gRPC Client Development Skill

Description

This skill provides comprehensive patterns for building robust gRPC clients that communicate with Braiins OS miners. It covers connection pooling, intelligent retry strategies, stream handling for real-time updates, and error recovery specific to mining hardware.

Core Capabilities:

• Connection pool management for fleet-scale operations
• Exponential backoff retry logic for transient failures
• Bidirectional stream handling for real-time miner data
• Circuit breaker patterns for unreachable miners
• TLS/mTLS configuration for secure communication
• Health checking and connection lifecycle management

---

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when you need to:

• Implement gRPC communication with Braiins OS miners
• Create connection pools for efficient fleet management
• Handle transient network failures with retry logic
• Stream real-time data from miners (hashrate, temperature, status)
• Recover gracefully from miner downtime or network issues
• Integrate gRPC clients with MCP server architecture

Trigger Phrases:

• "Create gRPC client for miner communication"
• "Implement connection pooling for fleet operations"
• "Add retry logic for miner API calls"
• "Stream miner status updates via gRPC"
• "Handle gRPC connection failures"

Don't use this skill for:

• REST API clients (use standard HTTP patterns)
• WebSocket connections (different protocol)
• Database connections (use database-specific pooling)
• Redis pub/sub (covered in redis-caching-patterns skill)

---

Prerequisites

Knowledge Requirements

1. gRPC Fundamentals

   • Understanding of Protocol Buffers (protobuf)
   • Client-server RPC concepts
   • Unary vs streaming RPCs
   • Metadata and headers in gRPC

2. TypeScript/Node.js

   • Async/await patterns
   • Promise handling and error propagation
   • Event emitters and streams
   • TypeScript interfaces and generics

3. Braiins OS Context

   • Miner API structure (see braiins-os skill)
   • Common miner operations (status, configuration, firmware)
   • Network characteristics (miners on local networks, VPNs, edge devices)

Environment Setup

// Required dependencies in package.json
{
  "@grpc/grpc-js": "^1.9.0",
  "@grpc/proto-loader": "^0.7.10",
  "google-protobuf": "^3.21.0"
}

Project Context

• MCP server architecture understanding (see mcp-server-dev skill)
• Existing miner repository patterns
• Cache integration points (Redis for connection state)

---

Workflow

Phase 1: Connection Pool Architecture

1.1 Define Pool Configuration

Pattern: Configuration-Based Pool Management

// src/api/grpc/pool-config.ts
export interface GrpcPoolConfig {
  // Pool sizing
  maxConnections: number;           // Max concurrent connections
  minConnections: number;           // Min connections to maintain
  connectionTTL: number;            // Time-to-live in milliseconds

  // Connection behavior
  keepaliveTime: number;            // Keepalive ping interval
  keepaliveTimeout: number;         // Keepalive timeout
  enableKeepalive: boolean;         // Enable keepalive pings

  // Retry configuration
  maxRetries: number;               // Max retry attempts
  initialRetryDelay: number;        // Initial delay in ms
  maxRetryDelay: number;            // Max delay cap in ms
  retryBackoffFactor: number;       // Exponential backoff multiplier

  // TLS configuration
  useTls: boolean;                  // Enable TLS
  tlsCert?: Buffer;                 // Client certificate
  tlsKey?: Buffer;                  // Client private key
  tlsCa?: Buffer;                   // CA certificate

  // Health checking
  healthCheckInterval: number;      // Health check interval in ms
  unhealthyThreshold: number;       // Failures before marking unhealthy
  healthyThreshold: number;         // Successes before marking healthy
}

export const DEFAULT_GRPC_POOL_CONFIG: GrpcPoolConfig = {
  maxConnections: 100,
  minConnections: 5,
  connectionTTL: 300000,            // 5 minutes
  keepaliveTime: 30000,             // 30 seconds
  keepaliveTimeout: 10000,          // 10 seconds
  enableKeepalive: true,
  maxRetries: 3,
  initialRetryDelay: 1000,          // 1 second
  maxRetryDelay: 30000,             // 30 seconds
  retryBackoffFactor: 2,
  useTls: false,
  healthCheckInterval: 60000,       // 1 minute
  unhealthyThreshold: 3,
  healthyThreshold: 2
};

