databricks-zerobus-ingest-sdk 1.0.1

A high-performance Rust client for streaming data ingestion into Databricks Delta tables using the Zerobus service
Documentation

Zerobus Rust SDK

A high-performance Rust client for streaming data ingestion into Databricks Delta tables using the Zerobus service.

Table of Contents

Overview

The Zerobus Rust SDK provides a robust, async-first interface for ingesting large volumes of data into Databricks Delta tables. It abstracts the complexity of the Zerobus service and handles authentication, retries, stream recovery, and acknowledgment tracking automatically.

What is Zerobus? See the project overview for details on the Zerobus service.

Features

  • Async/Await Support - Built on Tokio for efficient concurrent I/O operations
  • Automatic OAuth 2.0 Authentication - Seamless token management with Unity Catalog
  • Built-in Recovery - Automatic retry and reconnection for transient failures
  • High Throughput - Configurable inflight record limits for optimal performance
  • Batch Ingestion - Ingest multiple records at once with all-or-nothing semantics for maximum throughput
  • Flexible Serialization - Support for both JSON (simple) and Protocol Buffers (type-safe) data formats
  • Type Safety - Protocol Buffers ensure schema validation at compile time
  • Schema Generation - CLI tool to generate protobuf schemas from Unity Catalog tables
  • Flexible Configuration - Fine-tune timeouts, retries, and recovery behavior
  • Graceful Stream Management - Proper flushing and acknowledgment tracking
  • Acknowledgment Callbacks - Receive notifications when records are acknowledged or encounter errors

Installation

Add the SDK to your Cargo.toml:

cargo add databricks-zerobus-ingest-sdk
cargo add prost prost-types
cargo add tokio --features macros,rt-multi-thread

Why these dependencies?

  • databricks-zerobus-ingest-sdk - The SDK itself
  • prost and prost-types - Required for encoding your data to Protocol Buffers and loading schema descriptors
  • tokio - Async runtime required for running async functions (the SDK is fully async)

What's in the crates.io package? The published crate contains only the core Zerobus ingestion SDK. Tools for schema generation (tools/generate_files) and working examples (examples/) are only available in the GitHub repository. You'll need to clone the repo to generate protobuf schemas from your Unity Catalog tables.

For Local Development

Clone the repository and use a path dependency:

git clone https://github.com/databricks/zerobus-sdk.git
cd your_project

Then in your Cargo.toml:

[dependencies]
databricks-zerobus-ingest-sdk = { path = "../zerobus-sdk/rust/sdk" }
prost = "0.13.3"
prost-types = "0.13.3"
tokio = { version = "1.42.0", features = ["macros", "rt-multi-thread"] }

Quick Start

The SDK supports two serialization formats and two ingestion methods:

Serialization:

  • JSON (Recommended for getting started): Simpler approach using JSON strings, no schema generation required
  • Protocol Buffers (Recommended for production): Type-safe approach with schema validation at compile time

Ingestion Methods:

  • Single-record (ingest_record_offset): Ingest records one at a time with per-record acknowledgment
  • Batch (ingest_records_offset): Ingest multiple records at once with all-or-nothing semantics for higher throughput

Note: The older ingest_record() and ingest_records() methods are deprecated as of v0.4.0. Use the _offset variants instead.

See examples/README.md for detailed setup instructions and examples for all combinations.

