oRPC Skill

Type-safe IPC between Electron main ↔ renderer using @orpc/server and @orpc/client over MessagePort. This project uses oRPC instead of raw ipcMain.handle/ipcRenderer.invoke — the router shape is shared, so the client is fully typed against the server's handlers.

Quick Start

Define a Handler (Main Process)

typescript

// src/ipc/<domain>/handlers.ts
import { os } from "@orpc/server";
import { myInputSchema } from "./schemas";

// No input
export const getStatus = os.handler(() => "ok");

// With Zod-validated input
export const doSomething = os.input(myInputSchema).handler(({ input }) => {
  return { result: input.name };
});

Call from Renderer

typescript

// src/actions/<domain>.ts
import { ipc } from "@/ipc/manager";

export function doSomething(name: string) {
  return ipc.client.myDomain.doSomething({ name });
}

Key Concepts

Concept	Location	Purpose
`os.handler()`	`@orpc/server`	Define a typed RPC handler
`os.input(schema)`	`@orpc/server`	Add Zod validation before handler
`os.use(middleware)`	`@orpc/server`	Inject context (e.g., BrowserWindow)
`RPCHandler`	`@orpc/server/message-port`	Server-side transport
`RPCLink`	`@orpc/client/message-port`	Client-side transport
`createORPCClient`	`@orpc/client`	Creates typed client from link
`RouterClient<typeof router>`	`@orpc/server`	Type the client to match router

Handler Patterns

Pattern	Code	When
No input	`os.handler(() => value)`	Read-only queries
With input	`os.input(schema).handler(({ input }) => ...)`	Mutations, parameterized queries
Async	`os.handler(async () => ...)`	File I/O, network, dialogs
With context	`os.use(ipcContext.mainWindowContext).handler(({ context }) => ...)`	Need BrowserWindow access
Chained	`os.input(schema).use(middleware).handler(...)`	Validated input + context

File Organization

Every IPC domain follows this structure:

code

src/ipc/<domain>/
  handlers.ts   → os.handler() definitions
  schemas.ts    → Zod input schemas
  index.ts      → barrel: export const domain = { handler1, handler2 }

src/ipc/router.ts → import and add domain to router object
src/actions/<domain>.ts → renderer-side wrappers calling ipc.client

Related Skills

•See the zod skill for input validation schemas
•See the electron skill for main process APIs (dialogs, nativeTheme, BrowserWindow)
•See the typescript skill for strict typing patterns

Documentation Resources

Fetch latest oRPC documentation with Context7.

How to use Context7:

•Use mcp__context7__resolve-library-id to search for "orpc"
•Prefer website documentation (/websites/deepwiki_unnoq_orpc) over source repos
•Query with mcp__context7__query-docs using the resolved library ID

Library IDs:

•/websites/deepwiki_unnoq_orpc (website docs, preferred)
•/llmstxt/orpc_dev_llms-full_txt (official site llms.txt)
•/unnoq/orpc (source repo)

Recommended Queries:

•"MessagePort adapter setup Electron"
•"middleware context os.handler os.input os.use"
•"RPCLink client setup createORPCClient"
•"error handling ORPCError"