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HTTP Transport

The HTTP transport enables network-based communication between the Stepflow runtime and component servers using HTTP protocol with optional MCP-style session negotiation. This transport is ideal for distributed deployments, microservices architectures, and scenarios requiring horizontal scaling.

Overview​

HTTP transport communicates with component servers running as independent HTTP services:

  • HTTP requests: JSON-RPC messages sent via POST requests
  • HTTP responses: JSON-RPC responses returned as HTTP response bodies
  • Server-Sent Events (SSE): Optional bidirectional communication channel
  • Session isolation: MCP-style session negotiation for multi-client scenarios

Basic HTTP Communication​

Request Format​

POST /api/jsonrpc HTTP/1.1
Host: localhost:8080
Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8
Content-Length: 123

{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":"uuid-123","method":"components/list","params":{}}

Response Format​

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8
Content-Length: 89

{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":"uuid-123","result":{"components":[{"name":"processor"}]}}

Protocol Configuration​

See Configuration Documentation for complete HTTP transport configuration options.