Dotnet Grpc

dotnet-grpc

Full gRPC lifecycle for .NET applications. Covers .proto service definition, code generation, ASP.NET Core gRPC server implementation and endpoint hosting, Grpc.Net.Client client patterns, all four streaming patterns (unary, server streaming, client streaming, bidirectional streaming), authentication, load balancing, and health checks.

Out of scope: Source generator authoring patterns (incremental generator API, Roslyn syntax trees) -- see [skill:dotnet-csharp-source-generators]. HTTP client factory patterns and resilience pipeline configuration -- see [skill:dotnet-http-client] and [skill:dotnet-resilience]. Native AOT architecture and trimming strategies -- see [skill:dotnet-native-aot] for AOT compilation, [skill:dotnet-aot-architecture] for AOT-first design patterns, and [skill:dotnet-trimming] for trim-safe development.

Cross-references: [skill:dotnet-resilience] for retry/circuit-breaker on gRPC channels, [skill:dotnet-serialization] for Protobuf wire format details. See [skill:dotnet-integration-testing] for testing gRPC services.

Proto Definition and Code Generation

Project Setup

gRPC uses Protocol Buffers as its interface definition language. The Grpc.Tools package generates C# code from .proto files at build time.

Server project:

<ItemGroup>
  <PackageReference Include="Grpc.AspNetCore" Version="2.*" />
</ItemGroup>

<ItemGroup>
  <Protobuf Include="Protos\*.proto" GrpcServices="Server" />
</ItemGroup>

Client project:

<ItemGroup>
  <PackageReference Include="Google.Protobuf" Version="3.*" />
  <PackageReference Include="Grpc.Net.Client" Version="2.*" />
  <PackageReference Include="Grpc.Tools" Version="2.*" PrivateAssets="All" />
</ItemGroup>

<ItemGroup>
  <Protobuf Include="Protos\*.proto" GrpcServices="Client" />
</ItemGroup>

Shared contracts project (recommended for larger services):

<ItemGroup>
  <PackageReference Include="Google.Protobuf" Version="3.*" />
  <PackageReference Include="Grpc.Tools" Version="2.*" PrivateAssets="All" />
</ItemGroup>

<ItemGroup>
  <Protobuf Include="Protos\*.proto" GrpcServices="Both" />
</ItemGroup>

Proto File Definition

syntax = "proto3";

option csharp_namespace = "MyApp.Grpc";

package myapp;

import "google/protobuf/timestamp.proto";
import "google/protobuf/empty.proto";

// Service definition with all 4 streaming patterns
service OrderService {
  // Unary: single request, single response
  rpc GetOrder (GetOrderRequest) returns (OrderResponse);

  // Server streaming: single request, stream of responses
  rpc ListOrders (ListOrdersRequest) returns (stream OrderResponse);

  // Client streaming: stream of requests, single response
  rpc UploadOrders (stream CreateOrderRequest) returns (UploadOrdersResponse);

  // Bidirectional streaming: stream of requests, stream of responses
  rpc ProcessOrders (stream CreateOrderRequest) returns (stream OrderResponse);
}

message GetOrderRequest {
  int32 id = 1;
}

message ListOrdersRequest {
  string customer_id = 1;
  int32 page_size = 2;
  string page_token = 3;
}

message CreateOrderRequest {
  string customer_id = 1;
  repeated OrderItemMessage items = 2;
}

message OrderResponse {
  int32 id = 1;
  string customer_id = 2;
  repeated OrderItemMessage items = 3;
  google.protobuf.Timestamp created_at = 4;
}

message OrderItemMessage {
  string product_id = 1;
  int32 quantity = 2;
  double unit_price = 3;
}

message UploadOrdersResponse {
  int32 orders_created = 1;
}

Code-Gen Workflow

The Grpc.Tools package runs the Protobuf compiler (protoc) and C# gRPC plugin at build time. Generated files appear in obj/ and are included automatically:

1. Add .proto files to the project via <Protobuf> items
2. Set GrpcServices to Server, Client, or Both
3. Build the project -- generated C# types and service stubs appear in obj/Debug/net10.0/Protos/
4. Implement the generated abstract base class (server) or use the generated client class

The gRPC code-gen toolchain uses source generation to produce the C# stubs from .proto definitions. This is conceptually similar to [skill:dotnet-csharp-source-generators] but uses protoc rather than Roslyn incremental generators.