Rationale:

• Keepalive enabled: Miners can drop idle connections; keepalive prevents this
• Conservative TTL: Miners are long-running; 5-minute TTL balances freshness and overhead
• Bounded retry delays: Prevents indefinite waiting on unresponsive miners
• Health checking: Proactively detect and replace unhealthy connections

1.2 Implement Connection Pool

Pattern: LRU Connection Pool with Health Checking

// src/api/grpc/connection-pool.ts
import * as grpc from '@grpc/grpc-js';
import type { MinerServiceClient } from './proto/miner_grpc_pb';
import type { MinerConfig } from '../../repositories/miner-repository';

interface PooledConnection {
  client: MinerServiceClient;
  minerId: string;
  host: string;
  port: number;
  createdAt: Date;
  lastUsed: Date;
  healthy: boolean;
  failureCount: number;
  successCount: number;
}

export class GrpcConnectionPool {
  private connections: Map<string, PooledConnection> = new Map();
  private config: GrpcPoolConfig;
  private healthCheckTimer?: NodeJS.Timer;

  constructor(config: Partial<GrpcPoolConfig> = {}) {
    this.config = { ...DEFAULT_GRPC_POOL_CONFIG, ...config };
    this.startHealthChecks();
  }

  /**
   * Get or create a connection for a specific miner
   */
  async getConnection(minerId: string, minerConfig: MinerConfig): Promise<MinerServiceClient> {
    const key = this.getConnectionKey(minerId);

    // Check for existing healthy connection
    const existing = this.connections.get(key);
    if (existing && this.isConnectionValid(existing)) {
      existing.lastUsed = new Date();
      return existing.client;
    }

    // Remove stale connection if exists
    if (existing) {
      await this.closeConnection(key);
    }

    // Create new connection
    return this.createConnection(minerId, minerConfig);
  }

  /**
   * Create a new gRPC connection
   */
  private async createConnection(minerId: string, minerConfig: MinerConfig): Promise<MinerServiceClient> {
    // Check pool size limit
    if (this.connections.size >= this.config.maxConnections) {
      this.evictOldest();
    }

    const address = `${minerConfig.host}:${minerConfig.port}`;
    const credentials = this.createCredentials(minerConfig);
    const options = this.createChannelOptions();

    const client = new MinerServiceClient(address, credentials, options);

    const connection: PooledConnection = {
      client,
      minerId,
      host: minerConfig.host,
      port: minerConfig.port,
      createdAt: new Date(),
      lastUsed: new Date(),
      healthy: true,
      failureCount: 0,
      successCount: 0
    };

    const key = this.getConnectionKey(minerId);
    this.connections.set(key, connection);

    return client;
  }

  /**
   * Create gRPC credentials (TLS or insecure)
   */
  private createCredentials(minerConfig: MinerConfig): grpc.ChannelCredentials {
    if (this.config.useTls && minerConfig.useTls) {
      if (this.config.tlsCa && this.config.tlsCert && this.config.tlsKey) {
        return grpc.credentials.createSsl(
          this.config.tlsCa,
          this.config.tlsKey,
          this.config.tlsCert
        );
      }
      return grpc.credentials.createSsl();
    }
    return grpc.credentials.createInsecure();
  }

  /**
   * Create channel options for gRPC client
   */
  private createChannelOptions(): grpc.ChannelOptions {
    return {
      'grpc.keepalive_time_ms': this.config.keepaliveTime,
      'grpc.keepalive_timeout_ms': this.config.keepaliveTimeout,
      'grpc.keepalive_permit_without_calls': this.config.enableKeepalive ? 1 : 0,
      'grpc.http2.max_pings_without_data': 0,
      'grpc.http2.min_time_between_pings_ms': 10000,
      'grpc.http2.min_ping_interval_without_data_ms': 5000
    };
  }

