gRPC Client Streaming: Connect & Send Behavior (RFC)

[sanish-bruno]

gRPC Client Streaming: Connect & Send Behavior

Overview

This document proposes an updated behavior for gRPC client-streaming and bidirectional-streaming methods in Bruno. The new implementation provides two modes for sending messages, giving users flexibility between a quick atomic operation and an interactive debugging experience.

Screen.Recording.2026-01-31.at.1.54.36.AM.mov

Draft PR #6994

The Two Modes

1. Connect & Send (Atomic Mode)

Icon: Arrow (→)

This mode performs all steps in a single click, similar to how grpcurl works:

Click → Connect → Send All Enabled Messages → End Stream → Display Response

Use Cases:

• Quick testing of gRPC methods
• CI/CD automation
• When you want to send all messages at once
• Mimicking grpcurl behavior

2. Connect (Interactive Mode)

Icon: Green Plug (🔌)

This mode only establishes the connection, allowing you to send messages individually:

Click Connect → Connection Established → Manually Send Messages → Manually End Stream → Display Response

Use Cases:

• Debugging and troubleshooting
• Sending messages selectively
• Testing partial message sequences
• Observing server behavior between messages

UI Behavior by Method Type

Unary & Server Streaming

Single Send button (→) - behavior unchanged.

Client Streaming & Bidi Streaming

When Not Connected

Two buttons are displayed:

• Connect (🔌) - Green plug icon for interactive mode
• Connect & Send (→) - Arrow icon for atomic mode

When Connected (Interactive Mode)

Three controls are displayed:

• Cancel (✕) - Red X to cancel the connection
• End Stream (✓) - Green checkmark to signal completion
• Send (📤▾) - Dropdown to send messages

The Send dropdown provides options:

• Send Message - Sends the first enabled message
• Send All (N) - Sends all N enabled messages

Message Selection

Messages can be enabled/disabled using checkboxes in the message editor. Only enabled messages are sent when using:

• "Connect & Send" atomic mode
• "Send All" option in interactive mode

Workflow Examples

Example 1: Quick Test with Connect & Send

1. Select a client-streaming method
2. Edit your messages in the message editor
3. Click Connect & Send (→)
4. View the response

Example 2: Interactive Debugging

1. Select a client-streaming method
2. Click Connect (🔌) to establish connection
3. Connection strip turns green (pulsing)
4. Click individual Send buttons on messages, or use the dropdown
5. Observe server responses (for bidi-streaming)
6. Click End Stream (✓) when done
7. View the final response

Example 3: Selective Message Sending

1. Select a bidi-streaming method
2. Disable some messages using checkboxes
3. Click Connect & Send (→)
4. Only enabled messages are sent
5. View all responses

Feedback

We'd love to hear your thoughts on this new behavior! Please share:

• Does this workflow meet your needs?
• Any edge cases we should consider?
• Suggestions for improvement?

[LunaticoCR]

Sorry for the delay giving my feedback here @sanish-bruno !
This looks great! The only thing I would add is the ability to configure delays between one message and the next. This would be very useful to simulate some real-world scenarios. But apart from that, ship it!!! 😀