ASP.NET Core gRPC Server

Service Implementation

Implement the generated abstract base class:

using Grpc.Core;
using MyApp.Grpc;

public sealed class OrderGrpcService(
    OrderRepository repository,
    ILogger<OrderGrpcService> logger) : OrderService.OrderServiceBase
{
    // Unary
    public override async Task<OrderResponse> GetOrder(
        GetOrderRequest request,
        ServerCallContext context)
    {
        var order = await repository.GetByIdAsync(request.Id, context.CancellationToken);
        if (order is null)
        {
            throw new RpcException(new Status(StatusCode.NotFound,
                $"Order {request.Id} not found"));
        }

        return MapToResponse(order);
    }

    // Server streaming
    public override async Task ListOrders(
        ListOrdersRequest request,
        IServerStreamWriter<OrderResponse> responseStream,
        ServerCallContext context)
    {
        await foreach (var order in repository.ListByCustomerAsync(
            request.CustomerId, context.CancellationToken))
        {
            await responseStream.WriteAsync(MapToResponse(order),
                context.CancellationToken);
        }
    }

    // Client streaming
    public override async Task<UploadOrdersResponse> UploadOrders(
        IAsyncStreamReader<CreateOrderRequest> requestStream,
        ServerCallContext context)
    {
        var count = 0;
        await foreach (var request in requestStream.ReadAllAsync(
            context.CancellationToken))
        {
            await repository.CreateAsync(MapFromRequest(request),
                context.CancellationToken);
            count++;
        }

        return new UploadOrdersResponse { OrdersCreated = count };
    }

    // Bidirectional streaming
    public override async Task ProcessOrders(
        IAsyncStreamReader<CreateOrderRequest> requestStream,
        IServerStreamWriter<OrderResponse> responseStream,
        ServerCallContext context)
    {
        await foreach (var request in requestStream.ReadAllAsync(
            context.CancellationToken))
        {
            var order = await repository.CreateAsync(MapFromRequest(request),
                context.CancellationToken);
            await responseStream.WriteAsync(MapToResponse(order),
                context.CancellationToken);
        }
    }

    private static OrderResponse MapToResponse(Order order) =>
        new()
        {
            Id = order.Id,
            CustomerId = order.CustomerId,
            CreatedAt = Google.Protobuf.WellKnownTypes.Timestamp.FromDateTimeOffset(
                order.CreatedAt)
        };

    private static Order MapFromRequest(CreateOrderRequest request) =>
        new()
        {
            CustomerId = request.CustomerId,
            Items = request.Items.Select(i => new OrderItem
            {
                ProductId = i.ProductId,
                Quantity = i.Quantity,
                UnitPrice = (decimal)i.UnitPrice
            }).ToList()
        };
}

Endpoint Hosting

Register gRPC services in the ASP.NET Core pipeline:

var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

// Add gRPC services
builder.Services.AddGrpc(options =>
{
    options.MaxReceiveMessageSize = 4 * 1024 * 1024; // 4 MB
    options.MaxSendMessageSize = 4 * 1024 * 1024;
    options.EnableDetailedErrors = builder.Environment.IsDevelopment();
});

var app = builder.Build();

// Map gRPC service endpoints
app.MapGrpcService<OrderGrpcService>();

app.Run();

gRPC Reflection (Development)

Enable gRPC reflection for tools like grpcurl and grpcui:

builder.Services.AddGrpc();
builder.Services.AddGrpcReflection();

var app = builder.Build();

app.MapGrpcService<OrderGrpcService>();

if (app.Environment.IsDevelopment())
{
    app.MapGrpcReflectionService();
}

Client Patterns with Grpc.Net.Client

Basic Client

using Grpc.Net.Client;
using MyApp.Grpc;