  /**
   * Check if connection is still valid
   */
  private isConnectionValid(connection: PooledConnection): boolean {
    const now = new Date();
    const age = now.getTime() - connection.createdAt.getTime();

    return (
      connection.healthy &&
      age < this.config.connectionTTL &&
      connection.failureCount < this.config.unhealthyThreshold
    );
  }

  /**
   * Evict the oldest (LRU) connection
   */
  private evictOldest(): void {
    let oldestKey: string | null = null;
    let oldestTime = Date.now();

    for (const [key, conn] of this.connections.entries()) {
      if (conn.lastUsed.getTime() < oldestTime) {
        oldestTime = conn.lastUsed.getTime();
        oldestKey = key;
      }
    }

    if (oldestKey) {
      void this.closeConnection(oldestKey);
    }
  }

  /**
   * Close a specific connection
   */
  private async closeConnection(key: string): Promise<void> {
    const connection = this.connections.get(key);
    if (!connection) return;

    connection.client.close();
    this.connections.delete(key);
  }

  /**
   * Mark connection as healthy (after successful call)
   */
  markHealthy(minerId: string): void {
    const key = this.getConnectionKey(minerId);
    const connection = this.connections.get(key);
    if (!connection) return;

    connection.successCount++;
    connection.failureCount = 0;

    if (connection.successCount >= this.config.healthyThreshold) {
      connection.healthy = true;
    }
  }

  /**
   * Mark connection as unhealthy (after failed call)
   */
  markUnhealthy(minerId: string): void {
    const key = this.getConnectionKey(minerId);
    const connection = this.connections.get(key);
    if (!connection) return;

    connection.failureCount++;
    connection.successCount = 0;

    if (connection.failureCount >= this.config.unhealthyThreshold) {
      connection.healthy = false;
    }
  }

  /**
   * Start periodic health checks
   */
  private startHealthChecks(): void {
    this.healthCheckTimer = setInterval(() => {
      void this.performHealthChecks();
    }, this.config.healthCheckInterval);
  }

  /**
   * Perform health checks on all connections
   */
  private async performHealthChecks(): Promise<void> {
    for (const [key, connection] of this.connections.entries()) {
      if (!this.isConnectionValid(connection)) {
        await this.closeConnection(key);
      }
    }
  }

  /**
   * Get connection key (composite of minerId)
   */
  private getConnectionKey(minerId: string): string {
    return `miner:${minerId}`;
  }

  /**
   * Close all connections and stop health checks
   */
  async dispose(): void {
    if (this.healthCheckTimer) {
      clearInterval(this.healthCheckTimer);
    }

    for (const [key] of this.connections.entries()) {
      await this.closeConnection(key);
    }

    this.connections.clear();
  }

  /**
   * Get pool statistics
   */
  getPoolStats(): {
    totalConnections: number;
    healthyConnections: number;
    unhealthyConnections: number;
  } {
    let healthy = 0;
    let unhealthy = 0;

    for (const connection of this.connections.values()) {
      if (connection.healthy) {
        healthy++;
      } else {
        unhealthy++;
      }
    }

    return {
      totalConnections: this.connections.size,
      healthyConnections: healthy,
      unhealthyConnections: unhealthy
    };
  }
}

Key Design Decisions:

• LRU Eviction: Least recently used connections are evicted when pool is full
• Health Tracking: Failures increment counter; successes decrement it
• Automatic Cleanup: Periodic health checks remove stale connections
• Connection Reuse: Same miner reuses connection until TTL expires

---

Phase 2: Retry Logic Implementation

2.1 Exponential Backoff Retry

Pattern: Configurable Retry with Backoff

// src/api/grpc/retry.ts
export interface RetryOptions {
  maxRetries?: number;
  initialDelay?: number;
  maxDelay?: number;
  backoffFactor?: number;
  retryableErrors?: grpc.status[];
  onRetry?: (attempt: number, error: Error) => void;
}

const DEFAULT_RETRY_OPTIONS: Required<RetryOptions> = {
  maxRetries: 3,
  initialDelay: 1000,
  maxDelay: 30000,
  backoffFactor: 2,
  retryableErrors: [
    grpc.status.UNAVAILABLE,
    grpc.status.DEADLINE_EXCEEDED,
    grpc.status.RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED,
    grpc.status.ABORTED
  ],
  onRetry: () => { /* noop */ }
};

