JSON-RPC Protocol

Bowire calls any JSON-RPC 2.0 server over HTTP and discovers its surface via the OpenRPC rpc.discover reflection method. Servers without OpenRPC still work — the plugin claims the URL and exposes a "Methods" placeholder so the user can invoke any method by name.

Setup

In-tree plugin — no separate install needed.

Standalone

bowire --url http://localhost:5000/rpc

Embedded

app.MapBowire(options =>
{
    options.ServerUrls.Add("http://localhost:5000/rpc");
});

Discovery

DiscoverAsync calls rpc.discover (the OpenRPC convention). When the server returns an OpenRPC document, each method maps to a Bowire method with its params array as the input field list. When the server returns Method-Not-Found (-32601), Bowire still claims the URL and shows a placeholder service so freeform invocation works.

Invocation

The first JSON message in the request becomes the JSON-RPC params field. Both shapes are accepted:

  • Positional: [1, 2]
  • Named: {"a": 1, "b": 2}
  • Empty / whitespace: params is omitted entirely

Error Handling

JSON-RPC application errors surface with Status="jsonrpc:<code>" so the UI can tell -32601 Method not found apart from transport-level failures. The error body (when the server returns one in error.data) is JSON-serialised back into the response field.

URL Plumbing

  • http://host:port/path — used verbatim
  • https://host:port/path — used verbatim
  • jsonrpc@http://... — URL-prefix hint that pins this plugin; the prefix is stripped before the URL reaches the wire

Streaming

JSON-RPC 2.0 has no streaming primitive — InvokeStreamAsync always returns an empty enumerable. Embedded hosts that wrap JSON-RPC over WebSocket can pair this plugin with the WebSocket plugin for that surface.

Sample

A runnable sample lives at samples/JsonRpc/Math — add / subtract / divide with full rpc.discover.

Edit this page