External processing service (proto)

A service that can access and modify HTTP requests and responses as part of a filter chain. The overall external processing protocol works like this:

Envoy sends to the service information about the HTTP request.
The service sends back a ProcessingResponse message that directs Envoy to either stop processing, continue without it, or send it the next chunk of the message body.
If so requested, Envoy sends the server chunks of the message body, or the entire body at once. In either case, the server sends back a ProcessingResponse after each message it receives.
If so requested, Envoy sends the server the HTTP trailers, and the server sends back a ProcessingResponse.
At this point, request processing is done, and we pick up again at step 1 when Envoy receives a response from the upstream server.
At any point above, if the server closes the gRPC stream cleanly, then Envoy proceeds without consulting the server.
At any point above, if the server closes the gRPC stream with an error, then Envoy returns a 500 error to the client, unless the filter was configured to ignore errors.

In other words, the process is a request/response conversation, but using a gRPC stream to make it easier for the server to maintain state.

service.ext_proc.v3.ProcessingRequest

[service.ext_proc.v3.ProcessingRequest proto]

This represents the different types of messages that Envoy can send to an external processing server.

{
  "request_headers": {...},
  "response_headers": {...},
  "request_body": {...},
  "response_body": {...},
  "request_trailers": {...},
  "response_trailers": {...},
  "metadata_context": {...},
  "attributes": {...},
  "observability_mode": ...
}

request_headers

(service.ext_proc.v3.HttpHeaders) Information about the HTTP request headers, as well as peer info and additional properties. Unless observability_mode is true, the server must send back a HeaderResponse message, an ImmediateResponse message, or close the stream.

Each request message will include one of the following sub-messages. Which ones are set for a particular HTTP request/response depend on the processing mode.

Precisely one of request_headers, response_headers, request_body, response_body, request_trailers, response_trailers must be set.

response_headers

(service.ext_proc.v3.HttpHeaders) Information about the HTTP response headers, as well as peer info and additional properties. Unless observability_mode is true, the server must send back a HeaderResponse message or close the stream.

Each request message will include one of the following sub-messages. Which ones are set for a particular HTTP request/response depend on the processing mode.

Precisely one of request_headers, response_headers, request_body, response_body, request_trailers, response_trailers must be set.

request_body

(service.ext_proc.v3.HttpBody) A chunk of the HTTP request body. Unless observability_mode is true, the server must send back a BodyResponse message, an ImmediateResponse message, or close the stream.

Each request message will include one of the following sub-messages. Which ones are set for a particular HTTP request/response depend on the processing mode.

Precisely one of request_headers, response_headers, request_body, response_body, request_trailers, response_trailers must be set.

response_body

(service.ext_proc.v3.HttpBody) A chunk of the HTTP response body. Unless observability_mode is true, the server must send back a BodyResponse message or close the stream.

Each request message will include one of the following sub-messages. Which ones are set for a particular HTTP request/response depend on the processing mode.

Precisely one of request_headers, response_headers, request_body, response_body, request_trailers, response_trailers must be set.

request_trailers

(service.ext_proc.v3.HttpTrailers) The HTTP trailers for the request path. Unless observability_mode is true, the server must send back a TrailerResponse message or close the stream.

This message is only sent if the trailers processing mode is set to SEND and the original downstream request has trailers.

Each request message will include one of the following sub-messages. Which ones are set for a particular HTTP request/response depend on the processing mode.

Precisely one of request_headers, response_headers, request_body, response_body, request_trailers, response_trailers must be set.

response_trailers

(service.ext_proc.v3.HttpTrailers) The HTTP trailers for the response path. Unless observability_mode is true, the server must send back a TrailerResponse message or close the stream.

This message is only sent if the trailers processing mode is set to SEND and the original upstream response has trailers.

Each request message will include one of the following sub-messages. Which ones are set for a particular HTTP request/response depend on the processing mode.

Precisely one of request_headers, response_headers, request_body, response_body, request_trailers, response_trailers must be set.

metadata_context: (config.core.v3.Metadata) Dynamic metadata associated with the request.

attributes: (repeated map<string, Struct>) The values of properties selected by the request_attributes or response_attributes list in the configuration. Each entry in the list is populated from the standard attributes supported across Envoy.

observability_mode

(bool) Specify whether the filter that sent this request is running in observability_mode and defaults to false.

A value of false indicates that the server must respond to this message by either sending back a matching ProcessingResponse message, or by closing the stream.
A value of true indicates that the server should not respond to this message, as any responses will be ignored. However, it may still close the stream to indicate that no more messages are needed.

service.ext_proc.v3.ProcessingResponse

[service.ext_proc.v3.ProcessingResponse proto]

For every ProcessingRequest received by the server with the observability_mode field set to false, the server must send back exactly one ProcessingResponse message.

