gruf - gRPC Ruby Framework

gruf is a Ruby framework that wraps the gRPC Ruby library to provide a more streamlined integration into Ruby and Ruby on Rails applications.

It provides an abstracted server and client for gRPC services, along with other tools to help get gRPC services in Ruby up fast and efficiently at scale. Some of its features include:

• Abstracted controllers with request context support
• Full interceptors with timing and unified request context support
• Robust client error handling and metadata transport abilities
• Server authentication via interceptors, with basic auth with multiple key support built in
• TLS support for client-server auth, though we recommend using linkerd instead
• Error data serialization in output metadata to allow fine-grained error handling in the transport while still preserving gRPC BadStatus codes
• Server and client execution timings in responses

gruf currently has active support for gRPC 1.10.x+. gruf is compatible and tested with Ruby 2.2-2.5. gruf is also not Rails-specific, and can be used in any Ruby framework (such as Grape, for instance).

Installation

gem 'gruf'

Then in an initializer or before use:

require 'gruf'

Make sure to review UPGRADING.md if you are upgrading gruf between minor or major versions.

Client

Add an initializer:

require 'gruf'

Gruf.configure do |c|
  c.default_client_host = 'grpc.service.com:9003'
end

If you don't explicitly set default_client_host, you will need to pass it into the options, like so:

client = ::Gruf::Client.new(service: ::Demo::ThingService, options: {hostname: 'grpc.service.com:9003'})

From there, you can instantiate a client given a stub service (say on an SslCertificates proto with a GetSslCertificate call):

require 'gruf'

id = args[:id].to_i.presence || 1

begin
  client = ::Gruf::Client.new(service: ::Demo::ThingService)
  response = client.call(:GetMyThing, id: id)
  puts response.message.inspect
rescue Gruf::Client::Error => e
  puts e.error.inspect
end

Note this returns a response object. The response object can provide trailing_metadata as well as a execution_time.

SynchronizedClient

SynchronizedClient wraps Client with some additional behavior to help prevent generating spikes of redundant requests. If multiple calls to the same endpoint with the same parameters are made, the first one will be executed and the following ones will block, waiting for the first result.

require 'gruf'
require 'thwait'

id = args[:id].to_i.presence || 1
client = ::Gruf::SynchronizedClient.new(service: ::Demo::ThingService)
thread1 = Thread.new { client.call(:GetMyThing, id: id) }
thread2 = Thread.new { client.call(:GetMyThing, id: id) }
ThreadsWait.all_waits(thread1, thread2)

In the above example, thread1 will make the rpc call, thread2 will block until the call is complete, and then will get the same value without making a second rpc call.

You can also skip this behavior for certain methods if desired.

require 'gruf'
require 'thwait'

id = args[:id].to_i.presence || 1
client = ::Gruf::SynchronizedClient.new(service: ::Demo::ThingService, options: { unsynchronized_methods: [:GetMyThing] })
thread1 = Thread.new { client.call(:GetMyThing, id: id) }
thread2 = Thread.new { client.call(:GetMyThing, id: id) }
ThreadsWait.all_waits(thread1, thread2)

In the above example, thread1 and thread2 will make rpc calls in parallel, in the same way as if you had used Gruf::Client.

Client Interceptors

Gruf comes with an assistance class for client interceptors that you can use - or you can use the native gRPC core interceptors. Either way, you pass them into the client_options when creating a client:

class MyInterceptor < Gruf::Interceptors::ClientInterceptor
  def call(request_context:)
    logger.info "Got method #{request_context.method}!"
    yield
  end
end

::Gruf::Client.new(
  service: ::Demo::ThingService,
  client_options: {
    interceptors: [MyInterceptor.new]
  })

The interceptors option in client_options can accept either a GRPC::ClientInterceptor class or a Gruf::Interceptors::ClientInterceptor, since the latter just extends the former. The gruf client interceptors take an optional alternative approach: rather than having separate methods for each request type, it provides a default call method that passes in a RequestContext object, which has the following attributes:

• type - A Symbol of the type of request (request_response, server_streamer, etc)
• requests An enumerable of requests being sent. For unary requests, this is a single request in an array
• call - The GRPC::ActiveCall object
• method - The Method being called
• metadata - The hash of outgoing metadata

Note that you must yield back the block when building a client interceptor, so that the call can be executed.

