Move Away From Grpc Gateway

Move away from grpc-gateway

This skill outlines the steps to transition a mockgcp service from using grpc-gateway to using reflection via httptogrpc.

Step 0: Verify gRPC client library existence

Before migrating, verify that an official gRPC Go client and protobuf module exists for the service. Some services (e.g., servicenetworking) only have REST-only client libraries (google.golang.org/api) and do not have official protobuf packages under cloud.google.com/go/ (or google.golang.org/genproto/googleapis/api/).

Check if the client package can be imported:

import pb "cloud.google.com/go/<service_name>/apiv1/<service_name>pb"

Or check if it exists in the standard Google Cloud Go module repository. If no such package exists, the migration is blocked and cannot be completed. In this case, please document this in a new journal file under mockgcp/.gemini/skills/move-away-from-grpc-gateway/journal/<service_name>.md and do not perform the migration.

Step 1: Stop generating protos

In mockgcp/Makefile, remove the service from the gen-proto-no-fixup target or generate-grpc-for-google-protos target. Find the line that looks like ./third_party/googleapis/google/cloud/<service_name>/v1/*.proto \ (or ./third_party/googleapis/google/<service_name>/... or ./third_party/googleapis/mockgcp/cloud/...) and delete it.

Step 2: Delete generated files

Delete the generated code for the service located in: mockgcp/generated/google/cloud/<service_name>/ (or mockgcp/generated/google/<service_name>/ or mockgcp/generated/mockgcp/cloud/<service_name>/) Run rm -rf on the directory to remove the .pb.go, .pb.gw.go, and _grpc.pb.go files for all versions.

Step 3: Update imports

Update the Go files in mockgcp/mock<service_name>/ (typically service.go, instance.go, etc.):

• Remove the local generated import: pb "github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/k8s-config-connector/mockgcp/generated/mockgcp/cloud/<service_name>/<version>"
• Add the official client library import: pb "cloud.google.com/go/<service_name>/apiv1/<service_name>pb" (or apiv1beta if the service is only in beta).
• Register the service with mockgcpregistry by adding an init function and updating the New function signature in service.go:

  func init() {
      mockgcpregistry.Register(New)
  }
  func New(env *common.MockEnvironment, storage storage.Storage) mockgcpregistry.MockService {
      // ...
  }
  

• Update mockgcp/register.go to include the new service package in the anonymous imports.
• Remove the manual registration of the service in mockgcp/mock_http_roundtrip.go.

Step 4: Switch HTTP Multiplexer to httptogrpc

In mockgcp/mock<service_name>/service.go, update the NewHTTPMux method.

• Replace "github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/k8s-config-connector/mockgcp/common/httpmux" with "github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/k8s-config-connector/mockgcp/common/httptogrpc"
• Remove the httpmux.NewServeMux call and replace it with httptogrpc.NewGRPCMux(conn).
• If the old code used mux.RewriteError, you should safely delete it. httptogrpc does not support it (and handles errors differently).
• If the old code used mux.RewriteHeaders, use mux.OverrideHeaders(func(response http.ResponseWriter) { ... }).

Example:

func (s *MockService) NewHTTPMux(ctx context.Context, conn *grpc.ClientConn) (http.Handler, error) {
	mux, err := httptogrpc.NewGRPCMux(conn)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("error building grpc service: %w", err)
	}

	mux.AddService(pb.NewMemorystoreClient(conn)) // Replace MemorystoreClient with the correct client
	mux.AddOperationsPath("/v1/{prefix=**}/operations/{name}", conn)

	// Custom header handling
	mux.OverrideHeaders(func(response http.ResponseWriter) {
		response.Header().Del("Cache-Control")
	})

	return mux, nil
}

Step 5: Fix type mismatches

The official client library proto types might differ slightly from the old grpc-gateway types:

• You may need to replace pointer field assignments with new(bool) or specific constant types.

• Check and fix compilation errors by running go build or go test in the service directory.

• Update uuid generation or default field behaviors to match the strict types in the official client.

• Mocks often handle FieldMask paths manually with a switch statement. The official client library via httptogrpc may send camelCase paths (matching JSON names) instead of snake_case (matching proto names). You should update your switch statements to support both formats.

Journaling

If you discover any new patterns, edge cases, or workarounds during migration, you MUST document them in the mockgcp/.gemini/skills/move-away-from-grpc-gateway/journal/ directory.

• CRITICAL RULE: Always create a new file with a descriptive, topic-based name (e.g., netapp_leftover_generated_files.md or datastream_rewriteerror_not_needed.md) to capture your findings, or append to an existing relevant file.
• NEVER overwrite, truncate, or delete any existing journal files or entries. All records must be preserved to prevent losing valuable historical migration context.