/**
 * Execute a gRPC call with exponential backoff retry logic
 */
export async function withRetry<T>(
  fn: () => Promise<T>,
  options: RetryOptions = {}
): Promise<T> {
  const config = { ...DEFAULT_RETRY_OPTIONS, ...options };
  let lastError: Error;
  let delay = config.initialDelay;

  for (let attempt = 0; attempt <= config.maxRetries; attempt++) {
    try {
      return await fn();
    } catch (error) {
      lastError = error as Error;

      // Check if error is retryable
      if (!isRetryableError(error as grpc.ServiceError, config.retryableErrors)) {
        throw error;
      }

      // Don't wait after last attempt
      if (attempt < config.maxRetries) {
        config.onRetry(attempt + 1, lastError);
        await sleep(delay);
        delay = Math.min(delay * config.backoffFactor, config.maxDelay);
      }
    }
  }

  throw new Error(
    `gRPC call failed after ${config.maxRetries} retries: ${lastError!.message}`
  );
}

/**
 * Check if a gRPC error is retryable
 */
function isRetryableError(error: grpc.ServiceError, retryableStatuses: grpc.status[]): boolean {
  return retryableStatuses.includes(error.code);
}

/**
 * Sleep for specified milliseconds
 */
function sleep(ms: number): Promise<void> {
  return new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(resolve, ms));
}

Usage Example:

// Example: Get miner status with retry
const status = await withRetry(
  () => grpcClient.getStatus(minerId),
  {
    maxRetries: 3,
    initialDelay: 1000,
    backoffFactor: 2,
    onRetry: (attempt, error) => {
      logger.warn(`Retry attempt ${attempt} for miner ${minerId}:`, error);
    }
  }
);

2.2 Circuit Breaker Pattern

Pattern: Prevent Cascading Failures

// src/api/grpc/circuit-breaker.ts
export enum CircuitState {
  CLOSED = 'CLOSED',     // Normal operation
  OPEN = 'OPEN',         // Failing, rejecting requests
  HALF_OPEN = 'HALF_OPEN' // Testing if service recovered
}

export interface CircuitBreakerOptions {
  failureThreshold: number;       // Failures before opening circuit
  successThreshold: number;       // Successes to close circuit from half-open
  timeout: number;                // Time to wait before moving to half-open
  monitoringPeriod: number;       // Window for failure counting
}

export class CircuitBreaker {
  private state: CircuitState = CircuitState.CLOSED;
  private failures: number = 0;
  private successes: number = 0;
  private lastFailureTime: Date | null = null;
  private config: CircuitBreakerOptions;

  constructor(config: Partial<CircuitBreakerOptions> = {}) {
    this.config = {
      failureThreshold: 5,
      successThreshold: 2,
      timeout: 60000, // 1 minute
      monitoringPeriod: 120000, // 2 minutes
      ...config
    };
  }

  async execute<T>(fn: () => Promise<T>): Promise<T> {
    if (this.state === CircuitState.OPEN) {
      if (this.shouldAttemptReset()) {
        this.state = CircuitState.HALF_OPEN;
      } else {
        throw new Error('Circuit breaker is OPEN - service unavailable');
      }
    }

    try {
      const result = await fn();
      this.onSuccess();
      return result;
    } catch (error) {
      this.onFailure();
      throw error;
    }
  }

  private onSuccess(): void {
    this.failures = 0;

    if (this.state === CircuitState.HALF_OPEN) {
      this.successes++;
      if (this.successes >= this.config.successThreshold) {
        this.state = CircuitState.CLOSED;
        this.successes = 0;
      }
    }
  }

  private onFailure(): void {
    this.failures++;
    this.lastFailureTime = new Date();
    this.successes = 0;

    if (this.failures >= this.config.failureThreshold) {
      this.state = CircuitState.OPEN;
    }
  }

  private shouldAttemptReset(): boolean {
    if (!this.lastFailureTime) return false;

    const timeSinceLastFailure = Date.now() - this.lastFailureTime.getTime();
    return timeSinceLastFailure >= this.config.timeout;
  }

  getState(): CircuitState {
    return this.state;
  }

  reset(): void {
    this.state = CircuitState.CLOSED;
    this.failures = 0;
    this.successes = 0;
    this.lastFailureTime = null;
  }
}

