gRPC C++ Gemini Collaboration Guide

This document outlines conventions and best practices for AI-assisted development in the gRPC C++ codebase.

Preferred Tools & Libraries

  • Prefer gRPC types before absl.
  • Prefer std types when available, use absl types when not
  • Prefer std::optional over absl::optional
  • gRPC uses C++17, so we can't use C++20 onwards types.
  • The Python implementation cannot depend on the protobuf library, so any shared libraries must expose a C-style API that does not rely on C++ protobuf types.

Code Style & Conventions

  • #include <grpc/support/port_platform.h> is not required unless its macros are needed for compilation.
  • Only include headers that are actively used.
  • Abseil headers are sorted before gRPC headers.
  • For public api headers (in include/grpc) we use <grpc/...>.
    • Example: #include <grpc/grpc.h>
  • Prefer explicit types over std::pair or std::tuple for return types.
  • Use LOG(ERROR) from absl/log/log.h for logging errors, never use std::cerr or gpr_log.
  • The fuzztest.h header is located at fuzztest/fuzztest.h.

About gRPC

  • gRPC uses its own macros for Bazel libraries, tests, etc. Each directory should have a grpc_package declaration. For libraries use grpc_cc_library, for tests grpc_cc_test.
  • Dependencies on non-gRPC libraries (like gtest or absl) are listed in the external_deps attribute.
  • The :grpc BUILD target is not allowed to depend on the C++ protobuf library, either directly or transitively.
  • Build files for implementation code are typically located in src/core/BUILD and BUILD. Do not add new BUILD files under the src/ tree without explicit instruction.
  • Tests are located in test/core and test/cpp (corresponding to the src directories). These test directories contain their own BUILD files.
  • Fuzz tests use fuzztest_main instead of gtest_main.
  • When depending on a grpc_proto_library, the name of the cc_library target is the same as the name of the grpc_proto_library rule itself, not [name]_cc_proto as one might expect from standard Bazel cc_proto_library rules. The build system error messages can be misleading in this case.
  • The ‘gtest’ external_dep also includes ‘gmock’.
  • All upb related build rules (grpc_upb_proto_library, grpc_upb_proto_reflection_library) for protos defined anywhere in the repository must be defined in the root BUILD file. They should not be placed in the BUILD file of the subdirectory where the proto is located.
  • Core end-to-end tests are defined in test/core/end2end/BUILD using the grpc_core_end2end_test_suite macro. This macro generates multiple grpc_cc_test targets by combining a configuration file (like end2end_http2_config.cc) with individual test implementation files located in test/core/end2end/tests/. The final test target name is created by appending _test to the name attribute of the macro. For example, grpc_core_end2end_test_suite(name = "end2end_http2", ...) generates the test target //test/core/end2end:end2end_http2_test.
  • Unused named parameters is a compilation failure.