// Create a channel (reuse across calls -- channels are expensive to create)
using var channel = GrpcChannel.ForAddress("https://localhost:5001");
var client = new OrderService.OrderServiceClient(channel);

// Unary call
var response = await client.GetOrderAsync(
    new GetOrderRequest { Id = 42 });

DI-Registered Client with IHttpClientFactory

Register gRPC clients via IHttpClientFactory for connection pooling and resilience:

builder.Services
    .AddGrpcClient<OrderService.OrderServiceClient>(options =>
    {
        options.Address = new Uri("https://order-service:5001");
    })
    .ConfigureChannel(options =>
    {
        options.MaxReceiveMessageSize = 4 * 1024 * 1024;
    });

Apply resilience via [skill:dotnet-resilience]:

builder.Services
    .AddGrpcClient<OrderService.OrderServiceClient>(options =>
    {
        options.Address = new Uri("https://order-service:5001");
    })
    .AddStandardResilienceHandler();

Reading Server Streams

using var call = client.ListOrders(
    new ListOrdersRequest { CustomerId = "cust-123" });

await foreach (var order in call.ResponseStream.ReadAllAsync())
{
    Console.WriteLine($"Order {order.Id}: {order.CustomerId}");
}

Client Streaming

using var call = client.UploadOrders();

foreach (var order in ordersToCreate)
{
    await call.RequestStream.WriteAsync(new CreateOrderRequest
    {
        CustomerId = order.CustomerId
    });
}

// Signal completion
await call.RequestStream.CompleteAsync();

// Read the response
var response = await call;
Console.WriteLine($"Created {response.OrdersCreated} orders");

Bidirectional Streaming

using var call = client.ProcessOrders();

// Start reading responses in background
var readTask = Task.Run(async () =>
{
    await foreach (var response in call.ResponseStream.ReadAllAsync())
    {
        Console.WriteLine($"Processed order {response.Id}");
    }
});

// Send requests
foreach (var order in ordersToProcess)
{
    await call.RequestStream.WriteAsync(new CreateOrderRequest
    {
        CustomerId = order.CustomerId
    });
}

await call.RequestStream.CompleteAsync();
await readTask;

Streaming Patterns Summary

gRPC supports four communication patterns:

Authentication

Bearer Token (JWT)

Server-side authentication:

builder.Services.AddAuthentication(JwtBearerDefaults.AuthenticationScheme)
    .AddJwtBearer(options =>
    {
        options.Authority = "https://identity.example.com";
        options.TokenValidationParameters.ValidAudience = "order-api";
    });

builder.Services.AddAuthorization();
builder.Services.AddGrpc();

var app = builder.Build();

app.UseAuthentication();
app.UseAuthorization();

app.MapGrpcService<OrderGrpcService>().RequireAuthorization();

Client-side token propagation:

builder.Services
    .AddGrpcClient<OrderService.OrderServiceClient>(options =>
    {
        options.Address = new Uri("https://order-service:5001");
    })
    .AddCallCredentials(async (context, metadata, serviceProvider) =>
    {
        var tokenProvider = serviceProvider.GetRequiredService<ITokenProvider>();
        var token = await tokenProvider.GetTokenAsync(context.CancellationToken);
        metadata.Add("Authorization", $"Bearer {token}");
    });

Certificate Authentication (mTLS)

For service-to-service authentication with mutual TLS:

// Server: require client certificates
builder.WebHost.ConfigureKestrel(kestrel =>
{
    kestrel.ConfigureHttpsDefaults(https =>
    {
        https.ClientCertificateMode = ClientCertificateMode.RequireCertificate;
    });
});

builder.Services.AddAuthentication(CertificateAuthenticationDefaults.AuthenticationScheme)
    .AddCertificate(options =>
    {
        options.AllowedCertificateTypes = CertificateTypes.Chained;
        options.RevocationMode = X509RevocationMode.NoCheck; // Configure per environment
    });

