Webrpc Ridl Schema

webrpc RIDL schemas and codegen

RIDL defines an HTTP API contract; webrpc-gen generates typed servers and clients from it. POST-only with JSON bodies — never design path or query params.

Rules

• Edit .ridl sources, never *.gen.* output — rerun codegen instead.
• Identifiers are case-sensitive. Run ridlfmt after edits. No circular imports.
• Prefer succinct method signatures (one request struct in, one response struct out); never mix succinct and multi-arg forms in one method.
• Common mistakes: missing webrpc = v1; deprecated message keyword (use struct); forgetting ? on nullable fields; omitting HTTP <status> on non-400 errors.

Header (required) and imports

webrpc = v1
name = <schema-name>
version = <schema-version>
basepath = /rpc

import "path/to/file.ridl"    # everything (quotes optional)
import "../shared/ids.ridl"   # named members only
  - OrgID

Imports merge into one flat schema. An import with no referenced member can be intentional (pulls types into the generated package) — keep those in codegen roots only.

Running codegen

Install from releases, or pin as a Go tool dependency and run via go run github.com/webrpc/webrpc/cmd/webrpc-gen:

webrpc-gen -schema=main.ridl -target=golang -pkg=proto -server -client -out=./proto/api.gen.go
webrpc-gen -schema=app/dashboard.ridl -target=typescript -client -enumStyle=union -out=./src/rpc/proto/api.gen.ts

Golang flags: -errorStackTrace=true, -json=sonic. Pin targets: -target=golang@v0.14.0.

Multi-file layout (recommended for larger projects)

schema/
  main.ridl          # Go codegen root: imports errors.ridl + every app/*.ridl
  errors.ridl        # all errors in one place
  app/<app>.ridl     # per-app TS codegen roots
  service/<app>/     # one service block per domain
  model/             # shared structs, typed ids, enums

Go codegen runs on main.ridl (one unified package); TS codegen on app/<app>.ridl so each webapp sees only its own surface.

Types

# starts a comment; adjacent comments attach to the next definition as docs. Core: byte, bool, any, null, string, timestamp, uint8-64, int8-64, float32/64, []T, map<K,V>.

struct User
  - id: uint64
  - name?: string    # optional; fields are required unless marked ?

enum SortOrder: uint32   # values default by index
  - DESC
  - ASC

type WebhookID: string          # alias: JSON stays string;
  + go.alias = typeid.UUID      # Go uses this type (typed IDs, uuid.UUID, ...)
  + go.type.import = github.com/example/typeid

Services, errors, annotations

error 1000 Unauthorized "unauthorized" HTTP 401    # status defaults to 400
error 4001 InvalidTransition "invalid state" HTTP 409

service Example
  @deprecated:"use NewMethod instead"
  @access:s2s
  - GetUser(GetUserRequest) => (GetUserResponse)   # succinct form, preferred
  - Ping() => (version: string)                    # no-payload inline return is fine

• Group error codes by range (1xxx auth, 2xxx validation, 3xxx not-found, 4xxx business).
• Go: a WebRPCError must reach the transport unwrapped (the server type-asserts it) — use proto.ErrXxx.WithCause(err), not fmt.Errorf chains.
• Custom annotations (@access:, @perms:) are readable at runtime: middleware calls proto.MethodCtx(ctx) then Annotation("access") / HasAnnotation(...).

Field metadata

  - id: string
    + go.field.name = ID       # rename the Go field
    + go.field.type = uint64   # override the Go type
    + go.tag.db = id           # any go.tag.<name> becomes a struct tag
  - featureIndex: int
    + json = -                 # server-only: dropped from Go json AND the TS interface

• + json = - vs + go.tag.json = -: the latter is Go-only — the field stays in the TS interface but is always undefined at runtime (the TS type lies). Use go.tag.json only for Go tag options like ,omitempty.
• The generator title-cases names naively (userId → UserId); fix acronyms with go.field.name (ID, URL, URI, API, JSON, HTTP, RPC, IP, DB, ...).

Inferred Go types — override only to get a different type

Useful overrides: a different type (json.RawMessage, typed IDs), value-element slices ([]S), non-pointer optionals. Overrides matching the table are noise — delete them.

Custom templates

-target accepts a local Go text/template directory, and fields carry arbitrary metadata — combine them to generate validators, permission constants, etc.:

  - email: string
    + validate = "required,maxlen=320,email"

webrpc-gen -schema=main.ridl -target=./schema/templates/validate-go -pkg=proto -out=./proto/validate.gen.go

References

_examples/golang-basics/example.ridl, schema/README.md, schema/ridl/README.md. Official targets: gen/{golang,typescript,javascript,kotlin,dart,openapi} (embedded in webrpc-gen).