In the context of developing applications and services, Remote Procedure Calls (RPC) are rising in popularity as they handle the complexity of connecting large-scale projects.
A key type of RPC is tRPC (TypeScript Remote Procedure Call), which is used by developers working with JavaScript frameworks like React or Angular.
What is tRPC? Today, we'll provide insight into what it is all about and how it differs from other common methods for distributed application building.
What is a Remote Procedure Call (RPC)?
A Remote Procedure Call (RPC) is a communication protocol within networked systems that executes code on a different server or system like it’s a local function or method call.
An RPC abstracts the complexities of network communication, making it seem like it’s calling a function in the same program rather than being executed on a remote server.
As a result, RPCs are commonly used in distributed computing environments to allow seamless interactions between systems in a network without managing underlying details like message passing, socket handling, or transport protocols.
What is a TypeScript Remote Procedure Call (tRPC)?
As mentioned, a TypeScript Remote Procedure Call (tRPC) is a protocol for different programs to communicate over a network.
A tRPC is a type-safe implementation of the RPC protocol, ensuring the correct transmission of data.
This model works with techs like Node.js and Angular tRPC, and it's particularly useful for large-scale solutions where parts need to communicate with each other over a network.
How does tRPC Work?
tRPC is a type-safe API call approach that simplifies client-server communication by easing remote procedure calls.
It's particularly useful in distributed systems, with components on different devices, as it allows them to communicate without having to worry about the underlying network.
This RPC also enables devs to define their APIs with TypeScript interfaces, and the framework generates the tRPC client-to-server code to handle remote procedure calls.
As a result, it allows devs and teams to focus on writing the application’s business logic rather than worrying about the details of networking and serialization.
Moreover, tRPC supports a wide range of transport protocols, including HTTP, WebSocket, and Server-Sent Events.
It also includes built-in support for authentication and authorization, making it easy to secure your application.
5 TypeScript Remote Procedure Call Features
- Type Safety: You can define APIs using TypeScript interfaces, ensuring static typing and catching errors at compile time rather than waiting for run-time errors.
- Automatic Serialization: Serializing and deserializing your data with tRPC API is automatic, making sending and receiving data between your API and clients easier.
- Authentication and Authorization: tRPC includes built-in support for authentication and authorization, making it easy to secure your API.
- Flexible Transport: tRPC supports a range of transport options, like HTTP and WebSockets.
- Real-time Updates: With WebSockets, you can easily add API real-time updates.
Pros and Cons of tRPC
tRPC vs GraphQL
When developing modern digital solutions, choosing the right tools and techs is vital to ensure efficient and high performance.
In the context of RPCs, this efficiency mostly refers to communications between the tRPC client code and the server.
Yet, tRPC is not the only procedure that allows these interactions since GraphQL has also become a widely used technology for this purpose.
As mentioned, tRPC is a TypeScript-based remote procedure call framework that simplifies the process of building APIs.
With automatic type generation and validation, tRPC makes writing server-side code a breeze— its small footprint also makes it a great choice for microservices architecture.
On the other hand, GraphQL is a query language for APIs that gives clients the power to ask for exactly what they need and nothing more.
Likewise, GraphQL offers a strongly typed schema and allows efficient data fetching as clients can request multiple resources in a single request.
Both API methods, tRPC and GraphQL, differ in their dev process— while tRPC focuses on simplifying the server-side code, GraphQL prioritizes client-side efficiency and flexibility.
Regarding performance, tRPC edges out GraphQL with a smaller overhead and faster serialization times.
However, GraphQL offers better caching and can reduce the number of network requests needed to fetch data.
In the end, the choice for your Remote Procedure Call management will depend on your project’s priorities and requirements.
Why is tRPC Important?
tRPC became key in the dev landscape as it simplifies the process of building APIs without using code generation, reducing boilerplate code and enhancing developer productivity.
It allows teams to define API's methods, inputs and outputs in TypeScript to catch errors early in the process while adding a built-in security layer to stop unauthorized access.
What’s more, tRPC allows teams to build scalable APIs by handling requests asynchronously and efficiently for seamless integrations with minimal configuration.
Since it's JavaScript-oriented, it works wonders with several well-known front-end libraries and frameworks, such as boosting React, Vue and Angular applications.
Nonetheless, there are also tRPC for other dynamic languages, like Python and C++.
Conclusion
TypeScript Remote Procedure Calls are a powerful and lightweight RPC that improves the developer experience with strong typing, load balancing, and auto-completion features.
With real-time communication and multiple transport, it is an excellent choice for projects that need high-performance and low-latency communications.