// Client: provide client certificate
var handler = new HttpClientHandler();
handler.ClientCertificates.Add(
    new X509Certificate2("client.pfx", "password"));

using var channel = GrpcChannel.ForAddress("https://order-service:5001",
    new GrpcChannelOptions
    {
        HttpHandler = handler
    });

Load Balancing

Client-Side Load Balancing

gRPC supports client-side load balancing with service discovery:

// DNS-based service discovery with round-robin
builder.Services
    .AddGrpcClient<OrderService.OrderServiceClient>(options =>
    {
        options.Address = new Uri("dns:///order-service:5001");
    })
    .ConfigureChannel(options =>
    {
        options.Credentials = ChannelCredentials.Insecure;
        options.ServiceConfig = new ServiceConfig
        {
            LoadBalancingConfigs = { new RoundRobinConfig() }
        };
    });

Proxy-Based Load Balancing

For environments with a load balancer (e.g., Kubernetes, Envoy, YARP):

• Use L7 (HTTP/2-aware) load balancers -- L4 load balancers route at the TCP level and pin all gRPC requests to a single backend because HTTP/2 multiplexes on a single connection.
• Envoy, Linkerd, and Kubernetes ingress controllers with gRPC support distribute requests at the RPC level.
• Configure SocketsHttpHandler.EnableMultipleHttp2Connections = true to allow multiple connections when behind a proxy:

builder.Services
    .AddGrpcClient<OrderService.OrderServiceClient>(options =>
    {
        options.Address = new Uri("https://order-service-lb:5001");
    })
    .ConfigurePrimaryHttpMessageHandler(() => new SocketsHttpHandler
    {
        EnableMultipleHttp2Connections = true
    });

Health Checks

gRPC Health Check Protocol

Implement the standard gRPC health checking protocol (grpc.health.v1.Health) so orchestrators and load balancers can probe service status:

builder.Services.AddGrpc();
builder.Services.AddGrpcHealthChecks()
    .AddCheck("database", () =>
    {
        // Custom health check logic
        return HealthCheckResult.Healthy();
    });

var app = builder.Build();

app.MapGrpcService<OrderGrpcService>();
app.MapGrpcHealthChecksService();

Integration with ASP.NET Core Health Checks

gRPC health checks integrate with the standard ASP.NET Core health check system:

builder.Services.AddHealthChecks()
    .AddNpgSql(
        builder.Configuration.GetConnectionString("OrderDb")!,
        name: "order-db",
        tags: ["ready"]);

builder.Services.AddGrpc();
builder.Services.AddGrpcHealthChecks()
    .AddAsyncCheck("order-db", async (sp, ct) =>
    {
        var healthCheckService = sp.GetRequiredService<HealthCheckService>();
        var report = await healthCheckService.CheckHealthAsync(
            r => r.Tags.Contains("ready"), ct);
        return report.Status == HealthStatus.Healthy
            ? HealthCheckResult.Healthy()
            : HealthCheckResult.Unhealthy();
    });

Kubernetes Probes for gRPC

# Use grpc health check probe (Kubernetes 1.24+)
livenessProbe:
  grpc:
    port: 5001
  initialDelaySeconds: 10
  periodSeconds: 15

readinessProbe:
  grpc:
    port: 5001
  initialDelaySeconds: 5
  periodSeconds: 10

Interceptors

gRPC interceptors are middleware for gRPC calls, analogous to ASP.NET Core middleware or HTTP DelegatingHandlers.

