grpc /

This guide gets you started with gRPC in C# with a simple working example.

Before you begin

Prerequisites

Whether you’re using Windows, OS X, or Linux, you can follow this example by using either an IDE and its build tools, or by using the the .NET Core SDK command line tools.

Using the .NET Core SDK on Windows, OS X, or Linux, you’ll need:

The .NET Core SDK command line tools.
The .NET framework 4.5 (for OS X and Linux, the open source .NET Framework implementation, “Mono”, at version 4+, is suitable)
Git (to download the sample code)

On Windows, using Visual Studio, you’ll need:

.NET Framework 4.5+
Visual Studio 2013 or 2015.
Git (to download the sample code)

On OS X, using Xamarin Studio, you’ll need:

Mono 4.4.2+ (or Mono 4+ is sufficient if you manually update NuGet to version 2.12+)
Xamarin Studio 6.0+
Git (to download the sample code)

On Linux, using the Monodevelop IDE, you’ll need:

Mono 4.4.2+ (or Mono 4+ is sufficient if you manually update nuget to version 2.12+)
MonoDevelop 5.9+
A NuGet executable, at version 2.12+ (you’ll need to restore NuGet package dependencies from the command line)
Git (to download the sample code)

Download the example

You’ll need a local copy of the example code to work through this quickstart. Download the example code from our Github repository (the following command clones the entire repository, but you just need the examples for this quickstart and other tutorials):

$ # Clone the repository to get the example code:
$ git clone -b v1.8.x https://github.com/grpc/grpc 
$ cd grpc

Using Visual Studio, Xamarin Studio, or Mondevelop IDEs

The examples are in the directory, examples/csharp/helloworld.

Using the .NET Core SDK

A .NET Core SDK version of the hello world examples are in the directory, examples/csharp/helloworld-from-cli.

The example in this walkthrough already adds the necessary dependencies for you (Grpc, Grpc.Tools and Google.Protobuf NuGet packages).

Build the example

Using Visual Studio

Open the solution Greeter.sln with Visual Studio.
Build the solution (this will automatically download NuGet dependencies)

Using Xamarin Studio

Open the solution Greeter.sln with Xamarin Studio.
Project->”Restore NuGet Packages”
Build the solution (this will automatically download NuGet dependencies)

Using .NET Core SDK from the command line

From the examples/csharp/helloworld-from-cli directory:

> dotnet restore
> dotnet build **/project.json

Using the Monodevelop IDE

Using the Monodevelop IDE, you can build and edit a solution that uses gRPC without issues, but unfortunately a workaround is necessary in order to initially restore a NuGet dependency on C# gRPC.

The problem is that C# gRPC package currently depends on System.Interactive.Async 3.0.0, which requires NuGet 2.12+ to install. The NuGet included on the latest versions of Monodevelop is too old to install gRPC C#.

If you don’t want to change the version of NuGet that you’re using, a possible workaround to get these files is to download the NuGet package and unzip without a NuGet client, as follows.

Install NuGet 2.12+ so that it’s available from the command line.
From the examples/csharp/helloworld directory, run /path/to/nuget restore.
Now that the NuGet dependencies are restored into their proper package folders, build the solution from the Monodevelop IDE.

Run a gRPC application

Using Visual Studio, Xamarin Studio, or Monodevelop IDEs

From the examples/csharp/helloworld directory:

Run the server

> cd GreeterServer/bin/Debug
> GreeterServer.exe

In another terminal, run the client

> cd GreeterClient/bin/Debug
> GreeterClient.exe

You’ll need to run the above executables with “mono” if building on Xamarin Studio for OS X.

Using the .NET Core SDK

Run the server

> cd GreeterServer
> dotnet run

In another terminal, run the client

> cd GreeterClient
> dotnet run

Congratulations! You’ve just run a client-server application with gRPC.

Update a gRPC service

Now let’s look at how to update the application with an extra method on the server for the client to call. Our gRPC service is defined using protocol buffers; you can find out lots more about how to define a service in a .proto file in gRPC Basics: C#. For now all you need to know is that both the server and the client “stub” have a SayHello RPC method that takes a HelloRequest parameter from the client and returns a HelloResponse from the server, and that this method is defined like this:

// The greeting service definition.
service Greeter {
  // Sends a greeting
  rpc SayHello (HelloRequest) returns (HelloReply) {}
}

// The request message containing the user's name.
message HelloRequest {
  string name = 1;
}

// The response message containing the greetings
message HelloReply {
  string message = 1;
}

Let’s update this so that the Greeter service has two methods. Edit examples/protos/helloworld.proto and update it with a new SayHelloAgain method, with the same request and response types:

// The greeting service definition.
service Greeter {
  // Sends a greeting
  rpc SayHello (HelloRequest) returns (HelloReply) {}
  // Sends another greeting
  rpc SayHelloAgain (HelloRequest) returns (HelloReply) {}
}

// The request message containing the user's name.
message HelloRequest {
  string name = 1;
}

// The response message containing the greetings
message HelloReply {
  string message = 1;
}

(Don’t forget to save the file!)

Generate gRPC code

Next we need to update the gRPC code used by our application to use the new service definition.

The Grpc.Tools NuGet package contains the protoc and protobuf C# plugin binaries you will need to generate the code.

Obtaining the Grpc.Tools NuGet package

Using Visual Studio

This example project already depends on the Grpc.Tools.1.8.x NuGet package, so it should be included in examples/csharp/helloworld/packages when the Greeter.sln solution is built from your IDE, or when you restore packages via /path/to/nuget restore on the command line.

