# improbable-eng/ts-protoc-gen

Protocol Buffers Compiler (protoc) plugin for TypeScript and gRPC-Web.

Repository: https://github.com/improbable-eng/ts-protoc-gen
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/ts-protoc-gen
Language: TypeScript
License: Apache-2.0
License Family: permissive
Topics: protocol-buffers, protoc, plugin, typescript, ts, grpc-web, grpc
Last push: 2026-01-21T23:30:21+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 51/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 63, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3460, "days_push": 224, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1395, forks 170 (observed 2026-08-28T04:04:36.533760+00:00)

## What it is
A protoc plugin that generates TypeScript declaration files (.d.ts) matching the JavaScript output of protoc's CommonJS mode. It can also emit gRPC service client definitions for grpc-web and grpc-node.

## Use cases
- generate TypeScript types for protobuf messages
- add type hints to protoc-generated CommonJS JavaScript modules
- generate gRPC-Web client stubs in TypeScript
- generate service definitions for grpc-node
- integrate protocol buffers into a TypeScript build pipeline

## When to choose
- you use protoc's js_out with CommonJS import style and want typed messages
- you build a browser client with grpc-web and need TypeScript service definitions
- you want typed protobuf message declarations without hand-writing .d.ts files

## When to avoid
- you use protobuf-es, ts-proto, or protobuf.js instead of protoc's js_out output
- you need runtime serialization libraries rather than type declarations
- you use Closure-style or ES module protoc output instead of CommonJS

## Facets
- artifact type: plugin
- maturity: maintenance
- function: serialization, type-system, rpc
- domain: developer-tools, apis, web-development, frontend
- platform: cli, cross-platform
- tags: protobuf, protoc-plugin, typescript-declarations, grpc-web, grpc-node, code-generator, code-generation, nodejs

## Member repositories
- improbable-eng/ts-protoc-gen (main) score 51

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:36.533760+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T04:39:23.495180+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/improbable-eng/ts-protoc-gen (fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:36.533760+00:00, sha 3ec49db2885f)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.