When Does a gRPC Server Handle Significantly Fewer Requests As a Goroutine Compared to When Run As the Main Process?

Difference Between the Main Goroutine and Spawned Goroutines in Go Programs

When handling numerous client requests, the behavior of a gRPC server differs depending on whether it is launched as the main process or as a goroutine. The server handles thousands of requests when run as the main process but only hundreds when executed as a goroutine.

Cause of Stack Size Differences

It is not because spawned goroutines have a smaller stack size (2Kbytes) than the main goroutine. In Go, goroutines can expand and contract their stacks as required, with infinite capacity due to allocation from the heap.

Empty Loop in the Main Goroutine

The empty loop in the main goroutine consumes 100% of a CPU core, preventing the program from terminating. To resolve this, consider using mechanisms like sync.WaitGroup, select {}, channels, or time.Sleep to wait for operations completion.

Stack Limit of Main and Spawned Goroutines

Contrary to the initial assumption, the stack limit for main and spawned goroutines is identical. This can be demonstrated by running two goroutines: one as the main goroutine and the other as a spawned goroutine. Both goroutines will exceed the default 250MB stack limit and crash with a "stack overflow" error, as seen on The Go Playground.

In conclusion, the main difference between the main goroutine and spawned goroutines relates to their behavior rather than their inherent stack size. Main goroutines should be used cautiously due to their ability to block program execution with empty loops.

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