Developing resilient and performant APIs is crucial in software development. Selecting the appropriate API technology is key to providing speedy, dependable, and secure services. When evaluating options, take into account project complexity, endpoint count, expected traffic, and team expertise.

What is tRPC

tRPC is an open source remote procedure call (RPC) framework that is fast, lightweight, and enables efficient communication between client and server applications. It simplifies building high-performance and scalable APIs by automating many everyday tasks required for API development over HTTP/2.

tRPC uses Protocol Buffers as its default serialization format for encoding and decoding the data that is transferred between the client and server across multiple languages and technology stacks.

How tRPC works?

tRPC simplifies data serialization and deserialization between clients and servers. You can define API methods and request/response data using a straightforward, human-readable syntax. With tRPC, low-level details become a non-issue when clients make requests. Additionally, tRPC offers automatic code generation for both clients and servers.

tRPC features

1. Strongly-Typed API Definitions:

  • tRPC enforces strongly-typed API definitions using TypeScript’s powerful type system.
  • This rock-solid foundation ensures that your API contracts are well-defined and type-safe.
  • Say goodbye to runtime surprises—type errors related to your API will be caught at build time.

2. Automatic Code Generation:

  • Unlike traditional REST or GraphQL, tRPC doesn’t rely on code generation.
  • No need to generate boilerplate code or maintain additional build pipelines.
  • Enjoy a snappy developer experience (DX) without runtime bloat.

3. Multiple Transport Protocols Support:

  • tRPC adapts to your preferred transport protocols.
  • Whether you’re using Next.js, Express, Fetch API, Fastify, AWS Lambda, or a vanilla Node HTTP server, tRPC has you covered1.

4. Client and Server-Side Libraries:

  • tRPC makes it easy to write endpoints that work seamlessly on both the front end and backend of your app.
  • Share types directly between client and server without relying on code generation.
  • Ideal for full-stack TypeScript developers who value static typesafety and clean API contracts.

5. Request Batching:

  • Automatically combine requests made at the same time into a single batch.
  • Optimize network efficiency and reduce unnecessary round trips.

6. Subscriptions Support:

  • Add typesafe observability to your application.
  • Keep track of real-time updates and events with ease.

7. Lightweight and Framework Agnostic:

  • tRPC has zero dependencies and a tiny client-side footprint.
  • Whether you’re starting a new project or enhancing an existing one, tRPC fits right in.

Popular use cases of tRPC

  • Microservices Architecture
  • Backend-to-Frontend Communication
  • Real-Time Applications