{
  "request_headers": {...},
  "response_headers": {...},
  "request_body": {...},
  "response_body": {...},
  "request_trailers": {...},
  "response_trailers": {...},
  "immediate_response": {...},
  "dynamic_metadata": {...},
  "mode_override": {...},
  "override_message_timeout": {...}
}

request_headers

(service.ext_proc.v3.HeadersResponse) The server must send back this message in response to a message with the request_headers field set.

Precisely one of request_headers, response_headers, request_body, response_body, request_trailers, response_trailers, immediate_response must be set.

response_headers

(service.ext_proc.v3.HeadersResponse) The server must send back this message in response to a message with the response_headers field set.

Precisely one of request_headers, response_headers, request_body, response_body, request_trailers, response_trailers, immediate_response must be set.

request_body

(service.ext_proc.v3.BodyResponse) The server must send back this message in response to a message with the request_body field set.

Precisely one of request_headers, response_headers, request_body, response_body, request_trailers, response_trailers, immediate_response must be set.

response_body

(service.ext_proc.v3.BodyResponse) The server must send back this message in response to a message with the response_body field set.

Precisely one of request_headers, response_headers, request_body, response_body, request_trailers, response_trailers, immediate_response must be set.

request_trailers

(service.ext_proc.v3.TrailersResponse) The server must send back this message in response to a message with the request_trailers field set.

Precisely one of request_headers, response_headers, request_body, response_body, request_trailers, response_trailers, immediate_response must be set.

response_trailers

(service.ext_proc.v3.TrailersResponse) The server must send back this message in response to a message with the response_trailers field set.

Precisely one of request_headers, response_headers, request_body, response_body, request_trailers, response_trailers, immediate_response must be set.

immediate_response

(service.ext_proc.v3.ImmediateResponse) If specified, attempt to create a locally generated response, send it downstream, and stop processing additional filters and ignore any additional messages received from the remote server for this request or response. If a response has already started – for example, if this message is sent response to a response_body message – then this will either ship the reply directly to the downstream codec, or reset the stream.

Precisely one of request_headers, response_headers, request_body, response_body, request_trailers, response_trailers, immediate_response must be set.

dynamic_metadata: (Struct) Optional metadata that will be emitted as dynamic metadata to be consumed by following filters. This metadata will be placed in the namespace(s) specified by the top-level field name(s) of the struct.

mode_override: (extensions.filters.http.ext_proc.v3.ProcessingMode) Override how parts of the HTTP request and response are processed for the duration of this particular request/response only. Servers may use this to intelligently control how requests are processed based on the headers and other metadata that they see. This field is only applicable when servers responding to the header requests. If it is set in the response to the body or trailer requests, it will be ignored by Envoy. It is also ignored by Envoy when the ext_proc filter config allow_mode_override is set to false, or send_body_without_waiting_for_header_response is set to true.

override_message_timeout: (Duration) When ext_proc server receives a request message, in case it needs more time to process the message, it sends back a ProcessingResponse message with a new timeout value. When Envoy receives this response message, it ignores other fields in the response, just stop the original timer, which has the timeout value specified in message_timeout and start a new timer with this override_message_timeout value and keep the Envoy ext_proc filter state machine intact. Has to be >= 1ms and <= max_message_timeout Such message can be sent at most once in a particular Envoy ext_proc filter processing state. To enable this API, one has to set max_message_timeout to a number >= 1ms.

service.ext_proc.v3.HttpHeaders

[service.ext_proc.v3.HttpHeaders proto]

This message is sent to the external server when the HTTP request and responses are first received.

{
  "headers": {...},
  "end_of_stream": ...
}

headers: (config.core.v3.HeaderMap) The HTTP request headers. All header keys will be lower-cased, because HTTP header keys are case-insensitive. The header value is encoded in the raw_value field.

end_of_stream: (bool) If true, then there is no message body associated with this request or response.

service.ext_proc.v3.HttpBody

[service.ext_proc.v3.HttpBody proto]

This message contains the message body that Envoy sends to the external server.

{
  "body": ...,
  "end_of_stream": ...
}

body: (bytes)

end_of_stream: (bool)

service.ext_proc.v3.HttpTrailers

[service.ext_proc.v3.HttpTrailers proto]

This message contains the trailers.

{
  "trailers": {...}
}

trailers: (config.core.v3.HeaderMap) The header value is encoded in the raw_value field.

service.ext_proc.v3.HeadersResponse

[service.ext_proc.v3.HeadersResponse proto]

This message must be sent in response to an HttpHeaders message.

