What is tRPC?

tRPC is a library that provides automatic type inference between client and server in TypeScript applications. End-to-end type safety eliminates the need to manually keep API contracts in sync.

When you define an API endpoint with tRPC, you can use it on the client side with automatically correct types. You write much less boilerplate code compared to REST or GraphQL.

Setup and Configuration

Adding tRPC to a Next.js project is straightforward. You just need to install the necessary packages and define a router. @trpc/server and @trpc/client are the core dependencies.

You define procedures on the server side and call them on the client side with full autocompletion support.

Routers and Procedures

In tRPC, you organize your API endpoints using routers and procedures. There are three types of procedures: query (reading data), mutation (writing data), and subscription (real-time).

query: For reading data mutation: For writing and updating data subscription: For real-time data streams middleware: For authentication and authorization

Zod Integration

tRPC works seamlessly with Zod. Zod schemas provide automatic input validation and type inference. This ensures both validation and type safety from a single definition.

Pros and Cons

The biggest advantage of tRPC is type safety and developer experience. However, it only works within the TypeScript ecosystem and is not as flexible as REST or GraphQL for third-party clients.