@grpc/proto-loader NPM

gRPC Protobuf Loader

A utility package for loading .proto files for use with gRPC, using the latest Protobuf.js package. Please refer to protobuf.js' documentation to understands its features and limitations.

Installation

npm install @grpc/proto-loader

Usage

const protoLoader = require('@grpc/proto-loader');
const grpcLibrary = require('grpc');
// OR
const grpcLibrary = require('@grpc/grpc-js');

protoLoader.load(protoFileName, options).then(packageDefinition => {
  const packageObject = grpcLibrary.loadPackageDefinition(packageDefinition);
});
// OR
const packageDefinition = protoLoader.loadSync(protoFileName, options);
const packageObject = grpcLibrary.loadPackageDefinition(packageDefinition);

The options parameter is an object that can have the following optional properties:

Field name	Valid values	Description
`keepCase`	`true` or `false`	Preserve field names. The default is to change them to camel case.
`longs`	`String` or `Number`	The type to use to represent `long` values. Defaults to a `Long` object type.
`enums`	`String`	The type to use to represent `enum` values. Defaults to the numeric value.
`bytes`	`Array` or `String`	The type to use to represent `bytes` values. Defaults to `Buffer`.
`defaults`	`true` or `false`	Set default values on output objects. Defaults to `false`.
`arrays`	`true` or `false`	Set empty arrays for missing array values even if `defaults` is `false` Defaults to `false`.
`objects`	`true` or `false`	Set empty objects for missing object values even if `defaults` is `false` Defaults to `false`.
`oneofs`	`true` or `false`	Set virtual oneof properties to the present field's name. Defaults to `false`.
`json`	`true` or `false`	Represent `Infinity` and `NaN` as strings in `float` fields, and automatically decode `google.protobuf.Any` values. Defaults to `false`
`includeDirs`	An array of strings	A list of search paths for imported `.proto` files.

The following options object closely approximates the existing behavior of grpc.load:

const options = {
  keepCase: true,
  longs: String,
  enums: String,
  defaults: true,
  oneofs: true
}

Generating TypeScript types

The proto-loader-gen-types script distributed with this package can be used to generate TypeScript type information for the objects loaded at runtime. More information about how to use it can be found in the @grpc/proto-loader TypeScript Type Generator CLI Tool proposal document. The arguments mostly match the load function's options; the full usage information is as follows:

proto-loader-gen-types.js [options] filenames...

Options:
  --help             Show help                                         [boolean]
  --version          Show version number                               [boolean]
  --keepCase         Preserve the case of field names                  [boolean]
  --longs            The type that should be used to output 64 bit integer
                     values. Can be String, Number                      [string]
  --enums            The type that should be used to output enum fields. Can be
                     String                                             [string]
  --bytes            The type that should be used to output bytes fields. Can be
                     String, Array                                      [string]
  --defaults         Output default values for omitted fields          [boolean]
  --arrays           Output default values for omitted repeated fields even if
                     --defaults is not set                             [boolean]
  --objects          Output default values for omitted message fields even if
                     --defaults is not set                             [boolean]
  --oneofs           Output virtual oneof fields set to the present field's name
                                                                       [boolean]
  --json             Represent Infinity and NaN as strings in float fields. Also
                     decode google.protobuf.Any automatically          [boolean]
  --includeComments  Generate doc comments from comments in the original files
                                                                       [boolean]
  --includeDirs, -I  Directories to search for included files            [array]
  --outDir, -O       Directory in which to output files      [string] [required]
  --grpcLib          The gRPC implementation library that these types will be
                     used with                               [string] [required]

Example Usage

Generate the types:

$(npm bin)/proto-loader-gen-types --longs=String --enums=String --defaults --oneofs --grpcLib=@grpc/grpc-js --outDir=proto/ proto/*.proto

Consume the types:

import * as grpc from '@grpc/grpc-js';
import * as protoLoader from '@grpc/proto-loader';
import { ProtoGrpcType } from './proto/example';
import { ExampleHandlers } from './proto/example_package/Example';

const exampleServer: ExampleHandlers = {
  // server handlers implementation...
};

const packageDefinition = protoLoader.loadSync('./proto/example.proto');
const proto = (grpc.loadPackageDefinition(
  packageDefinition
) as unknown) as ProtoGrpcType;

const server = new grpc.Server();
server.addService(proto.example_package.Example.service, exampleServer);

@types/long lodash.camelcase long protobufjs yargs