Implement Production-Grade gRPC Services in Go

This skill provides a comprehensive guide for designing and implementing production-grade gRPC services using Go. It covers three critical pillars: contract standardization with Buf for API definitions, transport layer security through mutual TLS (mTLS) for encrypted and authenticated communication, and observability using OpenTelemetry interceptors.

Use this skill when you need to build gRPC services in Go that require standardized contracts, secure communication channels, and observability. It's ideal when implementing service-to-service communication in distributed systems. Use it when you need to standardize API definitions using Buf's tooling, or when requirements mandate mTLS for service authentication.

Do not use this skill if you're building simple REST APIs where HTTP/JSON suffices and the overhead of gRPC tooling isn't justified. Avoid it for public-facing APIs consumed by web browsers, as gRPC-Web adds complexity compared to standard REST endpoints.

You provide your service requirements. The skill delivers implementation guidance for setting up Buf for protocol buffer management, configuring mTLS certificates and validation for gRPC channels, and integrating OpenTelemetry interceptors into your Go gRPC services.

Buf: Contract standardization platform for managing protocol buffer definitions and generating Go code from .proto files.

mTLS: Mutual Transport Layer Security implementation for gRPC channels, providing bidirectional certificate authentication and encrypted communication between services.

OpenTelemetry: Observability framework integration through gRPC interceptors.

This skill is for engineers building gRPC services in Go who need guidance on contract standardization with Buf, transport layer security with mTLS, and observability with OpenTelemetry interceptors.