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Clients

The Restate SDK client library lets you invoke Restate handlers from anywhere in your application. Use this only in non-Restate services without access to the Restate Context.

Use the Restate Context

Always invoke handlers via the context, if you have access to it. Restate then attaches information about the invocation to the parent invocation.

Invoking handlers with the SDK clients​

Invoke a handler programmatically with the SDK clients as follows:

1
Add the dependency to your project


implementation("dev.restate:sdk-common:1.1.1")

2
Register the service you want to invoke.

3
Connect to Restate and invoke the handler with your preferred semantics

Request-response invocations allow you to wait on a response from the handler.


Client rs = Client.connect("http://localhost:8080");
String greet = GreeterServiceClient.fromClient(rs).greet("Hi");
int count = GreetCounterObjectClient.fromClient(rs, "Mary").greet("Hi");

Request-response invocations allow you to wait on a response from the handler.


Client rs = Client.connect("http://localhost:8080");
String greet = GreeterServiceClient.fromClient(rs).greet("Hi");
int count = GreetCounterObjectClient.fromClient(rs, "Mary").greet("Hi");

One-way invocations allow you to send a message without waiting for a response.


Client rs = Client.connect("http://localhost:8080");
GreeterServiceClient.fromClient(rs)
.send()
.greet("Hi");
GreetCounterObjectClient.fromClient(rs, "Mary")
.send()
.greet("Hi");

One-way invocations allow you to send a message without waiting for a response.


Client rs = Client.connect("http://localhost:8080");
GreeterServiceClient.fromClient(rs)
.send()
.greet("Hi");
GreetCounterObjectClient.fromClient(rs, "Mary")
.send()
.greet("Hi");

Delayed invocations allow you to schedule an invocation for a later point in time.


Client rs = Client.connect("http://localhost:8080");
GreeterServiceClient.fromClient(rs)
.send(Duration.ofMillis(1000))
.greet("Hi");
GreetCounterObjectClient.fromClient(rs, "Mary")
.send(Duration.ofMillis(1000))
.greet("Hi");

Delayed invocations allow you to schedule an invocation for a later point in time.


Client rs = Client.connect("http://localhost:8080");
GreeterServiceClient.fromClient(rs)
.send(Duration.ofMillis(1000))
.greet("Hi");
GreetCounterObjectClient.fromClient(rs, "Mary")
.send(Duration.ofMillis(1000))
.greet("Hi");

Invoking workflows

Have a look at the workflow documentation to learn what's different when invoking workflows.

Invoke a handler idempotently​

To make a service call idempotent, you can use the idempotency key feature. Add the idempotency key to the header via:


Client rs = Client.connect("http://localhost:8080");
GreetCounterObjectClient.fromClient(rs, "Mary")
.send()
.greet("Hi", CallRequestOptions.DEFAULT.withIdempotency("abcde"));

After the invocation completes, Restate persists the response for a retention period of one day (24 hours). If you re-invoke the service with the same idempotency key within 24 hours, Restate sends back the same response and doesn't re-execute the request to the service.

Make any service call idempotent by using Restate

By using Restate and an idempotency key, you can make any service call idempotent, without any extra code or setup. This is a very powerful feature to ensure that your system stays consistent and doesn't perform the same operation multiple times.

Adding headers to the request

The call options, with which we set the idempotency key, also let you add other headers to the request.

Tuning retention time

You can tune the retention time on a service-level by using the Admin API (docs):


curl -X PATCH localhost:9070/services/MyService \
-H 'content-type: application/json' \
-d '{"idempotency_retention": "2days"}'

The retention time is in humantime format.

Retrieve result of invocations and workflows​

You can use the client library to retrieve the results of invocations with an idempotency key or workflows. You can:

  • Attach to an ongoing invocation and retrieve the result when it finishes.
  • Peek at the output of a running invocation or workflow, to check if it has finished and optionally retrieve the result.

You can use the invocation ID to attach or peek at a service/object invocation that used an idempotency key:


Client rs = Client.connect("http://localhost:8080");
SendResponse handle =
GreeterServiceClient.fromClient(rs)
.send()
.greet("Hi", CallRequestOptions.DEFAULT.withIdempotency("abcde"));
// ... do something else ...
// Option 1: Attach later to retrieve the result
String greeting =
rs.invocationHandle(handle.getInvocationId(), JsonSerdes.STRING).attach();
// Option 2: Peek to see if the result is ready
Output<String> output =
rs.invocationHandle(handle.getInvocationId(), JsonSerdes.STRING).getOutput();
if (output.isReady()) {
String result = output.getValue();
}

Attaching to workflows

Have a look at the workflow documentation to learn how to attach to workflow executions.