Apache Thrift

aid: apache-thrift
name: Apache Thrift
description: Apache Thrift is a software framework for scalable cross-language services development. It provides an interface
  definition language (IDL) and code generation engine for building RPC services that work efficiently across C++, Java, Python,
  PHP, Ruby, Erlang, Go, JavaScript, Node.js, Haskell, C#, Cocoa, Delphi, and many more languages. Originally developed at
  Facebook, Thrift is now an Apache Software Foundation top-level project used for high-performance internal microservices
  and APIs.
type: Index
position: Consumer
access: 3rd-Party
image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/apis-json-logo.jpg
tags:
- Code Generation
- Cross-Language
- IDL
- RPC
- Serialization
- Open Source
created: '2026-03-16'
modified: '2026-04-19'
url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/apache-thrift/refs/heads/main/apis.yml
specificationVersion: '0.19'
apis:
- aid: apache-thrift:apache-thrift-idl
  name: Apache Thrift IDL
  description: The Thrift Interface Definition Language (IDL) is used to define data types and service interfaces in a language-neutral
    format. A .thrift file defines structs, enums, exceptions, typedefs, constants, and services with typed method signatures.
    The thrift compiler generates client and server code from .thrift files for over 20 target languages including Java, Python,
    C++, Go, JavaScript, PHP, Ruby, Erlang, and Haskell.
  humanURL: https://thrift.apache.org/docs/idl.html
  tags:
  - IDL
  - Code Generation
  - RPC
  - Cross-Language
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://thrift.apache.org/docs/idl.html
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://thrift.apache.org/docs/types.html
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/thrift-idl.yml
- aid: apache-thrift:apache-thrift-server-api
  name: Apache Thrift Server API
  description: The Thrift Server API provides server implementations for hosting Thrift services including TSimpleServer (single-threaded),
    TThreadedServer, TThreadPoolServer, and TNonblockingServer (async I/O). Thrift supports multiple transport protocols (TBinaryProtocol,
    TCompactProtocol, TJSONProtocol) over various transports (TSocket, TFramedTransport, TFileTransport, TZlibTransport) enabling
    flexible deployment configurations.
  humanURL: https://thrift.apache.org/docs/concepts.html
  tags:
  - Server
  - RPC
  - Protocol
  - Transport
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://thrift.apache.org/docs/concepts.html
common:
- type: GitHubRepository
  url: https://github.com/apache/thrift
- type: Documentation
  url: https://thrift.apache.org/docs/
- type: Portal
  url: https://thrift.apache.org/
- type: GettingStarted
  url: https://thrift.apache.org/tutorial/
- type: ReleaseNotes
  url: https://github.com/apache/thrift/releases
- type: TermsOfService
  url: https://www.apache.org/licenses/
- type: SDKs
  url: https://pypi.org/project/thrift/
  title: Python Package
- type: SDKs
  url: https://search.maven.org/search?q=org.apache.thrift
  title: Java Maven Package
- type: Features
  data:
  - name: Cross-Language Code Generation
    description: Generate client and server stubs for 20+ programming languages from a single IDL file.
  - name: Binary Serialization
    description: Compact binary serialization (TCompactProtocol) for high-performance inter-service communication.
  - name: Multiple Transports
    description: TSocket, TFramedTransport, TFileTransport, TZlibTransport, and TMemoryBuffer transports.
  - name: Multiple Protocols
    description: TBinaryProtocol, TCompactProtocol, TJSONProtocol, and TSimpleJSONProtocol serialization formats.
  - name: Async Server Support
    description: Non-blocking async server (TNonblockingServer) for high-throughput service deployments.
  - name: Versioned Schema Evolution
    description: Optional and default fields enable backward-compatible schema evolution across service versions.
- type: UseCases
  data:
  - name: Internal Microservices
    description: High-performance binary RPC between internal microservices in polyglot environments.
  - name: Cross-Language APIs
    description: Type-safe APIs that work identically across Java, Python, C++, and other languages.
  - name: Distributed Systems
    description: Service mesh and distributed system communication with efficient binary serialization.
- type: Integrations
  data:
  - name: Apache Cassandra
    description: Cassandra uses Thrift (legacy) and CQL for client communication.
  - name: Apache HBase
    description: HBase Thrift gateway for non-Java clients to access HBase.
  - name: Apache Hadoop
    description: Hive Thrift server provides JDBC/ODBC access to Hive via Thrift protocol.
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: info@apievangelist.com