Protozoa :microbe: - A complete Protocol Buffers compiler and library for Gleam! | The Gleam Programming Language | Page 1

elder gazelle · 2025-08-28T20:40:21.670Z

- Full proto3 support with type-safe code generation - gRPC services with all streaming types - Well-known types (Timestamp, Duration, Any, etc.) - Cross-file imports and nested types https://github.com/renatillas/protozoa

elder gazelle Aug 28, 2025, 8:40 PM

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Full proto3 support with type-safe code generation
gRPC services with all streaming types
Well-known types (Timestamp, Duration, Any, etc.)
Cross-file imports and nested types
https://github.com/renatillas/protozoa

GitHub

GitHub - renatillas/protozoa: A Protocol Buffers library for Gleam,...

A Protocol Buffers library for Gleam, providing encoding and decoding of protobuf messages. - renatillas/protozoa

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For now it's unreleased on hex but you can use it with git deps as I make it prod ready

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Tbf I made it just for the funsies it's my first attempt at vibe coding and it shows hahaha

tired wadi Aug 28, 2025, 8:42 PM

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Dope! That's so cool! It always saddens me that Protobuf doesn't support tagged unions, though

elder gazelle Aug 28, 2025, 8:43 PM

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Yeah there are so many cool features and so many more missing ones in the protocol

thin schooner Aug 28, 2025, 10:00 PM

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There seems to be a pattern for code generation forming. that I like to see

flint musk Aug 28, 2025, 10:33 PM

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oh yes, I'm testing

green osprey Aug 28, 2025, 10:46 PM

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tired wadi Dope! That's so cool! It always saddens me that Protobuf doesn't support tagged ...

oneof is basically a tagged union though?

faint vale Aug 28, 2025, 10:54 PM

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i dont know much about protobuf, do you think it makes sense to follow squirrel's approach where

your-project/
├── gleam.toml
└── src/
    └── myapp/
        └── proto/
            ├── user.proto
            ├── message.proto
            └── user_service.proto

would generate myapp/proto.gleam, from the code that gets generated right now it looks like this would work nicely

elder gazelle Aug 29, 2025, 6:33 AM

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faint vale i dont know much about protobuf, do you think it makes sense to follow squirrel'...

What would be the advantages of having just a single module vs having multiple for each protobuf? I guess well-known types would live all in the same module and that would make more sense

tired wadi Aug 29, 2025, 7:10 AM

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green osprey `oneof` is basically a tagged union though?

That's just a union, not tagged, so it's harder to determine the actual type without type gymnastics

green osprey Aug 29, 2025, 3:51 PM

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tired wadi That's just a union, not tagged, so it's harder to determine the actual type wit...

That's incorrect, they are tagged. Each proto language impl provides a way to find out the type the oneof is storing, you don't have to implement an external tag.

tired wadi Aug 29, 2025, 3:57 PM

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Oh fair. Apologies!

green osprey Aug 29, 2025, 4:00 PM

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The protobuf docs are absolutely awful, so I probably wouldn't have known about it if I hadn't seen it in use. 🙂

faint vale Aug 29, 2025, 6:54 PM

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elder gazelle What would be the advantages of having just a single module vs having multiple f...

Consistency mainly, as we start getting more of these things popping up it’d be great if they landed on the same not just similar ways of working

elder gazelle Aug 29, 2025, 6:55 PM

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Great reasoning, I'm working on it atm thanks to your suggerence

elder gazelle Aug 29, 2025, 7:43 PM

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🎉 Protozoa v2.0.2 - Major Architecture Overhaul!

11 commits of massive improvements since v1! 🚀

🔄 Revolutionary Architecture Change

📄 Single File Generation - All proto files now combine into ONE proto.gleam file!
🗂️ No more scattered files - Much cleaner project structure
🧹 Unified imports - Everything in one place, no more complex dependencies

🏗️ Enhanced Google Protocol Buffers Support

✅ Full google.protobuf.Struct & google.protobuf.StringValue integration
🔄 Fixed enum redefinition errors for well-known types
🤝 Seamless mixing - User types + well-known types in single output
📋 Smart deduplication - No duplicate definitions across files

🔍 Intelligent Project Discovery

🎯 Auto-finds gleam.toml in parent directories (../, ../../, etc.)
💡 Smart path resolution - Works from any subdirectory
🛠️ Better error messages - Clear feedback when things go wrong

⚡ Code Generation Quality

🚫 Zero unused variable warnings in generated code
🎨 Clean compiler output - Professional quality generated code
🔧 Enhanced type handling - Better nested message support
📝 Improved decoder generation - Handles complex proto structures

🐛 Critical Fixes

🔄 Fixed duplicate enum handling across multiple proto files
📂 Resolved path traversal bugs for project discovery
💾 Enhanced error handling and user feedback
🧪 Updated test suite for single-file architecture

