IPCservices

IPCservices is a middleware platform that provides inter-process communication primitives for software components on a single machine or across a network. It consolidates various IPC patterns, including asynchronous messaging, request-response RPC, and publish-subscribe event streams, under a unified API. The goal is to simplify building modular applications by reducing coupling and providing reliable, observable communication channels between processes and services.

The architecture centers on a lightweight broker or daemon that coordinates message routing, session management, and policy enforcement. Client libraries in multiple languages connect to the broker and expose transport adapters for channels such as Unix domain sockets, Windows named pipes, shared memory, and TCP/IP. Some deployments support peer-to-peer modes without a central broker, while others rely on a central registry for service discovery and lifecycle management.

IPCservices defines a compact wire protocol and supports negotiable data formats, including a binary payload with optional text encodings like JSON or Protobuf. It offers delivery guarantees such as at-most-once, at-least-once, and exactly-once where supported, and supports message durability, retries, and acknowledgments. Strong typing and schemas help maintain compatibility across service boundaries.

Security and governance features include authentication, authorization via policy engines, encryption in transit and at rest, and audit logging. Fine-grained access controls can restrict who can publish, subscribe, or invoke remote procedures. Configuration is centralized, with support for role-based access control, secret management, and compliance auditing.

IPCservices is designed for diverse environments, including microservice architectures, modular desktop applications, robotics, and embedded systems. Rich SDKs and tooling provide service discovery, monitoring, tracing, and administration. The platform emphasizes performance, observability, and interoperability while remaining neutral to specific application domains.