dotnet-service-communication
dotnet-service-communication
Higher-level routing skill for choosing the right service communication protocol. Provides a decision matrix mapping requirements (latency, direction, client type, payload format, browser support) to the five primary .NET communication protocols: gRPC, SignalR, SSE, JSON-RPC 2.0, and REST. Routes to specialized skills for implementation depth.
Out of scope: HTTP client factory patterns and resilience pipelines -- see [skill:dotnet-http-client] and [skill:dotnet-resilience]. Native AOT architecture and trimming strategies -- see [skill:dotnet-native-aot] for AOT compilation, [skill:dotnet-aot-architecture] for AOT-first design patterns, and [skill:dotnet-trimming] for trim-safe development.
Cross-references: [skill:dotnet-grpc] for gRPC implementation, [skill:dotnet-realtime-communication] for SignalR/SSE/JSON-RPC details, [skill:dotnet-http-client] for REST/HTTP client patterns. See [skill:dotnet-integration-testing] for testing service communication patterns.
Decision Matrix
Use this matrix to choose the right protocol based on your requirements:
| Requirement | gRPC | SignalR | SSE | JSON-RPC 2.0 | REST |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Direction | All four patterns | Full-duplex | Server-to-client | Request-response | Request-response |
| Wire format | Protobuf (binary) | JSON or MessagePack | Text (JSON lines) | JSON | JSON/XML |
| Browser support | gRPC-Web (proxy needed) | Yes (JS client) | Yes (native EventSource) | Via WebSocket | Yes (fetch/XHR) |
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