Server Interceptor

public sealed class LoggingInterceptor(ILogger<LoggingInterceptor> logger)
    : Interceptor
{
    public override async Task<TResponse> UnaryServerHandler<TRequest, TResponse>(
        TRequest request,
        ServerCallContext context,
        UnaryServerMethod<TRequest, TResponse> continuation)
    {
        var stopwatch = Stopwatch.StartNew();
        try
        {
            var response = await continuation(request, context);
            logger.LogInformation(
                "gRPC {Method} completed in {ElapsedMs}ms",
                context.Method, stopwatch.ElapsedMilliseconds);
            return response;
        }
        catch (RpcException ex)
        {
            logger.LogError(ex,
                "gRPC {Method} failed with {StatusCode}",
                context.Method, ex.StatusCode);
            throw;
        }
    }
}

// Register
builder.Services.AddGrpc(options =>
{
    options.Interceptors.Add<LoggingInterceptor>();
});

Client Interceptor

public sealed class AuthInterceptor(ITokenProvider tokenProvider) : Interceptor
{
    public override AsyncUnaryCall<TResponse> AsyncUnaryCall<TRequest, TResponse>(
        TRequest request,
        ClientInterceptorContext<TRequest, TResponse> context,
        AsyncUnaryCallContinuation<TRequest, TResponse> continuation)
    {
        var token = tokenProvider.GetCachedToken();
        var headers = context.Options.Headers ?? new Metadata();
        headers.Add("Authorization", $"Bearer {token}");

        var newContext = new ClientInterceptorContext<TRequest, TResponse>(
            context.Method, context.Host,
            context.Options.WithHeaders(headers));

        return continuation(request, newContext);
    }
}

Error Handling

Status Codes

Map domain errors to gRPC status codes:

Rich Error Details

// Server: throw with metadata
var status = new Status(StatusCode.InvalidArgument, "Validation failed");
var metadata = new Metadata
{
    { "field", "customer_id" },
    { "reason", "Customer ID is required" }
};
throw new RpcException(status, metadata);

// Client: read error metadata
try
{
    var response = await client.GetOrderAsync(request);
}
catch (RpcException ex) when (ex.StatusCode == StatusCode.InvalidArgument)
{
    var field = ex.Trailers.GetValue("field");
    var reason = ex.Trailers.GetValue("reason");
    logger.LogWarning("Validation error on {Field}: {Reason}", field, reason);
}

Deadlines and Cancellation

Always set deadlines on gRPC calls to prevent indefinite waits:

// Client: set a deadline
var deadline = DateTime.UtcNow.AddSeconds(10);
var response = await client.GetOrderAsync(
    new GetOrderRequest { Id = 42 },
    deadline: deadline);

// Server: check deadline and propagate cancellation
public override async Task<OrderResponse> GetOrder(
    GetOrderRequest request,
    ServerCallContext context)
{
    // context.CancellationToken is automatically cancelled when deadline expires
    var order = await repository.GetByIdAsync(request.Id, context.CancellationToken);
    // ...
}

gRPC-Web for Browser Clients

Browsers do not support HTTP/2 trailers required by native gRPC. gRPC-Web is a protocol variant that works over HTTP/1.1 and HTTP/2 without trailers, enabling browser JavaScript clients to call gRPC services.

Server Configuration

var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

builder.Services.AddGrpc();
builder.Services.AddCors(options =>
{
    options.AddPolicy("GrpcWeb", policy =>
    {
        policy.WithOrigins("https://app.example.com")
              .AllowAnyHeader()
              .AllowAnyMethod()
              .WithExposedHeaders("Grpc-Status", "Grpc-Message", "Grpc-Encoding");
    });
});

var app = builder.Build();

app.UseRouting();
app.UseCors();
app.UseGrpcWeb(); // Must be between UseRouting and MapGrpcService

app.MapGrpcService<OrderGrpcService>()
    .EnableGrpcWeb()
    .RequireCors("GrpcWeb");

JavaScript Client (grpc-web)

// Using @improbable-eng/grpc-web or grpc-web package
import { OrderServiceClient } from './generated/order_grpc_web_pb';
import { GetOrderRequest } from './generated/order_pb';

const client = new OrderServiceClient('https://api.example.com');

const request = new GetOrderRequest();
request.setId(42);

client.getOrder(request, {}, (err, response) => {
    if (err) {
        console.error('gRPC error:', err.message);
        return;
    }
    console.log('Order:', response.toObject());
});