Server

Add an initializer:

require 'gruf'

Gruf.configure do |c|
  c.server_binding_url = 'grpc.service.com:9003'
end

Next, setup some handlers based on your proto configurations in /app/rpc/. For example, for the Thing service, with a GetThingReq/GetThingResp call based on this proto:

syntax = "proto3";

package demo;

service Jobs {
    rpc GetJob(GetJobReq) returns (GetJobResp) { }
}

message GetJobReq {
    uint64 id = 1;
}

message GetJobResp {
    uint64 id = 1;
    string name = 2;
}

You'd have this handler in /app/rpc/demo/job_controller.rb

module Demo
  class JobController < ::Gruf::Controllers::Base
    bind ::Demo::Jobs::Service

    ##
    # @return [Demo::GetJobResp] The job response
    #
    def get_job
      thing = Job.find(request.message.id)

      Demo::GetJobResp.new(id: thing.id)
    rescue
      fail!(:not_found, :job_not_found, "Failed to find Job with ID: #{request.message.id}")
    end
  end
end

Finally, you can start the server by running:

bundle exec gruf

Command-Line Options

Gruf comes baked in with a few command-line options for the binstub:

Option	Description
-h, --help	Displays the help message
-v, --version	Displays the gruf version
--host	Specify the server binding host
--suppress-default-interceptors	Do not use the default interceptors for the server
--backtrace-on-error	Push backtraces on exceptions to the error serializer

These options will override whatever is passed in the Gruf configure block or initializer.

Basic Authentication

Gruf comes packaged in with a Basic Authentication interceptor. It takes in an array of supported username and password pairs (or password-only credentials).

In Server:

Gruf.configure do |c|
  c.interceptors.use(
    Gruf::Interceptors::Authentication::Basic,
    credentials: [{
      username: 'my-username-here',
      password: 'my-password-here',
    },{
      username: 'another-username',
      password: 'another-password',
    },{
      password: 'a-password-only'
    }]
  )
end

In Client:

require 'gruf'

id = args[:id].to_i.presence || 1

options = {
  username: ENV.fetch('DEMO_THING_SERVICE_USERNAME'),
  password: ENV.fetch('DEMO_THING_SERVICE_PASSWORD')
}

begin
  client = ::Gruf::Client.new(service: ::Demo::ThingService, options: options)
  response = client.call(:GetMyThing, id: id)
  puts response.message.inspect
rescue Gruf::Client::Error => e
  puts e.error.inspect
end

Supporting an array of credentials allow for unique credentials per service, or for easy credential rotation with zero downtime.

SSL Configuration

We don't recommend using TLS for gRPC, but instead using something like linkerd for TLS encryption between services. If you need it, however, this library supports TLS.

For the client, you'll need to point to the public certificate:

::Gruf::Client.new(
  service: Demo::ThingService,
  options: {
    ssl_certificate: 'x509 public certificate here',
    # OR
    ssl_certificate_file: '/path/to/my.crt'
  }
)

If you want to run a server you'll need both the CRT and the key file if you want to do credentialed auth:

Gruf.configure do |c|
  c.use_ssl = true
  c.ssl_crt_file = "#{Rails.root}/config/ssl/#{Rails.env}.crt"
  c.ssl_key_file = "#{Rails.root}/config/ssl/#{Rails.env}.key"
end

GRPC::RpcServer configuration

To customize parameters for the underlying GRPC::RpcServer, such as the size of the gRPC thread pool, you can pass them in via Gruf.rpc_server_options.

Gruf.configure do |c|
  # The size of the underlying thread pool. No more concurrent requests can be made
  # than the size of the thread pool.
  c.rpc_server_options[:pool_size] = 100
end

Server Interceptors

gruf supports interceptors around the grpc server calls, allowing you to perform actions around your service method calls. This can be used to add tracing data, connection resets in the grpc thread pool, further instrumentation, and other things.

Adding a hook is as simple as creating a class that extends Gruf::Interceptor::ServerInterceptor, and a call method that yields control to get the method result:

class MyInterceptor < ::Gruf::Interceptors::ServerInterceptor
  def call
    yield
  end
end

Interceptors have access to the request object, which is the Gruf::Controller::Request object described above.

Failing in an Interceptor

Interceptors can fail requests with the same method calls as a controller:

class MyFailingInterceptor < ::Gruf::Interceptors::ServerInterceptor
  def call
    result = yield # this returns the protobuf message
    unless result.dont_hijack
      # we'll assume this "dont_hijack" attribute exists on the message for this example
      fail!(:internal, :hijacked, 'Hijack all the things!')
    end
    result
  end
end

Similarly, you can raise GRPC::BadStatus calls to trigger similar errors without accompanying metadata.

Configuring Interceptors

From there, the interceptor can be added to the server manually (if not executing via bundle exec gruf):

server = Gruf::Server.new
server.add_interceptor(MyInterceptor, option_foo: 'value 123')

Or, alternatively, the more common method of passing them into the interceptors configuration hash:

Gruf.configure do |c|
  c.interceptors.use(MyInterceptor, option_foo: 'value 123')
end

Interceptors each wrap the call and are run recursively within each other. This means that if you have three interceptors - Interceptor1, Interceptor2, and Interceptor3 - they will run in FIFO (first in, first out) order. Interceptor1 will run, yielding to Interceptor2, which will then yield to Interceptor3, which will then yield to your service method call, ending the chain.

