# twitchtv/twirp

A simple RPC framework with protobuf service definitions

Repository: https://github.com/twitchtv/twirp
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/twirp
Homepage: https://twitchtv.github.io/twirp/docs/intro.html
Language: Go
License: Apache-2.0
License Family: permissive
Topics: twirp, go, rpc, protobuf
Last push: 2024-08-05T21:36:11+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 23/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3151, "days_push": 758, "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 7530, forks 326 (observed 2026-08-28T04:10:00.585802+00:00)

## What it is
Twirp is a simple RPC framework for Go that generates servers and clients from protobuf service definitions. It runs on the standard library's net/http server, supports HTTP 1.1 and JSON serialization, and emphasizes simplicity over gRPC's custom transport.

## Use cases
- build rpc services in go from proto files
- generate go clients and servers from protobuf definitions
- replace grpc with a simpler http-based rpc framework
- service-to-service communication between microservices
- expose json and protobuf apis from the same service
- autogenerate typed clients for internal apis

## When to choose
- you want gRPC-like rpc without custom HTTP/2 transport
- you want generated clients and servers from .proto files in Go
- you need JSON serialization for easy debugging alongside protobuf
- you want to run on the standard net/http server and middleware ecosystem

## When to avoid
- you need streaming rpcs, which Twirp does not support
- you need first-class multi-language server support (official support is Go only)
- you need advanced gRPC features like deadlines, load balancing, or bidirectional streaming
- your team is not using protobuf tooling

## Facets
- artifact type: framework
- maturity: maintenance
- function: rpc, serialization, http-server, http-client, middleware
- domain: backend, apis, developer-tools, web-development
- platform: go, cross-platform
- tags: protobuf, code-generation, grpc-alternative, service-to-service, net-http, json-serialization

## Member repositories
- twitchtv/twirp (main) score 23

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:10:00.585802+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 2026-08-29T17:37:27.532593+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/twitchtv/twirp (fetched 2026-08-28T04:10:00.585802+00:00, sha 94c268cc777b)
  - homepage: https://twitchtv.github.io/twirp/docs/intro.html (fetched 2026-08-29T08:32:32.768499+00:00, sha 482a0daf2c0e)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.