Envoy Proxy Alternative

Instead of ASP.NET Core gRPC-Web middleware, you can use an Envoy proxy to translate gRPC-Web requests to native gRPC. This is useful when the gRPC service cannot be modified:

# Envoy filter configuration
http_filters:
  - name: envoy.filters.http.grpc_web
    typed_config:
      "@type": type.googleapis.com/envoy.extensions.filters.http.grpc_web.v3.GrpcWeb
  - name: envoy.filters.http.cors
    typed_config:
      "@type": type.googleapis.com/envoy.extensions.filters.http.cors.v3.Cors
  - name: envoy.filters.http.router
    typed_config:
      "@type": type.googleapis.com/envoy.extensions.filters.http.router.v3.Router

gRPC-Web Limitations

• Unary and server streaming only -- client streaming and bidirectional streaming are not supported by gRPC-Web
• No HTTP/2 trailers -- status and trailing metadata are encoded in the response body
• CORS required -- cross-origin requests need explicit CORS configuration on the server
• Consider SignalR for full-duplex browser communication -- see [skill:dotnet-realtime-communication] for alternatives when bidirectional streaming is required

Key Principles

• Use .proto files as the contract -- they are the single source of truth for the API shape, shared between client and server
• Set GrpcServices on <Protobuf> items -- Server for service projects, Client for consumer projects, Both for shared contracts
• Reuse channels -- GrpcChannel manages HTTP/2 connections; creating a new channel per call wastes resources
• Register gRPC clients via DI -- AddGrpcClient integrates with IHttpClientFactory for connection pooling and resilience
• Always set deadlines -- calls without deadlines can hang indefinitely if the server is slow or unreachable
• Use L7 load balancers -- L4 load balancers pin all traffic to one backend because HTTP/2 multiplexes on a single TCP connection
• Implement the gRPC health check protocol -- enables Kubernetes probes and load balancers to monitor service health
• Use gRPC-Web for browser clients -- native gRPC requires HTTP/2 trailers which browsers do not support; gRPC-Web bridges this gap

See [skill:dotnet-native-aot] for Native AOT compilation pipeline and [skill:dotnet-aot-architecture] for AOT-compatible patterns when building gRPC services with ahead-of-time compilation.

Agent Gotchas

1. Do not create a new GrpcChannel per request -- channels are expensive to create and manage HTTP/2 connections. Reuse them or use DI-registered clients.
2. Do not omit GrpcServices on <Protobuf> items -- the default is Both, which generates server and client stubs. This bloats client projects with unused server code and vice versa.
3. Do not use L4 load balancers for gRPC without enabling EnableMultipleHttp2Connections -- HTTP/2 multiplexing means a single connection handles all RPCs, defeating load distribution.
4. Do not throw generic Exception from gRPC services -- throw RpcException with appropriate StatusCode and descriptive messages. Unhandled exceptions become StatusCode.Internal with no useful detail.
5. Do not forget to call CompleteAsync() on client streams -- the server waits for stream completion before sending its response. Forgetting this causes the call to hang.
6. Do not use grpc.health.v1.Health without registering health checks -- an empty health service always reports Serving, which defeats the purpose of health monitoring.
7. Do not enable gRPC-Web globally without CORS -- UseGrpcWeb() without a CORS policy allows any origin to call your gRPC services. Always pair with explicit RequireCors().
8. Do not attempt client streaming or bidirectional streaming with gRPC-Web -- the gRPC-Web protocol only supports unary and server streaming. Use SignalR or native gRPC for full-duplex browser communication.

Attribution

Adapted from Aaronontheweb/dotnet-skills (MIT license).

References

• gRPC for .NET overview
• Create a gRPC client and server
• gRPC client factory integration
• gRPC services with ASP.NET Core
• gRPC health checks
• gRPC load balancing
• gRPC authentication
• gRPC interceptors
• gRPC-Web for .NET
• Protocol Buffers language guide