Integration with Connection Pool:

// Add circuit breaker per miner
private circuitBreakers: Map<string, CircuitBreaker> = new Map();

async callWithCircuitBreaker<T>(
  minerId: string,
  fn: (client: MinerServiceClient) => Promise<T>
): Promise<T> {
  const circuitBreaker = this.getOrCreateCircuitBreaker(minerId);

  return circuitBreaker.execute(async () => {
    const client = await this.getConnection(minerId, minerConfig);
    try {
      const result = await withRetry(() => fn(client));
      this.markHealthy(minerId);
      return result;
    } catch (error) {
      this.markUnhealthy(minerId);
      throw error;
    }
  });
}

---

Phase 3: Stream Handling

3.1 Server Streaming (Real-Time Miner Updates)

Pattern: Server Stream with Backpressure

// src/api/grpc/stream-handler.ts
import { EventEmitter } from 'events';

export class MinerStatusStream extends EventEmitter {
  private stream: grpc.ClientReadableStream<MinerStatus> | null = null;
  private reconnectTimer?: NodeJS.Timer;
  private reconnectAttempts: number = 0;
  private maxReconnectAttempts: number = 5;

  constructor(
    private pool: GrpcConnectionPool,
    private minerId: string,
    private minerConfig: MinerConfig
  ) {
    super();
  }

  async start(): Promise<void> {
    try {
      const client = await this.pool.getConnection(this.minerId, this.minerConfig);

      this.stream = client.streamStatus({ minerId: this.minerId });

      this.stream.on('data', (status: MinerStatus) => {
        this.reconnectAttempts = 0; // Reset on successful data
        this.emit('status', status);
      });

      this.stream.on('end', () => {
        this.emit('end');
        this.attemptReconnect();
      });

      this.stream.on('error', (error: grpc.ServiceError) => {
        this.emit('error', error);
        if (this.isRetryableStreamError(error)) {
          this.attemptReconnect();
        }
      });

    } catch (error) {
      this.emit('error', error);
      this.attemptReconnect();
    }
  }

  private attemptReconnect(): void {
    if (this.reconnectAttempts >= this.maxReconnectAttempts) {
      this.emit('maxReconnectAttemptsReached');
      return;
    }

    this.reconnectAttempts++;
    const delay = Math.min(1000 * Math.pow(2, this.reconnectAttempts), 30000);

    this.reconnectTimer = setTimeout(() => {
      void this.start();
    }, delay);
  }

  private isRetryableStreamError(error: grpc.ServiceError): boolean {
    return [
      grpc.status.UNAVAILABLE,
      grpc.status.DEADLINE_EXCEEDED,
      grpc.status.INTERNAL
    ].includes(error.code);
  }

  stop(): void {
    if (this.reconnectTimer) {
      clearTimeout(this.reconnectTimer);
    }

    if (this.stream) {
      this.stream.cancel();
      this.stream = null;
    }

    this.removeAllListeners();
  }
}

Usage in MCP Resource:

// Example: MCP resource for streaming miner status
@resource({
  uri: "braiins:///miner/{minerId}/status/stream",
  name: "Miner Status Stream",
  mimeType: "application/json"
})
async getMinerStatusStream(minerId: string): Promise<AsyncIterable<MinerStatus>> {
  const stream = new MinerStatusStream(this.pool, minerId, minerConfig);

  await stream.start();

  return {
    [Symbol.asyncIterator]() {
      return {
        next: () => new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
          stream.once('status', (status) => {
            resolve({ value: status, done: false });
          });
          stream.once('end', () => {
            resolve({ value: undefined, done: true });
          });
          stream.once('error', reject);
        })
      };
    }
  };
}

