# zeroc-ice/ice

All-in-one solution for creating networked applications with RPC, pub/sub, server deployment, and more.

Repository: https://github.com/zeroc-ice/ice
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/zeroc-ice-ice
Homepage: https://zeroc.com
Language: C++
License: GPL-2.0
License Family: copyleft
Topics: rpc, ice, zeroc, rpc-framework, hacktoberfest
Last push: 2026-08-26T21:01:00+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 91/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 75, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4201, "days_push": 7, "days_rel": 90, "gap_med": 47, "n_releases_24m": 4}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 2191, forks 601 (observed 2026-08-28T04:06:24.114266+00:00)

## What it is
Ice (Internet Communications Engine) is a complete RPC framework for building networked applications, using the Slice IDL to generate client/server stubs across multiple programming languages. It bundles RPC over TCP/SSL/UDP/WebSocket, pub-sub services, configuration, logging, metrics, and server deployment tooling into one uniform API.

## Use cases
- build a client-server app with typed remote procedure calls
- call a C++ server from a Python client over the network
- add pub-sub messaging to a distributed application
- replace gRPC with a mature multi-language RPC framework
- deploy and manage replicated servers in a distributed system
- serialize data over TCP without hand-writing network code

## When to choose
- you need cross-language RPC with generated stubs from an IDL
- you want an all-in-one toolkit (RPC, pub-sub, deployment) rather than assembling libraries
- your project can comply with GPLv2 or you can purchase a commercial license

## When to avoid
- you need a permissively licensed framework and cannot accept GPLv2 copyleft or pay for a commercial license
- you want a lightweight modern HTTP/JSON or QUIC-based RPC stack (consider IceRPC or gRPC instead)
- your use case is simple REST APIs for web frontends

## Facets
- artifact type: framework
- maturity: stable
- function: rpc, serialization, message-queue, logging, monitoring, middleware
- domain: microservices, networking, apis, backend, developer-tools
- platform: cpp, python, jvm, dotnet, cross-platform, windows
- tags: idl, slice, pub-sub, grpc-alternative, binary-protocol, dual-license, javascript, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- zeroc-ice/ice (main) score 91

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:06:24.114266+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 2026-08-30T02:47:36.839804+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/zeroc-ice/ice (fetched 2026-08-28T04:06:24.114266+00:00, sha 6a11e8a2c8d9)
  - homepage: https://zeroc.com (fetched 2026-08-29T10:27:57.282779+00:00, sha a262c7280b5f)
  - site_page: https://zeroc.com/about (fetched 2026-08-29T10:27:57.291802+00:00, sha 34b3dd777c7f)
  - site_page: https://docs.zeroc.com (fetched 2026-08-29T10:27:57.295226+00:00, sha e8c0a3266dc1)
  - site_page: https://zeroc.com/ice/pricing (fetched 2026-08-29T10:27:57.293563+00:00, sha 637b5a029db7)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.