📈 Version Progression

🏷️ v1 → v2.0.2 (major version bump!)
🔢 2.0.0 introduced the unified file architecture
🔧 2.0.1 & 2.0.2 added polish and fixes

Game-changing update! 🎯 One file to rule them all - much simpler, cleaner, and more maintainable! ✨

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I freaking love claude code for this kinds of messages it just looks so off hahaha

flint musk Aug 29, 2025, 7:50 PM

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Looks like generous update 🙂

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Have you done whole well-known protobuf types?

elder gazelle Aug 29, 2025, 8:10 PM

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Not all of them, there are some that are rarely used that I'm still implementing

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More specifically

google.protobuf.Type
google.protobuf.Field
google.protobuf.Enum
google.protobuf.EnumValue
google.protobuf.Option
google.protobuf.SourceContext
google.protobuf.Api
google.protobuf.Method
google.protobuf.Mixin

hollow obsidian Sep 17, 2025, 6:07 AM

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Looking into using some gRPC in my project, I am both a noob in gRPC and Gleam so please bear with me. do I need something like a gRPC server + protozoa to get gRPC "request" I see protozoa generates services too, but I guess some kind of server still needed to drive it right?

elder gazelle Sep 17, 2025, 6:28 AM

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Yes you still need some kind of server

hollow obsidian Sep 17, 2025, 6:35 AM

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can the server be a mist server?

elder gazelle Sep 17, 2025, 6:44 AM

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not right now as far as I'm aware as gRPC needs HTTP 2.0, and mist has it still not publicly available, so the api may change

rustic flint Sep 17, 2025, 7:56 AM

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Wow

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How did I miss this project

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Looks fantastic from the README. Do you generate bit array patterns for the decoding?

elder gazelle Sep 17, 2025, 8:41 AM

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I think so, long ago that I look into this package code!

elder gazelle Sep 17, 2025, 8:42 AM

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rustic flint How did I miss this project

I haven’t yet published it to hex maybe that’s why!

rustic flint Sep 17, 2025, 8:43 AM

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Is it because you think it isn't usable yet, or it is because you've not implemented enough of protobuf's format?

elder gazelle Sep 17, 2025, 8:44 AM

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There are still some code gen bugs, I think it’s not suitable for production (yet)

rustic flint Sep 17, 2025, 8:45 AM

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Makes sense

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Could do a v0 release with a big warning to let people try it

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It being available encourages people to contribute fixes etc if they find it promising

elder gazelle Sep 17, 2025, 8:45 AM

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The protobuf format is already well implemented I think, the only major thing to proto v2 regarding that

rustic flint Sep 17, 2025, 8:45 AM

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Like how I published jot with very little support for the language

elder gazelle Sep 17, 2025, 8:45 AM

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Oh I see

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I think I will do that then, let’s see if it gets enough attention!

rustic flint Sep 17, 2025, 8:46 AM

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If you've got it mostly covered I say v0 sounds good, having people try it will help find the bugs

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It's not like you're actively hunting them out

elder gazelle Sep 17, 2025, 8:46 AM

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Okay

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Thanks for the wise words

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Mister máster

rustic flint Sep 17, 2025, 8:47 AM

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No, thanks for another amazing library, you're killing it

elder gazelle Sep 17, 2025, 8:47 AM

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despair

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It’s a combination of free time and love for the language tbh

rustic flint Sep 17, 2025, 8:47 AM

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It would be really cool to have a package for decoding the Hex registry protobuf objects using this, I wager lots of people would find that useful

elder gazelle Sep 17, 2025, 8:48 AM

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Oh that would be nice to have yeah

rustic flint Sep 17, 2025, 8:48 AM

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I wonder if you're person #2 for most published libraries 😛

faint vale Sep 17, 2025, 8:48 AM

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rustic flint Could do a v0 release with a big warning to let people try it

sorry but no this sucks

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it sucked when you did it for jot too

elder gazelle Sep 17, 2025, 8:49 AM

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HAHAHAHA

rustic flint Sep 17, 2025, 8:49 AM

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It sucks less than it never getting any further updates

elder gazelle Sep 17, 2025, 8:49 AM

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I feel like my two dads are arguing in the kitchen

rustic flint Sep 17, 2025, 8:50 AM

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I wouldn't have worked on jot, Glenatillas wouldn't have worked on this, and Gleam would have no djot and no protobuf!

rustic flint Sep 17, 2025, 8:50 AM

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elder gazelle I feel like my two dads are arguing in the kitchen

classic mom and pop argument

elder gazelle Sep 17, 2025, 8:50 AM

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Hahahaha

rustic flint Sep 17, 2025, 8:51 AM

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OK what's the alternative, how do we get people finding the bugs?
tbh this isn't like jot, we do actually think the whole spec is covered, we just don't have confidence that there's no bugs

faint vale Sep 17, 2025, 8:51 AM

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the problem is OP not telling people about their library beyond a single post at 11pm cest, that problem goes away if OP talks about their library more 🙂

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publish v1 with awarning

elder gazelle Sep 17, 2025, 8:51 AM

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faint vale the problem is OP not telling people about their library beyond a single post at...