---

Phase 4: Error Handling

4.1 gRPC Error Classification

Pattern: Actionable Error Messages for Agents

// src/api/grpc/errors.ts
import { MCPError } from '../../utils/errors';

export class GrpcMinerError extends MCPError {
  constructor(
    public readonly minerId: string,
    public readonly grpcCode: grpc.status,
    message: string,
    details?: Record<string, unknown>
  ) {
    super({
      code: grpcCodeToMCPErrorCode(grpcCode),
      message: `Miner ${minerId}: ${message}`,
      details: {
        grpcCode: grpc.status[grpcCode],
        ...details,
        suggestion: getSuggestionForError(grpcCode)
      }
    });
  }
}

function grpcCodeToMCPErrorCode(code: grpc.status): string {
  const mapping: Record<number, string> = {
    [grpc.status.UNAVAILABLE]: 'MINER_UNREACHABLE',
    [grpc.status.DEADLINE_EXCEEDED]: 'MINER_TIMEOUT',
    [grpc.status.UNAUTHENTICATED]: 'MINER_AUTH_FAILED',
    [grpc.status.PERMISSION_DENIED]: 'MINER_PERMISSION_DENIED',
    [grpc.status.NOT_FOUND]: 'MINER_NOT_FOUND',
    [grpc.status.INVALID_ARGUMENT]: 'INVALID_MINER_REQUEST',
    [grpc.status.RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED]: 'MINER_OVERLOADED'
  };

  return mapping[code] || 'MINER_GRPC_ERROR';
}

function getSuggestionForError(code: grpc.status): string {
  const suggestions: Record<number, string> = {
    [grpc.status.UNAVAILABLE]:
      "Check miner network connectivity. Try 'ping_miner' or 'list_miners' to see reachable miners.",
    [grpc.status.DEADLINE_EXCEEDED]:
      "Miner is slow to respond. Check if miner is under heavy load or increase timeout.",
    [grpc.status.UNAUTHENTICATED]:
      "Authentication failed. Verify miner credentials in configuration.",
    [grpc.status.PERMISSION_DENIED]:
      "Permission denied. Check miner user has required permissions.",
    [grpc.status.NOT_FOUND]:
      "Miner resource not found. Verify miner ID and that miner is registered.",
    [grpc.status.RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED]:
      "Miner is overloaded. Reduce request rate or check miner health."
  };

  return suggestions[code] || "Retry the operation or check miner logs for details.";
}

/**
 * Wrap gRPC calls with error transformation
 */
export async function wrapGrpcCall<T>(
  minerId: string,
  fn: () => Promise<T>,
  operation: string
): Promise<T> {
  try {
    return await fn();
  } catch (error) {
    if (isGrpcError(error)) {
      throw new GrpcMinerError(
        minerId,
        error.code,
        `${operation} failed: ${error.message}`,
        { operation }
      );
    }
    throw error;
  }
}

function isGrpcError(error: unknown): error is grpc.ServiceError {
  return (
    typeof error === 'object' &&
    error !== null &&
    'code' in error &&
    'details' in error
  );
}

---

Examples

Example 1: Basic gRPC Client with Pool

// src/api/grpc/miner-client.ts
import { GrpcConnectionPool } from './connection-pool';
import { withRetry } from './retry';
import { wrapGrpcCall } from './errors';

export class BraiinsMinerClient {
  private pool: GrpcConnectionPool;

  constructor(config?: Partial<GrpcPoolConfig>) {
    this.pool = new GrpcConnectionPool(config);
  }

  async getMinerStatus(minerId: string, minerConfig: MinerConfig): Promise<MinerStatus> {
    return wrapGrpcCall(minerId, async () => {
      const client = await this.pool.getConnection(minerId, minerConfig);

      const status = await withRetry(
        () => new Promise<MinerStatus>((resolve, reject) => {
          client.getStatus({ minerId }, (error, response) => {
            if (error) reject(error);
            else resolve(response);
          });
        }),
        { maxRetries: 3, onRetry: (attempt) => {
          logger.debug(`Retry ${attempt} for getMinerStatus(${minerId})`);
        }}
      );

