x/gateway/ipc Primer

x/gateway/ipc Primer

Experimental — API compatibility is not frozen. Evaluate before adopting in production. Check Release Posture for current maturity status.

Open this page when the task is clearly about explicit inter-process communication transport between processes — not general messaging flows. Start from x/gateway or x/messaging if you are uncertain which extension applies.

x/gateway/ipc is a subordinate primitive of x/gateway. It provides lower-level IPC helpers and explicit transport adapters. It is not an application bootstrap, a messaging abstraction, or a workflow orchestrator.

Stability and adoption

x/gateway/ipc is experimental. API compatibility is not frozen. Before adopting in production:

1. Check x/gateway/ipc/module.yaml for current status, owner, and known blockers.
2. Read Release Posture for the support matrix.
3. Consider whether x/gateway covers your use case at a higher level of abstraction.

When to use this module

Use x/gateway/ipc when:

• The task is explicit IPC transport behavior.
• The task is client/server communication between processes.
• You need direct control over inter-process communication at the transport level.

When not to use this module

Do not use x/gateway/ipc for:

• Application bootstrap — use core.
• General messaging family discovery — start from x/messaging.
• Business workflow orchestration — use x/messaging/scheduler or x/messaging.
• In-process communication — use x/messaging/pubsub.
• Durable queues — use x/messaging/mq.

First files to read

1. x/gateway/ipc/module.yaml — responsibilities, non-goals, and validation command
2. x/gateway/ipc/ipc.go — primary transport contracts
3. x/messaging Primer — app-facing messaging entrypoint

Boundary rules

• x/gateway/ipc provides explicit IPC transport; do not use it as a substitute for in-process messaging (x/messaging/pubsub) or durable queues (x/messaging/mq).
• Keep transport contracts and process-wide side effects explicit and reviewable; do not add implicit channel registration at import time.
• Do not expose IPC connection strings or socket paths through stable roots; keep them local to x/gateway/ipc adapters.
• Prefer x/messaging as the app-facing entrypoint for cross-process messaging before widening x/gateway/ipc callers.

Canonical change shape

• Keep transport contracts explicit.
• Keep process-wide side effects reviewable.
• Prefer family-level discovery in x/gateway or x/messaging before widening x/gateway/ipc.

Validation

go test -timeout 20s ./x/gateway/ipc/...

Read next

• x/gateway Primer — parent family for edge and proxy transport
• x/messaging Primer — app-facing cross-process messaging
• Extension Boundary — how subordinate primitives relate to parent families
• Release Posture — support matrix and maturity reading