Cross-thread RPC via async channel#254
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Instead of using a socket (and having to open a fake connection between EL and CL), this pr switches to status-im/nim-json-rpc#254 for internal communication. Eventually, one could make this more efficient by skipping the JSON step, but like this, we at least no longer have to open an Engine API port which makes this setup more secure and easy to deploy (fewer open ports). There's also fewer potential errors to contend with and payloads don't have to travel across the OS buffers and instead stay internal to the process.
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Instead of using a socket (and having to open a fake connection between EL and CL), this pr switches to status-im/nim-json-rpc#254 for internal communication. Eventually, one could make this more efficient by skipping the JSON step, but like this, we at least no longer have to open an Engine API port which makes this setup more secure and easy to deploy (fewer open ports). There's also fewer potential errors to contend with and payloads don't have to travel across the OS buffers and instead stay internal to the process.
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arnetheduck
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Dec 22, 2025
Instead of using a socket (and having to open a fake connection between EL and CL), this pr switches to status-im/nim-json-rpc#254 for internal communication. Eventually, one could make this more efficient by skipping the JSON step, but like this, we at least no longer have to open an Engine API port which makes this setup more secure and easy to deploy (fewer open ports). There's also fewer potential errors to contend with and payloads don't have to travel across the OS buffers and instead stay internal to the process.
arnetheduck
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Dec 22, 2025
Instead of using a socket (and having to open a fake connection between EL and CL), this pr switches to status-im/nim-json-rpc#254 for internal communication. Eventually, one could make this more efficient by skipping the JSON step, but like this, we at least no longer have to open an Engine API port which makes this setup more secure and easy to deploy (fewer open ports). There's also fewer potential errors to contend with and payloads don't have to travel across the OS buffers and instead stay internal to the process.
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arnetheduck
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Dec 31, 2025
Instead of using a socket (and having to open a fake connection between EL and CL), this pr switches to status-im/nim-json-rpc#254 for internal communication. Eventually, one could make this more efficient by skipping the JSON step, but like this, we at least no longer have to open an Engine API port which makes this setup more secure and easy to deploy (fewer open ports). There's also fewer potential errors to contend with and payloads don't have to travel across the OS buffers and instead stay internal to the process.
arnetheduck
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Jan 7, 2026
Instead of using a socket (and having to open a fake connection between EL and CL), this pr switches to status-im/nim-json-rpc#254 for internal communication. Eventually, one could make this more efficient by skipping the JSON step, but like this, we at least no longer have to open an Engine API port which makes this setup more secure and easy to deploy (fewer open ports). There's also fewer potential errors to contend with and payloads don't have to travel across the OS buffers and instead stay internal to the process.
arnetheduck
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Jan 7, 2026
Instead of using a socket (and having to open a fake connection between EL and CL), this pr switches to status-im/nim-json-rpc#254 for internal communication. Eventually, one could make this more efficient by skipping the JSON step, but like this, we at least no longer have to open an Engine API port which makes this setup more secure and easy to deploy (fewer open ports). There's also fewer potential errors to contend with and payloads don't have to travel across the OS buffers and instead stay internal to the process.
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RpcChannel allows using a pair of [async channels](https://github.com/status-im/nim-async-channels) to communicate between threads as if they were connected over a socket or other transport. This setup avoids having to copy the data onto the OS buffer and instead uses a ThreadSignalPtr to wake the target thread. While it is not the most performant way to make cross-thread calls, it is quite convenient for services that already expose a JSON-RPC server - the choice of an internal channel then becomes a simple configuration option where the only thing that changes is the setup.
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arnetheduck
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Feb 20, 2026
Instead of using a socket (and having to open a fake connection between EL and CL), this pr switches to status-im/nim-json-rpc#254 for internal communication. Eventually, one could make this more efficient by skipping the JSON step, but like this, we at least no longer have to open an Engine API port which makes this setup more secure and easy to deploy (fewer open ports). There's also fewer potential errors to contend with and payloads don't have to travel across the OS buffers and instead stay internal to the process.
arnetheduck
added a commit
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Feb 20, 2026
Instead of using a socket (and having to open a fake connection between EL and CL), this pr switches to status-im/nim-json-rpc#254 for internal communication. Eventually, one could make this more efficient by skipping the JSON step, but like this, we at least no longer have to open an Engine API port which makes this setup more secure and easy to deploy (fewer open ports). There's also fewer potential errors to contend with and payloads don't have to travel across the OS buffers and instead stay internal to the process.
arnetheduck
added a commit
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that referenced
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Feb 20, 2026
Instead of using a socket (and having to open a fake connection between EL and CL), this pr switches to status-im/nim-json-rpc#254 for internal communication. Eventually, one could make this more efficient by skipping the JSON step, but like this, we at least no longer have to open an Engine API port which makes this setup more secure and easy to deploy (fewer open ports). There's also fewer potential errors to contend with and payloads don't have to travel across the OS buffers and instead stay internal to the process.
arnetheduck
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Feb 22, 2026
Instead of using a socket (and having to open a fake connection between EL and CL), this pr switches to status-im/nim-json-rpc#254 for internal communication. Eventually, one could make this more efficient by skipping the JSON step, but like this, we at least no longer have to open an Engine API port which makes this setup more secure and easy to deploy (fewer open ports). There's also fewer potential errors to contend with and payloads don't have to travel across the OS buffers and instead stay internal to the process.
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RpcChannel allows using a pair of async
channels to communicate between threads as if they were connected over a socket or other transport.
This setup avoids having to copy the data onto the OS buffer and instead uses a ThreadSignalPtr to wake the target thread.
While it is not the most performant way to make cross-thread calls, it is quite convenient for services that already expose a JSON-RPC server - the choice of an internal channel then becomes a simple configuration option where the only thing that changes is the setup.