If you have a NuGet client that is not at version 2.12

$ mkdir packages && cd packages
$ /path/to/nuget install Grpc.Tools

If you have a NuGet client that is at version 2.12

NuGet 2.12 does not install the files from the Grpc.Tools package necessary on Linux and OS X. Without changing the version of NuGet that you’re using, a possible workaround to obtaining the binaries included in the Grpc.Tools package is by simply downloading the NuGet package and unzipping without a NuGet client, as follows. From your example directory:

$ temp_dir=packages/Grpc.Tools.1.8.x/tmp
$ curl_url=https://www.nuget.org/api/v2/package/Grpc.Tools/
$ mkdir -p $temp_dir && cd $temp_dir && curl -sL $curl_url > tmp.zip; unzip tmp.zip && cd .. && cp -r tmp/tools . && rm -rf tmp && cd ../..

Commands to generate the gRPC code

Note that you may have to change the platform_architecture directory names (e.g. windows_x86, linux_x64) in the commands below based on your environment.

Note that you may also have to change the permissions of the protoc and protobuf binaries in the Grpc.Tools package under examples/csharp/helloworld/packages to executable in order to run the commands below.

From the examples/csharp/helloworld directory, or the examples/csharp/helloworld-from-cli directory if using the .NET Core SDK:

Windows

> packages\Grpc.Tools.1.8.x\tools\windows_x86\protoc.exe -I../../protos --csharp_out Greeter --grpc_out Greeter ../../protos/helloworld.proto --plugin=protoc-gen-grpc=packages/Grpc.Tools.1.8.x/tools/windows_x86/grpc_csharp_plugin.exe

Linux (or OS X by using macosx_x64 directory)

$ packages/Grpc.Tools.1.8.x/tools/linux_x64/protoc -I../../protos --csharp_out Greeter --grpc_out Greeter ../../protos/helloworld.proto --plugin=protoc-gen-grpc=packages/Grpc.Tools.1.8.x/tools/linux_x64/grpc_csharp_plugin

Running the appropriate command for your OS regenerates the following files in the directory:

Greeter/Helloworld.cs contains all the protocol buffer code to populate, serialize, and retrieve our request and response message types
Greeter/HelloworldGrpc.cs provides generated client and server classes, including:
- an abstract class Greeter.GreeterBase to inherit from when defining Greeter service implementations
- a class Greeter.GreeterClient that can be used to access remote Greeter instances

Update and run the application

We now have new generated server and client code, but we still need to implement and call the new method in the human-written parts of our example application.

Update the server

With the Greeter.sln open in your IDE, open GreeterServer/Program.cs. Implement the new method by editing the GreeterImpl class like this:

class GreeterImpl : Greeter.GreeterBase
{
    // Server side handler of the SayHello RPC
    public override Task<HelloReply> SayHello(HelloRequest request, ServerCallContext context)
    {
        return Task.FromResult(new HelloReply { Message = "Hello " + request.Name });
    }

    // Server side handler for the SayHelloAgain RPC
    public override Task<HelloReply> SayHelloAgain(HelloRequest request, ServerCallContext context)
    {
        return Task.FromResult(new HelloReply { Message = "Hello again " + request.Name });
    }
}

Update the client

With the same Greeter.sln open in your IDE, open GreeterClient/Program.cs. Call the new method like this:

public static void Main(string[] args)
{
    Channel channel = new Channel("127.0.0.1:50051", ChannelCredentials.Insecure);

    var client = new Greeter.GreeterClient(channel);
    String user = "you";

    var reply = client.SayHello(new HelloRequest { Name = user });
    Console.WriteLine("Greeting: " + reply.Message);
    
    var secondReply = client.SayHelloAgain(new HelloRequest { Name = user });
    Console.WriteLine("Greeting: " + secondReply.Message);

    channel.ShutdownAsync().Wait();
    Console.WriteLine("Press any key to exit...");
    Console.ReadKey();
}

Rebuild the modified example

Rebuild the newly modified example just like we first built the original example:

With solution Greeter.sln open from Visual Studio, Monodevelop (on Linux) or Xamarin Studio (on OS X)
Build the solution

Run!

Just like we did before, from the examples/csharp/helloworld directory:

Run the server

> cd GreeterServer/bin/Debug
> GreeterServer.exe

In another terminal, run the client

> cd GreeterClient/bin/Debug
> GreeterClient.exe

Or if using the .NET Core SDK, from the examples/csharp/helloworld-from-cli directory:

Run the server

> cd GreeterServer
> dotnet run

In another terminal, run the client

> cd GreeterClient
> dotnet run

What’s next

Read a full explanation of how gRPC works in What is gRPC? and gRPC Concepts
Work through a more detailed tutorial in gRPC Basics: C#
Explore the gRPC C# core API in its reference documentation

Quick Start

C# Quickstart

Before you begin

Prerequisites

Download the example

Using Visual Studio, Xamarin Studio, or Mondevelop IDEs

Using the .NET Core SDK

Build the example

Using Visual Studio

Using Xamarin Studio

Using .NET Core SDK from the command line

Using the Monodevelop IDE

Run a gRPC application

Using Visual Studio, Xamarin Studio, or Monodevelop IDEs

Using the .NET Core SDK

Update a gRPC service

Generate gRPC code

Obtaining the Grpc.Tools NuGet package

Using Visual Studio

If you have a NuGet client that is not at version 2.12

If you have a NuGet client that is at version 2.12

Commands to generate the gRPC code

Update and run the application

Update the server

Update the client

Rebuild the modified example

Run!

What’s next