You can utilize the insert_before and insert_after methods to maintain order:

Gruf.configure do |c|
  c.interceptors.use(Interceptor1)
  c.interceptors.use(Interceptor2)
  c.interceptors.insert_before(Interceptor2, Interceptor3) # 3 will now happen before 2
  c.interceptors.insert_after(Interceptor1, Interceptor4) # 4 will now happen after 1
end

By default, the ActiveRecord Connection Reset interceptor and Output Metadata Timing interceptor are loaded into gruf unless explicitly told not to via the use_default_interceptors configuration parameter.

Hooks

Hooks, unlike interceptors, are executed outside of the request chain, such as when a server starts or stops. They run in FIFO order sequentially and do not wrap one another. They can be used to provide custom boot sequences, external instrumentation support, or shutdown alerting.

You can create a hook by extending the Gruf::Hooks::Base class and defining the methods on the hook you wish to implement:

class MyHook < Gruf::Hooks::Base
  def before_server_start(server:)
    # do my thing before the server starts  
  end

  def after_server_stop(server:)
    # do my thing after the server stops
  end
end

# Then in an initializer:

Gruf.configure do |c|
  c.hooks.use(MyHook, option_foo: 'value 123')
end

Exceptions raised in hooks will halt the execution chain and bubble up the stack appropriately.

Available Hook Insertion Points

Current hook insertion points are:

• before_server_start - Right before the gRPC server starts
• after_server_stop - Right after the gRPC server is shutdown

Note that exceptions raised in before_server_start will halt the execution chain for the remaining before_server_start hooks, but will still execute the after_server_stop hooks as expected. Exceptions raised in after_server_stop will prevent further after_server_stop hooks from running.

Instrumentation

gruf comes out of the box with a couple of instrumentation interceptors packed in: output metadata timings and StatsD support.

Output Metadata Timing

Enabled by default, this will push timings for successful responses through the response output metadata back to the client.

StatsD

The StatsD support is not enabled by default. To enable it, you'll want to do:

Gruf.configure do |c|
  c.interceptors.use(
    Gruf::Interceptors::Instrumentation::Statsd,
    client: ::Statsd.new('my.statsd.host', 8125),
    prefix: 'my_application_prefix.rpc'
  )
end

This will measure counts and timings for each endpoint.

Request Logging

Gruf 1.2+ comes built with request logging out of the box; you'll get Rails-style logs with your gRPC calls:

# plain
I, [2017-07-14T09:50:54.200506 #70571]  INFO -- : [GRPC::Ok] (thing_service.get_thing) [0.348ms]
# logstash
I, [2017-07-14T09:51:03.299050 #70595]  INFO -- : {"message":"[GRPC::Ok] (thing_service.get_thing) [0.372ms]","service":"thing_service","method":"thing_service.get_thing","grpc_status":"GRPC::Ok"}

It supports formatters (including custom ones) that you can use to specify the formatting of the logging:

Gruf.configure do |c|
  c.interceptors.use(
    Gruf::Interceptors::Instrumentation::RequestLogging::Interceptor,
    formatter: :logstash
  )
end

It comes with a few more options as well:

Option	Description	Default
formatter	The formatter to use. By default :plain and :logstash are supported.	:logstash
log_parameters	If set to true, will log parameters in the response	false
blacklist	An array of parameter key names to redact from logging, in path.to.key format	[]
redacted_string	The string to use for redacted parameters.	REDACTED
ignore_methods	An array of method names to ignore from logging. E.g. ['namespace.health.check']	[]

It's important to maintain a safe blacklist should you decide to log parameters; gruf does no parameter sanitization on its own. We also recommend blacklisting parameters that may contain very large values (such as binary or json data).

Testing with RSpec

There is a gem specifically for easy testing with RSpec: gruf-rspec. Take a look at its README for more information.

Plugins

You can build your own hooks and middleware for gruf; here's a list of known open source gems for gruf that you can use today:

• gruf-lightstep - Provides a seamless LightStep integration
• gruf-zipkin - Provides a Zipkin integration
• gruf-newrelic - Easy New Relic integration
• gruf-commander - Request/command-style validation and execution patterns for services
• gruf-profiler - Profiles and provides memory usage reports for clients and services
• gruf-circuit-breaker - Circuit breaker support for services

Demo Rails App

There is a demonstration Rails application here you can view and clone that shows how to integrate Gruf into an existing Rails application.

Roadmap

Gruf 3.0

• Change configuration to an injectable object to ensure thread safety on chained server/client interactions
• Move all references to Gruf. configuration into injectable parameters
• Redo server configuration to be fully injectable

Companies Using Gruf

Using gruf and want to show your support? Let us know and we'll add your name here.

• BigCommerce

License

Copyright (c) 2017-present, BigCommerce Pty. Ltd. All rights reserved

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.