are immediately reflected.

Go client SDK

github.com/trendvidia/protoregistry/client is the Go SDK for services that consume descriptors from a running registry, as opposed to embedding the registry library in-process. The client is namespace-scoped and implements the same standard resolver interfaces (protoreflect.MessageTypeResolver, protoregistry.ExtensionTypeResolver, protodesc.Resolver) as the in-process resolve package, so call sites that read descriptors don't change when you swap embedded for remote.

import (
    "context"

    "github.com/trendvidia/protoregistry/client"
)

ctx := context.Background()
r, err := client.Dial(ctx, "registry.internal:50051", "billing")
if err != nil { /* ... */ }
defer r.Close()

desc, _ := r.FindDescriptorByName("billing.Config")
msg, _  := r.NewMessage("billing.Config")

Behavior:

• Eager population. Dial / client.New fetches every schema in the namespace up front, so lookup misses surface at startup, not in the request path. Restrict to a subset with client.WithSchemas("foo", "bar").
• Polling refresh (default 30s; client.WithRefreshInterval). A background goroutine re-fetches only schemas whose current version advanced and atomically swaps the snapshot. Failures are logged and survived (stale-while-error). Force a refresh with r.Refresh(ctx).
• r.Pin(ctx, map[string]uint64) returns a derived resolver frozen at a specific (schemaID → version) map — useful for reproducible reads or replaying captured payloads against the exact version they were produced with.
• r.Schema(schemaID) narrows lookups to one schema in the namespace — cheaper and immune to cross-schema FQN collisions.
• Fail-loud collisions. If two schemas in the namespace export the same fully-qualified type name, client.New returns an error rather than silently picking one.

Hierarchical fallback

A Resolver can fall back to a parent registry when a local lookup misses. Useful for shared / well-known types across multiple namespaces, or for chaining a tenant Resolver behind a "common types" Resolver. Both the namespace-wide aggregate (FindFileByPath, FindExtensionByNumber) and each per-schema view inherit the same parent, so the fallback is reachable from every lookup tier.

Three options:

// 1. Explicit parent registries — most general.
client.WithFallback(parentFiles, parentTypes)

// 2. Chain another Resolver as the parent. Convenience over (1) — passes
//    the parent's nsFiles / nsTypes through. The parent must outlive
//    every child.
client.WithParent(commonsResolver)

// 3. Fall back to upstream protoregistry.GlobalFiles / GlobalTypes,
//    which have generated proto types compiled into the binary.
client.WithGlobalFallback()

Example — every per-tenant Resolver inherits a commons namespace:

commons, _ := client.Dial(ctx, addr, "commons", client.WithRefreshInterval(0))
defer commons.Close()

billing, _ := client.Dial(ctx, addr, "billing",
    client.WithParent(commons),
)
defer billing.Close()

// "shared.Trace" lives in the commons namespace; billing resolves it
// via the fallback chain.
desc, _ := billing.FindDescriptorByName("shared.Trace")

Local entries always shadow the parent — there is no fail-loud collision check across the parent boundary. Two consecutive Resolvers can register the same FQN if it appears in both the local namespace and the parent; the local version wins.

Pinned Resolvers (returned by r.Pin(...)) inherit the parent's fallback chain. If the parent refreshes, the pinned view sees the new parent state via fallback even though its own local schemas are frozen. For a fully-frozen view, build an independent frozen parent and pass it via WithFallback.

Pairs cleanly with protowire-go (the pxf / sbe codecs accept any protoreflect.MessageDescriptor), protojson, anypb, and dynamicpb without adapter code:

import "github.com/trendvidia/protowire-go/encoding/pxf"

desc, _ := r.FindDescriptorByName("billing.Config")
msg, _  := pxf.UnmarshalDescriptor(pxfBytes, desc.(protoreflect.MessageDescriptor))

Note: this module pins the trendvidia/protobuf-go fork

protoregistry/client stores per-schema descriptors in *protoregistry.NamespacedFiles / *protoregistry.NamespacedTypes — the namespace-isolated registry types added in the trendvidia/protobuf-go fork. Those types do not exist in upstream google.golang.org/protobuf, so this module's go.mod carries:

replace google.golang.org/protobuf => github.com/trendvidia/protobuf-go v1.36.12

Go's replace directive does not propagate across module boundaries, so consuming binaries will still pull upstream protobuf-go by default when they depend on protoregistry. Without the same replace in the top-level binary's go.mod, the build fails — the namespace types are referenced by name and have no upstream equivalent.

Add the same replace to the binary's go.mod when you depend on protoregistry/client. The fork keeps the upstream import path, tracks upstream tags closely, and adds only the namespace registry + the dynamicpb.SetUnsafe family used by protowire-go. Code that compiles against upstream compiles against the fork unchanged.

If your project must use upstream google.golang.org/protobuf exactly, do not import protoregistry/client — call the gRPC service directly via the generated stubs in proto/protoregistry/v1 and store descriptors yourself with upstream *protoregistry.Files.

Development

go build ./...                  # Build all packages
go build ./cmd/protoregistry/   # Build the CLI/server binary
go test -race ./...             # All tests (needs Docker for Postgres integration tests)

sqlc generate                   # Regenerate SQL query code

Prerequisites

• Go 1.26+
• Docker (for integration tests)
• protoc + protoc-gen-go + protoc-gen-go-grpc (for proto regeneration)
• sqlc (for SQL code regeneration)

How protoregistry compares

protoregistry is designed for teams that want a schema registry they can embed, scope per-tenant, and run as a small Go binary against an existing PostgreSQL — without adopting a broader platform.

Need	protoregistry	Buf Schema Registry	Confluent Schema Registry
Self-hosted (single Go binary + Postgres)	✓	hosted / BSR Pro	✓ (Kafka-coupled)
Multi-tenant namespace isolation (chroot)	✓	modules	subjects
Two-phase staging + atomic multi-schema promote	✓	drafts	—
Backward-compat enforcement at promote	✓	✓	✓ (per-subject)
Embeddable as a Go library	✓	—	—
Lock-free hot-swap of compiled descriptors	✓	n/a	n/a
Built-in dynamic message creation	dynamicpb	—	—
Wire-format support	protobuf	protobuf	Avro / JSON / protobuf

If you need a polished SaaS, lint rules, code generation, or a wide ecosystem of integrations, the Buf Schema Registry is the better choice. If you are already standardized on Kafka, Confluent's registry integrates natively with the broker. protoregistry's niche is embed-and-control: a small library + service you can run inside your own infrastructure with strong tenant isolation and a coordinated promotion workflow.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License — Copyright (c) 2026 TrendVidia, LLC.