go-zero/tools/goctl/rpc/CHANGELOG.md

Changelog

Unreleased

New Features

External Proto Import Support (--proto_path / -I)

Added support for importing proto files from external directories via -I / --proto_path flags, with full transitive dependency resolution.

Affected files:

• generator/gen.go — Added ProtoPaths field to ZRpcContext; added resolveImportedProtos() to populate ImportedProtos before code generation.
• generator/genpb.go — Added buildProtocCmd() to automatically discover and append transitively imported proto files to the protoc command; added relativeToProtoPath() to compute correct relative paths for protoc output.
• parser/import.go — New file (major addition). Implements ResolveImports() for recursive transitive import resolution, ParseImportedProtos() for extracting go_package / package metadata from imported protos, and BuildProtoPackageMap() for O(1) lookup by proto package name.
• parser/proto.go — Added ImportedProtos []ImportedProto field to the Proto struct.
• cli/cli.go — Passes ProtoPaths from RPCNew to ZRpcContext.
• cli/zrpc.go — Passes VarStringSliceProtoPath to ZRpcContext.ProtoPaths.

Before vs After:

	Before	After
Proto imports from external dirs	❌ Not supported, all types must be in the same file	✅ Use -I ./ext_protos to add search paths
Transitive imports (A → B → C)	❌ Only direct imports recognized	✅ Recursively resolves all transitive dependencies
Imported proto .pb.go generation	❌ Manual, must run protoc separately for each file	✅ Automatic, imported protos appended to protoc command
Proto search paths	❌ Only source file directory	✅ Multiple -I paths, same as protoc

Behavior:

• Transitively walks all import declarations in proto files, skipping google/* well-known types.
• Searches each -I directory for imported files, silently skipping system-level protos not found in user paths.
• Appends discovered proto files to the protoc command so their .pb.go files are generated alongside the main proto.

---

Cross-Package Type Resolution

When an imported proto has a different go_package from the main proto, goctl now automatically generates the correct Go import paths and qualified type references in server, logic, and client code.

Affected files:

• generator/typeref.go — New file. Core type resolution engine:
  • resolveRPCTypeRef() — Resolves proto RPC types (simple, same-package dotted, cross-package dotted, Google WKT) to Go type references with correct import paths.
  • resolveCallTypeRef() — Variant for client code generation with type alias support.
  • googleWKTTable — Mapping table for all 16 Google well-known types to their Go equivalents.
• generator/genserver.go — genFunctions() now calls resolveRPCTypeRef() for request/response types and collects extra import paths.
• generator/genlogic.go — genLogicFunction() uses resolveRPCTypeRef(); added addLogicImports() to conditionally include main pb import and cross-package imports.
• generator/gencall.go — genFunction() and getInterfaceFuncs() use resolveCallTypeRef() for type aliases and extra imports; added buildExtraImportLines() helper.
• generator/call.tpl — Added {{.extraImports}} placeholder for cross-package import lines.

Before vs After:

Proto type	Before	After
GetReq (same file)	pb.GetReq	pb.GetReq (unchanged)
ext.ExtReq (same go_package)	❌ Error: "request type must defined in"	✅ pb.ExtReq — merged into main package
common.TypesReq (different go_package)	❌ Error: "request type must defined in"	✅ common.TypesReq + auto-generated import "example.com/demo/pb/common"
google.protobuf.Empty	❌ Error: "request type must defined in"	✅ emptypb.Empty + auto-generated import

Behavior:

• Simple types (e.g., GetReq) resolve to pb.GetReq with no extra import.
• Same-package dotted types (e.g., ext.ExtReq where ext has the same go_package) resolve to pb.ExtReq.
• Cross-package dotted types (e.g., common.TypesReq where common has a different go_package) resolve to common.TypesReq with the correct Go import path added automatically.

---

Google Well-Known Types as RPC Parameters

Google protobuf well-known types can now be used directly as RPC request/response types (not just as message fields).

Affected files:

• generator/typeref.go — resolveGoogleWKT() + googleWKTTable handles all standard types.

Before vs After:

Proto Type	Before (as RPC param)	After (as RPC param)
google.protobuf.Empty	❌ Error	✅ emptypb.Empty
google.protobuf.Timestamp	❌ Error	✅ timestamppb.Timestamp
google.protobuf.Duration	❌ Error	✅ durationpb.Duration
google.protobuf.Any	❌ Error	✅ anypb.Any
google.protobuf.Struct	❌ Error	✅ structpb.Struct
google.protobuf.FieldMask	❌ Error	✅ fieldmaskpb.FieldMask
google.protobuf.*Value	❌ Error	✅ wrapperspb.*Value

Note: These types were already usable as message fields before. This change allows them as RPC request/response types directly.

Supported types:

Proto Type	Go Type
google.protobuf.Empty	emptypb.Empty
google.protobuf.Timestamp	timestamppb.Timestamp
google.protobuf.Duration	durationpb.Duration
google.protobuf.Any	anypb.Any
google.protobuf.Struct	structpb.Struct
google.protobuf.Value	structpb.Value
google.protobuf.ListValue	structpb.ListValue
google.protobuf.FieldMask	fieldmaskpb.FieldMask
google.protobuf.*Value (wrappers)	wrapperspb.*Value

---

Breaking Changes

Dotted Type Names Now Allowed in RPC Definitions

Previously, goctl rejected any RPC request/response type containing a dot (e.g., base.Req), requiring all types to be defined in the same proto file. This restriction has been removed.

Before vs After:

Proto Definition	Before	After
rpc Fetch(base.Req) returns (base.Reply)	❌ Parse error: "request type must defined in xxx.proto"	✅ Parsed successfully, base.Req resolved via imported proto
rpc Ping(google.protobuf.Empty) returns (Reply)	❌ Parse error: "request type must defined in xxx.proto"	✅ Parsed successfully, resolved to emptypb.Empty

Affected files:

• parser/service.go — Removed the validation loop that rejected dotted type names with "request type must defined in" / "returns type must defined in" errors.
• parser/parser_test.go — TestDefaultProtoParseCaseInvalidRequestType and TestDefaultProtoParseCaseInvalidResponseType renamed and updated to verify that dotted types now parse successfully.