      this.pool.markHealthy(minerId);
      return status;
    }, 'getMinerStatus');
  }

  async updateMinerConfig(
    minerId: string,
    minerConfig: MinerConfig,
    newConfig: MinerConfiguration
  ): Promise<void> {
    return wrapGrpcCall(minerId, async () => {
      const client = await this.pool.getConnection(minerId, minerConfig);

      await withRetry(
        () => new Promise<void>((resolve, reject) => {
          client.updateConfiguration({ minerId, config: newConfig }, (error) => {
            if (error) reject(error);
            else resolve();
          });
        }),
        { maxRetries: 2 } // Fewer retries for mutations
      );

      this.pool.markHealthy(minerId);
    }, 'updateMinerConfig');
  }

  dispose(): void {
    void this.pool.dispose();
  }
}

Example 2: Fleet Operation with Parallel Calls

// Example: Get status for all miners in fleet
async getFleetStatus(minerIds: string[]): Promise<Map<string, MinerStatus>> {
  const results = new Map<string, MinerStatus>();

  // Execute in parallel with Promise.allSettled
  const promises = minerIds.map(async (minerId) => {
    try {
      const minerConfig = await this.minerRepo.findById(minerId);
      if (!minerConfig) {
        throw new Error(`Miner ${minerId} not found`);
      }

      const status = await this.getMinerStatus(minerId, minerConfig);
      results.set(minerId, status);
    } catch (error) {
      logger.error(`Failed to get status for ${minerId}:`, error);
      // Continue with other miners
    }
  });

  await Promise.allSettled(promises);

  return results;
}

Example 3: Real-Time Stream Integration

// Example: Subscribe to miner updates via Redis pub/sub
async subscribeToMinerUpdates(minerId: string): Promise<void> {
  const stream = new MinerStatusStream(this.pool, minerId, minerConfig);

  stream.on('status', async (status: MinerStatus) => {
    // Publish to Redis for MCP resource subscribers
    await this.redis.publish(
      `miner:${minerId}:status`,
      JSON.stringify(status)
    );

    // Update cache
    await this.redis.setex(
      `cache:miner:${minerId}:status`,
      30, // 30 second TTL
      JSON.stringify(status)
    );
  });

  stream.on('error', (error) => {
    logger.error(`Stream error for miner ${minerId}:`, error);
  });

  stream.on('maxReconnectAttemptsReached', () => {
    logger.warn(`Max reconnect attempts reached for miner ${minerId}`);
    // Mark miner as offline in database
  });

  await stream.start();
}

---

Quality Standards

Code Quality Checklist

• Connection Pooling

  • Pool size is configurable and enforced
  • LRU eviction implemented for max connections
  • Connections have TTL and are automatically refreshed
  • Health checks run periodically

• Retry Logic

  • Exponential backoff implemented
  • Max retry delay is capped
  • Only retryable errors trigger retries
  • Circuit breaker prevents cascading failures

• Error Handling

  • All gRPC errors are caught and transformed to MCPError
  • Error messages include actionable suggestions for agents
  • Non-retryable errors fail fast
  • Errors include context (minerId, operation, grpcCode)

• Streaming

  • Stream reconnection logic implemented
  • Backpressure handled appropriately
  • Stream resources cleaned up on close
  • Max reconnect attempts enforced

• TLS Security

  • TLS credentials properly configured
  • Certificate validation enabled
  • Credentials not hardcoded

• Performance

  • Keepalive prevents idle connection drops
  • Parallel fleet operations use Promise.allSettled
  • Connection reuse minimizes handshake overhead