{
  "response": {...}
}

response: (service.ext_proc.v3.CommonResponse)

service.ext_proc.v3.TrailersResponse

[service.ext_proc.v3.TrailersResponse proto]

This message must be sent in response to an HttpTrailers message.

{
  "header_mutation": {...}
}

header_mutation: (service.ext_proc.v3.HeaderMutation) Instructions on how to manipulate the trailers

service.ext_proc.v3.BodyResponse

[service.ext_proc.v3.BodyResponse proto]

This message must be sent in response to an HttpBody message.

{
  "response": {...}
}

response: (service.ext_proc.v3.CommonResponse)

service.ext_proc.v3.CommonResponse

[service.ext_proc.v3.CommonResponse proto]

This message contains common fields between header and body responses.

{
  "status": ...,
  "header_mutation": {...},
  "body_mutation": {...},
  "clear_route_cache": ...
}

status: (service.ext_proc.v3.CommonResponse.ResponseStatus) If set, provide additional direction on how the Envoy proxy should handle the rest of the HTTP filter chain.

header_mutation: (service.ext_proc.v3.HeaderMutation) Instructions on how to manipulate the headers. When responding to an HttpBody request, header mutations will only take effect if the current processing mode for the body is BUFFERED.

body_mutation: (service.ext_proc.v3.BodyMutation) Replace the body of the last message sent to the remote server on this stream. If responding to an HttpBody request, simply replace or clear the body chunk that was sent with that request. Body mutations may take effect in response either to header or body messages. When it is in response to header messages, it only take effect if the status is set to CONTINUE_AND_REPLACE.

clear_route_cache: (bool) Clear the route cache for the current client request. This is necessary if the remote server modified headers that are used to calculate the route. This field is ignored in the response direction. This field is also ignored if the Envoy ext_proc filter is in the upstream filter chain.

Enum service.ext_proc.v3.CommonResponse.ResponseStatus

[service.ext_proc.v3.CommonResponse.ResponseStatus proto]

CONTINUE: (DEFAULT) ⁣Apply the mutation instructions in this message to the request or response, and then continue processing the filter stream as normal. This is the default.

CONTINUE_AND_REPLACE

⁣Apply the specified header mutation, replace the body with the body specified in the body mutation (if present), and do not send any further messages for this request or response even if the processing mode is configured to do so.

When used in response to a request_headers or response_headers message, this status makes it possible to either completely replace the body while discarding the original body, or to add a body to a message that formerly did not have one.

In other words, this response makes it possible to turn an HTTP GET into a POST, PUT, or PATCH.

service.ext_proc.v3.ImmediateResponse

[service.ext_proc.v3.ImmediateResponse proto]

This message causes the filter to attempt to create a locally generated response, send it downstream, stop processing additional filters, and ignore any additional messages received from the remote server for this request or response. If a response has already started, then this will either ship the reply directly to the downstream codec, or reset the stream.

{
  "status": {...},
  "headers": {...},
  "body": ...,
  "grpc_status": {...},
  "details": ...
}

status: (type.v3.HttpStatus, REQUIRED) The response code to return

headers: (service.ext_proc.v3.HeaderMutation) Apply changes to the default headers, which will include content-type.

body: (bytes) The message body to return with the response which is sent using the text/plain content type, or encoded in the grpc-message header.

grpc_status: (service.ext_proc.v3.GrpcStatus) If set, then include a gRPC status trailer.

details: (string) A string detailing why this local reply was sent, which may be included in log and debug output (e.g. this populates the %RESPONSE_CODE_DETAILS% command operator field for use in access logging).

service.ext_proc.v3.GrpcStatus

[service.ext_proc.v3.GrpcStatus proto]

This message specifies a gRPC status for an ImmediateResponse message.

{
  "status": ...
}

status: (uint32) The actual gRPC status

service.ext_proc.v3.HeaderMutation

[service.ext_proc.v3.HeaderMutation proto]

Change HTTP headers or trailers by appending, replacing, or removing headers.

{
  "set_headers": [],
  "remove_headers": []
}

set_headers: (repeated config.core.v3.HeaderValueOption) Add or replace HTTP headers. Attempts to set the value of any x-envoy header, and attempts to set the :method, :authority, :scheme, or host headers will be ignored. The header value is encoded in the raw_value field.

remove_headers: (repeated string) Remove these HTTP headers. Attempts to remove system headers – any header starting with :, plus host – will be ignored.

service.ext_proc.v3.BodyMutation

[service.ext_proc.v3.BodyMutation proto]

Replace the entire message body chunk received in the corresponding HttpBody message with this new body, or clear the body.

{
  "body": ...,
  "clear_body": ...
}

body

(bytes) The entire body to replace

Only one of body, clear_body may be set.

clear_body

(bool) Clear the corresponding body chunk

Only one of body, clear_body may be set.