Why did we go with the Protobuf API for Datastore rather than the REST/JSON API? #517

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1. jgeewax

   added

   type: questionRequest for information or clarification. Not an issue.Request for information or clarification. Not an issue.

   api: datastoreIssues related to the Datastore API.Issues related to the Datastore API.

   on Apr 30, 2015
2. stephenplusplus commented on Apr 30, 2015

   

   stephenplusplus

   on Apr 30, 2015

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   Not sure, @silvolu and @rakyll were behind that. Not very informative, but for reference, #112 is the PR where we switched.
3. ryanseys commented on Apr 30, 2015

   

   ryanseys

   on Apr 30, 2015

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   The reason is because JSON/REST has a much higher size overhead compared to Protobuf at the network layer and possibly other layers. Datastore is meant to be very fast and size efficient with potentially high throughout, so requests should be as small as possible. This allows a higher throughput of requests compared to using JSON. We use JSON for the other API requests because their payloads are potentially much larger, making the difference between a protobuf request and a JSON one negligible.
4. jgeewax commented on Apr 30, 2015

   

   jgeewax

   on Apr 30, 2015

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   Cool - thanks :)
5. jgeewax

   closed this as completedon Apr 30, 2015
6. JustinBeckwith

   assigned

   jgeewax

   on Feb 1, 2021
7. sofisl

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   chore: relocate owl bot post processor (#517)

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8. sofisl

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   chore: release 4.2.0 (#517)

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   chore: release 4.2.0 (#517)

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9. sofisl

   added 3 commits that reference this issue on Nov 10, 2022

   chore: release 3.2.2 (#517)

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   docs(nodejs): version support policy edits (#1346) (#517)

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   chore: release 2.4.0 (#517)

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10. sofisl

    added a commit that references this issue on Jan 10, 2023

    build: update protos (#517)

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11. GautamSharda

    added 3 commits that reference this issue on Jan 14, 2026

    build: add config .gitattributes (#517)

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    build: add config .gitattributes (#517)

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    build: add config .gitattributes (#517)

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12. sofisl

    added 4 commits that reference this issue on Jan 27, 2026

    build: use config file for linkinator (#517)

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    build: use config file for linkinator (#517)

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    build: use config file for linkinator (#517)

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    build: use config file for linkinator (#517)

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13. GautamSharda

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    build: add config .gitattributes (#517)

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14. sofisl

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    chore: release 4.1.8 (#517)

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15. GautamSharda

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    build: add config .gitattributes (#517)

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16. sofisl

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    feat(timestamp): create new date/timestamp classes (#517)

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17. GautamSharda

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    chore: release 5.1.2 (#517)

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    refactor: clean up unused packages (#517)

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    fix(deps): update dependency teeny-request to v6 (#517)

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