Testing Requirements

// Example test structure
describe('GrpcConnectionPool', () => {
  it('should reuse connections for same miner', async () => {
    const client1 = await pool.getConnection('miner-1', config);
    const client2 = await pool.getConnection('miner-1', config);
    expect(client1).toBe(client2);
  });

  it('should evict oldest connection when pool is full', async () => {
    // Create max connections
    // Create one more
    // Verify oldest was evicted
  });

  it('should mark connection unhealthy after threshold failures', async () => {
    // Simulate failures
    // Verify connection marked unhealthy
  });
});

describe('withRetry', () => {
  it('should retry on UNAVAILABLE error', async () => {
    let attempts = 0;
    await withRetry(async () => {
      attempts++;
      if (attempts < 3) throw new GrpcError(grpc.status.UNAVAILABLE);
      return 'success';
    });
    expect(attempts).toBe(3);
  });

  it('should not retry on INVALID_ARGUMENT error', async () => {
    await expect(
      withRetry(() => {
        throw new GrpcError(grpc.status.INVALID_ARGUMENT);
      })
    ).rejects.toThrow();
  });
});

---

Common Pitfalls

❌ Pitfall 1: Not Closing Connections

Problem: Connections left open lead to resource exhaustion

// BAD: Connection never closed
async function badExample() {
  const client = new MinerServiceClient(address, credentials);
  const status = await client.getStatus({ minerId });
  // Connection never closed!
  return status;
}

Solution: Use connection pool with automatic cleanup

// GOOD: Pool manages lifecycle
async function goodExample() {
  const client = await pool.getConnection(minerId, config);
  const status = await client.getStatus({ minerId });
  // Pool keeps connection open for reuse or closes on TTL
  return status;
}

❌ Pitfall 2: Unbounded Retries

Problem: Indefinite retries on permanently failed miners

// BAD: Will retry forever
async function badRetry() {
  while (true) {
    try {
      return await client.getStatus({ minerId });
    } catch (error) {
      await sleep(1000);
      // Retries forever!
    }
  }
}

Solution: Use exponential backoff with max attempts and circuit breaker

// GOOD: Bounded retries with circuit breaker
async function goodRetry() {
  return withRetry(
    () => client.getStatus({ minerId }),
    { maxRetries: 3, backoffFactor: 2 }
  );
}

❌ Pitfall 3: Ignoring Stream Errors

Problem: Stream errors not handled, causing silent failures

// BAD: No error handling
const stream = client.streamStatus({ minerId });
stream.on('data', (status) => {
  console.log(status);
});
// Stream errors not handled!

Solution: Always handle stream errors and implement reconnection

// GOOD: Complete error handling
const stream = new MinerStatusStream(pool, minerId, config);

stream.on('data', (status) => processStatus(status));
stream.on('error', (error) => logger.error('Stream error:', error));
stream.on('end', () => stream.attemptReconnect());
stream.on('maxReconnectAttemptsReached', () => markMinerOffline(minerId));

await stream.start();

---

Integration with MCP Server

Pattern: gRPC Client as MCP Tool Dependency

// src/mcp/tools/get-miner-status.ts
import { BraiinsMinerClient } from '../../api/grpc/miner-client';

@tool({
  name: "get_miner_status",
  description: "Get current status of a Braiins OS miner",
  inputSchema: z.object({
    minerId: z.string(),
    includeDetails: z.boolean().optional()
  })
})
async getMinerStatus(params: { minerId: string; includeDetails?: boolean }) {
  // Use gRPC client with pooling and retries
  const status = await this.grpcClient.getMinerStatus(params.minerId, minerConfig);

  return {
    minerId: params.minerId,
    online: status.status === 'running',
    hashrate: `${status.hashrate} TH/s`,
    temperature: `${status.temperature}°C`,
    // Include detailed info if requested
    ...(params.includeDetails && { details: status })
  };
}

---

References

• gRPC Node.js Documentation: https://grpc.io/docs/languages/node/
• Braiins OS API: See

  .claude/skills/braiins-os/

  skill
• MCP Server Patterns: See

  .claude/skills/mcp-server-dev/

  skill
• Connection Pooling Best Practices: https://grpc.io/docs/guides/performance/
• Retry Strategies: Exponential backoff with jitter
• Circuit Breaker Pattern: Release It! by Michael Nygard

---

Version History:

• 1.0.0 (2025-12-29): Initial release - Connection pooling, retry logic, stream handling