I don’t have enough time to talk about all my libraries…….

faint vale Sep 17, 2025, 8:51 AM

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"this might have bugs" is a very normal state for an open source library to be in

rustic flint Sep 17, 2025, 8:52 AM

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OK yes Hayleigh is right, you have protobuf v1 sorted, v1 is ideal

elder gazelle Sep 17, 2025, 8:52 AM

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But yeah I understand

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To be fair the api is pretty solid, the bugs wouldn’t affect that

rustic flint Sep 17, 2025, 8:52 AM

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And I do always say "version numbers are not indicators of production readiness"

elder gazelle Sep 17, 2025, 8:52 AM

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And publishing version 2 in a few weeks wouldn’t make much of a difference if the migration is simple and straightforward

rustic flint Sep 17, 2025, 8:52 AM

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Thx Hayleigh for wisdom

elder gazelle Sep 17, 2025, 8:53 AM

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Thanks mom and dad

rustic flint Sep 17, 2025, 8:53 AM

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tbh when I see a package with v8.5.1 or something I'm like "hey they're actually paying attention to stuff like semver"

faint vale Sep 17, 2025, 8:53 AM

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when i see v0 i think "hey im not using that" and move on with my life LOL

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its hard without the stdlib but its honest work 😔

elder gazelle Sep 17, 2025, 8:54 AM

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faint vale when i see v0 i think "hey im not using that" and move on with my life LOL

Yeah me too

rustic flint Sep 17, 2025, 8:55 AM

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v0.0.1 "coward"
v1.1.0 "new package"
v1.15.0 "semver violator or maybe a coward"
v9.4.0 "good shit"

flint musk Sep 17, 2025, 8:56 AM

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using already

rustic flint Sep 17, 2025, 8:56 AM

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How have you been finding it?

flint musk Sep 17, 2025, 8:59 AM

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I just need to use protobuf 😄

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fortunately Renata makes great packages I just need, so simple

rustic flint Sep 17, 2025, 9:02 AM

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Sounds like another vote in the "publish v1" camp 😁

flint musk Sep 17, 2025, 9:02 AM

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yes

faint vale Sep 17, 2025, 9:02 AM

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flint musk

ive never felt more vindicated than this screenshot

rustic flint Sep 17, 2025, 9:05 AM

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@elder gazelle All the libraries you've been publishing have been super nice, and talking publicly about your Gleam app and it being in production is awesome too!
Can I send you some stickers or merch? lucysparkles

elder gazelle Sep 17, 2025, 9:10 AM

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just wait for gleam conf 2026, I'll be there!

faint vale Sep 17, 2025, 9:10 AM

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POG

elder gazelle Sep 17, 2025, 9:11 AM

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I was even thinking of giving a talk but the pressure of talking in public is killing me

flint musk Sep 17, 2025, 9:13 AM

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elder gazelle I was even thinking of giving a talk but the pressure of talking in public is ki...

please don't die, we need you 😉

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I would enjoy to hear your talk about eventsourcing and deploying you recent app

rustic flint Sep 17, 2025, 9:16 AM

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elder gazelle I was even thinking of giving a talk but the pressure of talking in public is ki...

submit a proposal!!!

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We will def help you prepare the talk

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Your libraries and your app are v interesting. I know Peter really wants to hear from production users too

rustic flint Sep 17, 2025, 9:17 AM

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elder gazelle just wait for gleam conf 2026, I'll be there!

are you suuuuuuuure?

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can post some stickers!

elder gazelle Sep 17, 2025, 9:24 AM

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weeeeell if you insist!

elder gazelle Sep 17, 2025, 10:00 AM

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Protozoa and Protozoa/dev have been published to hex!

https://hexdocs.pm/protozoa/index.html
https://hexdocs.pm/protozoa_dev/index.html
I've decided to separate them into two packages to ensure the codegen is usable in browsers and javascript targets, while the CLI uses the erlang target

protozoa · v2.0.3

A Protocol Buffers library for Gleam, providing encoding and decoding of protobuf messages.

protozoa_dev · v1.0.0

CLI tool for the Protozoa Protocol Buffers library

limpid elbow Dec 28, 2025, 1:52 AM

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Is support for proto2 planned for this?

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looking at the the differences it seems that proto2 is more complicated than proto3 sadly

elder gazelle Dec 28, 2025, 1:24 PM

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limpid elbow Is support for proto2 planned for this?

sadly I don't think so

#Protozoa :microbe: - A complete Protocol Buffers compiler and library for Gleam!