{"id":49371,"date":"2025-05-19T01:26:27","date_gmt":"2025-05-19T01:26:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.devopsschool.com\/blog\/?p=49371"},"modified":"2026-02-21T07:28:34","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T07:28:34","slug":"grpc-rest-graphql-websocket-a-example","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.devopsschool.com\/blog\/grpc-rest-graphql-websocket-a-example\/","title":{"rendered":"gRPC REST GraphQL & WebSocket – A example"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

That’s a great question. The reason it’s hard to visually spot<\/strong> the difference in a gRPC request is because it’s a binary protocol over HTTP\/2<\/strong>, unlike human-readable formats like REST (JSON) or GraphQL (JSON). But let’s break it down for you in a side-by-side comparison<\/strong>, using the same logical operation \u2014 a simple SayHello(name)<\/code> API<\/strong> \u2014 to highlight the key differences:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

\ud83e\uddea 1. gRPC Request (Over HTTP\/2 + Protobuf)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\ud83d\udd39 Summary:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  • Uses HTTP\/2 as the transport<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Uses binary Protobuf messages<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Includes custom HTTP\/2 headers<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    \ud83d\udd38 gRPC HTTP\/2 Headers:<\/h3>\n\n\n
    :method: POST\n:scheme: https\n:authority: myservice.com\n:path: \/greeter.Greeter\/<\/span>SayHello\ncontent-type: application\/grpc\nte<\/span>: trailers\ngrpc-timeout: 5<\/span>S\n<\/code><\/span>Code language:<\/span> JavaScript<\/span> (<\/span>javascript<\/span>)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n
    \ud83d\udd38 Binary Protobuf Payload (Encoded):<\/h3>\n\n\n
    00000000120a0452616a657368120a48656c6c6f2c2052616a65736821\n<\/code><\/span><\/pre>\n\n\n
    \n
    \u26a0\ufe0f Note: This payload is not human-readable<\/strong>. It\u2019s a binary encoding of:<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n
    message HelloRequest {\n  string name = \"Rajesh\"<\/span>\n}\n<\/code><\/span>Code language:<\/span> JavaScript<\/span> (<\/span>javascript<\/span>)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n
    \n\n\n\n
    \ud83e\uddea 2. REST Request (Over HTTP\/1.1 + JSON)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    \ud83d\udd39 Summary:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
      \n
    • Uses HTTP\/1.1<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • JSON payload<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Simple headers<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
      \ud83d\udd38 HTTP\/1.1 Headers:<\/h3>\n\n\n
      POST<\/span> \/api\/hello<\/span> HTTP\/1.1\nHost<\/span>: myservice.com\nContent-Type<\/span>: application\/json\n<\/code><\/span>Code language:<\/span> HTTP<\/span> (<\/span>http<\/span>)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n
      \ud83d\udd38 JSON Body:<\/h3>\n\n\n
      {\n  \"name\"<\/span>: \"Rajesh\"<\/span>\n}\n<\/code><\/span>Code language:<\/span> JSON \/ JSON with Comments<\/span> (<\/span>json<\/span>)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n
      \n
      \u2705 Human-readable and easily debuggable.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
      \n\n\n\n
      \ud83e\uddea 3. GraphQL Request (Over HTTP\/1.1 + JSON)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
      \ud83d\udd39 Summary:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
        \n
      • Sends a query\/mutation in the body<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Still over HTTP\/1.1<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
        \ud83d\udd38 Headers:<\/h3>\n\n\n
        POST<\/span> \/graphql<\/span> HTTP\/1.1\nContent-Type<\/span>: application\/json\n<\/code><\/span>Code language:<\/span> HTTP<\/span> (<\/span>http<\/span>)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n
        \ud83d\udd38 JSON Body:<\/h3>\n\n\n
        {\n  \"query\"<\/span>: \"query SayHello($name: String!) { sayHello(name: $name) }\"<\/span>,\n  \"variables\"<\/span>: { \"name\"<\/span>: \"Rajesh\"<\/span> }\n}\n<\/code><\/span>Code language:<\/span> JSON \/ JSON with Comments<\/span> (<\/span>json<\/span>)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n
        \n\n\n\n
        \ud83e\uddea 4. WebSocket Message (Example Payload)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
        \ud83d\udd39 Summary:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
          \n
        • Bi-directional persistent connection<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • Custom or JSON-encoded data<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
          \ud83d\udd38 JSON Message:<\/h3>\n\n\n
          {\n  \"action\"<\/span>: \"sayHello\"<\/span>,\n  \"data\"<\/span>: {\n    \"name\"<\/span>: \"Rajesh\"<\/span>\n  }\n}\n<\/code><\/span>Code language:<\/span> JSON \/ JSON with Comments<\/span> (<\/span>json<\/span>)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n
          \n\n\n\n
          \ud83e\udde0 Key Differences<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
          Feature<\/th>gRPC<\/th>REST<\/th>GraphQL<\/th>WebSocket<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
          Transport<\/td>HTTP\/2<\/td>HTTP\/1.1<\/td>HTTP\/1.1<\/td>WebSocket (TCP)<\/td><\/tr>
          Encoding<\/td>Protobuf (binary)<\/td>JSON<\/td>JSON<\/td>JSON \/ Custom<\/td><\/tr>
          Readability<\/td>\u274c Not human-readable<\/td>\u2705 Yes<\/td>\u2705 Yes<\/td>\u2705 Yes (usually JSON)<\/td><\/tr>
          Schema Enforcement<\/td>\u2705 Yes (Protobuf contracts)<\/td>\u274c No<\/td>\u2705 Yes (GraphQL schema)<\/td>\u274c Custom per app<\/td><\/tr>
          Streaming<\/td>\u2705 Native support<\/td>\u274c No<\/td>\ud83d\udeab Only with extra libs<\/td>\u2705 Native support<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
          \n\n\n\n
          \ud83d\udd0d How to Inspect gRPC Requests<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
          Since gRPC requests are binary:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
            \n
          • Use grpcurl<\/code><\/strong> to simulate or inspect requests<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          • Use BloomRPC<\/code><\/strong> or Postman (gRPC beta)<\/strong> to explore APIs<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          • Add interceptors to log decoded messages<\/strong> in dev<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
            Example with grpcurl<\/code>:<\/p>\n\n\n
            grpcurl -plaintext localhost:50051<\/span> list<\/span>\ngrpcurl -d '{\"name\": \"Rajesh\"}'<\/span> -plaintext localhost:50051<\/span> greeter.Greeter\/SayHello\n<\/code><\/span>Code language:<\/span> PHP<\/span> (<\/span>php<\/span>)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n
            \n\n\n\n
            <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
            That’s a great question. The reason it’s hard to visually spot the difference in a gRPC request is because it’s a binary protocol over HTTP\/2, unlike human-readable formats like REST… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_joinchat":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devopsschool.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devopsschool.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devopsschool.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devopsschool.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devopsschool.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49371"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.devopsschool.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49371\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58977,"href":"https:\/\/www.devopsschool.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49371\/revisions\/58977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devopsschool.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devopsschool.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devopsschool.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}