Data-Heavy Row Mode

Aster’s ROW serialization mode provides a row-oriented binary format with zero-copy random-access field reads. It is designed for data-heavy workloads where the consumer may only need a subset of fields from large records, or where the schema is sent once and many rows follow. This example is Python-specific.

When to use ROW mode

ROW mode is appropriate when:

• Records are large (many fields, large string/bytes values) and the consumer reads only a few fields per record.
• You are streaming large result sets where the schema is stable across all rows.
• Your workload resembles an analytics query or data pipeline more than a traditional RPC call.

For typical request/response RPC, the default XLANG mode is simpler and sufficient. Use NATIVE mode when you need maximum single-language performance. Use ROW mode when field-level random access matters.

Setting ROW mode

ROW mode can be set at the service level or per-method:

from aster import service, rpc, SerializationMode

@service(serialization=SerializationMode.ROW)
class DataPipelineService:
    """All methods in this service use ROW mode."""

    @rpc
    async def query(self, req: QueryRequest) -> QueryResult:
        ...

Or override on a single method:

@service
class AnalyticsService:

    @rpc(serialization=SerializationMode.ROW)
    async def heavy_query(self, req: QueryRequest) -> QueryResult:
        ...

    @rpc  # Uses the service default (XLANG)
    async def lightweight_status(self, req: StatusRequest) -> StatusResponse:
        ...

Example: data processing service

from dataclasses import dataclass
from typing import AsyncIterator

from aster import service, rpc, server_stream, wire_type, SerializationMode

@wire_type("analytics/QueryRequest")
@dataclass
class QueryRequest:
    table: str = ""
    filter_expr: str = ""
    limit: int = 100

@wire_type("analytics/DataRow")
@dataclass
class DataRow:
    row_id: int = 0
    timestamp: int = 0
    metric_name: str = ""
    value: float = 0.0
    tags: str = ""         # JSON-encoded for simplicity
    raw_payload: bytes = b""  # Large binary data

@wire_type("analytics/AggResult")
@dataclass
class AggResult:
    count: int = 0
    sum_value: float = 0.0
    avg_value: float = 0.0
    min_value: float = 0.0
    max_value: float = 0.0

@service("Analytics", version=1)
class AnalyticsService:

    @server_stream(serialization=SerializationMode.ROW)
    async def scan(self, req: QueryRequest) -> AsyncIterator[DataRow]:
        """Stream rows matching the filter. ROW mode sends the schema once,
        then each row as a compact binary record."""
        for i in range(req.limit):
            yield DataRow(
                row_id=i,
                timestamp=1700000000 + i,
                metric_name="cpu.usage",
                value=42.0 + i * 0.1,
                tags='{"host": "node-1"}',
                raw_payload=b"\x00" * 256,
            )

    @rpc(serialization=SerializationMode.ROW)
    async def aggregate(self, req: QueryRequest) -> AggResult:
        """Aggregate query. ROW mode allows the consumer to read individual
        fields without deserializing the entire response."""
        return AggResult(
            count=1000,
            sum_value=42000.0,
            avg_value=42.0,
            min_value=0.1,
            max_value=99.9,
        )

Server streaming with ROW mode

ROW mode is most useful with @server_stream when sending large result sets. The wire protocol optimizes for this case:

1. ROW_SCHEMA frame hoisting. The first frame in the stream carries the Fory row schema (field names, types, offsets). Subsequent frames carry only the row data, referencing the schema by position.
2. Zero-copy field access. The consumer can read individual fields from the binary row buffer without deserializing the entire record. This is implemented by Fory’s row format at the codec level.
3. Compression. Each frame is independently compressed with zstd when it exceeds the compression threshold (default: 4096 bytes). Large raw_payload fields benefit significantly.

Consumer side

from aster import AsterClient

async with AsterClient(address="aster1...") as client:
    analytics = await client.client(AnalyticsService)

    async for row in await analytics.scan(QueryRequest(table="metrics", limit=500)):
        # Full deserialization happens here, but the ROW format allows
        # the codec to skip fields the consumer doesn't access
        print(f"Row {row.row_id}: {row.metric_name} = {row.value}")

Performance characteristics

Mode	Serialization cost	Deserialization cost	Random field access	Cross-language
XLANG	Medium	Medium	No (full deser required)	Yes
NATIVE	Low	Low	No	No (Python only)
ROW	Medium-High (schema overhead)	Low (field-level)	Yes	Yes (where supported)

When ROW wins:

• Streaming hundreds or thousands of rows with stable schema (schema is sent once).
• Consumer reads 2–3 fields from a 20-field record.
• Records contain large binary payloads that the consumer may skip entirely.

When ROW loses:

• Small records with few fields (schema overhead dominates).
• Consumer always reads all fields (no random-access benefit).
• Single unary calls (no schema amortization across rows).

Combining with other modes

A service can offer methods in different serialization modes. The client and server negotiate the mode per-method based on the service’s declared capabilities:

@service(serialization=[SerializationMode.XLANG, SerializationMode.ROW])
class HybridService:

    @rpc  # Negotiates XLANG or ROW based on client preference
    async def status(self, req: StatusRequest) -> StatusResponse:
        ...

    @server_stream(serialization=SerializationMode.ROW)  # Forces ROW
    async def scan(self, req: ScanRequest) -> AsyncIterator[DataRow]:
        ...