Repository Structure

zerobus_rust_sdk/
├── sdk/                                # Core SDK library
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── lib.rs                      # Main SDK and stream implementation
│   │   ├── default_token_factory.rs    # OAuth 2.0 token handling
│   │   ├── errors.rs                   # Error types and retryable logic
│   │   ├── headers_provider.rs         # Trait for custom authentication headers
│   │   ├── builder/                    # Builder pattern for SDK initialization
│   │   ├── tls_config.rs              # TLS configuration strategies
│   │   ├── stream_configuration.rs     # Stream options
│   │   ├── landing_zone.rs             # Inflight record buffer
│   │   └── offset_generator.rs         # Logical offset tracking
│   ├── zerobus_service.proto           # gRPC protocol definition
│   ├── build.rs                        # Build script for protobuf compilation
│   └── Cargo.toml
│
├── ffi/                                # C FFI bindings for other languages
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── lib.rs                      # FFI implementation
│   │   └── tests.rs                    # FFI unit tests
│   ├── zerobus.h                       # Generated C header
│   ├── cbindgen.toml                   # Header generation config
│   ├── build.rs                        # Build script for header generation
│   └── Cargo.toml
│
├── jni/                                # JNI bindings for Java SDK
│   ├── src/
│   │   └── lib.rs                      # JNI implementation
│   └── Cargo.toml
│
├── tools/
│   └── generate_files/                 # Schema generation CLI tool
│       ├── src/
│       │   ├── main.rs                 # CLI entry point
│       │   └── generate.rs             # Unity Catalog -> Proto conversion
│       ├── README.md                   # Tool documentation
│       └── Cargo.toml
│
├── examples/
│   ├── README.md                       # Examples documentation
│   ├── json/
│   │   ├── README.md                   # JSON examples documentation
│   │   ├── single/                     # JSON single-record example
│   │   │   ├── src/main.rs
│   │   │   └── Cargo.toml
│   │   └── batch/                      # JSON batch ingestion example
│   │       ├── src/main.rs
│   │       └── Cargo.toml
│   └── proto/
│       ├── README.md                   # Protocol Buffers examples documentation
│       ├── single/                     # Protocol Buffers single-record example
│       │   ├── src/main.rs
│       │   ├── output/                 # Generated schema files
│       │   └── Cargo.toml
│       └── batch/                      # Protocol Buffers batch ingestion example
│           ├── src/main.rs
│           ├── output/                 # Generated schema files
│           └── Cargo.toml
│
├── tests/                              # Integration tests crate
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── mock_grpc.rs                # Mock Zerobus gRPC server
│   │   └── rust_tests.rs               # Test suite
│   ├── build.rs
│   └── Cargo.toml
│
├── Cargo.toml                          # Workspace configuration
└── README.md                           # This file

Key Components

  • sdk/ - The main library crate containing all SDK functionality
  • ffi/ - C FFI bindings for building language wrappers (Go, C#, C++, etc.)
  • jni/ - JNI bindings for the Java SDK
  • tools/ - CLI tool for generating Protocol Buffer schemas from Unity Catalog tables
  • examples/ - Complete working examples demonstrating SDK usage
  • Workspace - Root Cargo.toml defines a Cargo workspace for unified builds

How It Works

Architecture Overview

+-----------------+
|    Your App     |
+-----------------+
        | 1. create_stream()
        v
+-----------------+
|   ZerobusSdk    |
| - Manages TLS   |
| - Creates       |
|   channels      |
+-----------------+
        | 2. Opens bidirectional gRPC stream
        v
+--------------------------------------+
|            ZerobusStream             |
| +----------------------------------+ |
| |           Supervisor             | | Manages lifecycle, recovery
| +----------------------------------+ |
|                  |                   |
|      +-----------+-----------+       |
|      v                       v       |
| +----------+          +----------+   | 
| |  Sender  |          | Receiver |   | Parallel tasks
| |  Task    |          |  Task    |   |
| +----------+          +----------+   |
|      ^                       |       |
|      |                       v       |
| +----------------------------------+ |
| |          Landing Zone            | | Inflight buffer
| +----------------------------------+ |
+--------------------------------------+
            | 3. gRPC stream
            v
+-----------------------+
|      Databricks       |
|    Zerobus Service    |
+-----------------------+

Data Flow

  1. Ingestion - Your app calls stream.ingest_record(data) or stream.ingest_records(batch)
  2. Buffering - Records are placed in the landing zone with logical offsets
  3. Sending - Sender task sends records over gRPC with physical offsets
  4. Acknowledgment - Receiver task gets server ack and resolves the future
  5. Recovery - If connection fails, supervisor reconnects and resends unacked records

Authentication Flow

The SDK uses OAuth 2.0 client credentials flow:

  1. SDK constructs authorization request with Unity Catalog privileges
  2. Sends request to {uc_endpoint}/oidc/v1/token with client credentials
  3. Token includes scoped permissions for the specific table
  4. Token is attached to gRPC metadata as Bearer token
  5. Fresh tokens are fetched automatically on each connection

Custom Authentication

For advanced use cases, you can implement the HeadersProvider trait to supply your own authentication headers. This is useful for integrating with a different OAuth provider, using a centralized token caching service, or implementing alternative authentication mechanisms.

Note: The headers you provide must still conform to the authentication protocol expected by the Zerobus service. The default implementation, OAuthHeadersProvider, serves as the reference for the required headers (authorization and x-databricks-zerobus-table-name). This feature provides flexibility in how you source your credentials, not in changing the authentication protocol itself.

Example:

use databricks_zerobus_ingest_sdk::*;
use std::collections::HashMap;
use std::sync::Arc;
use async_trait::async_trait;

struct MyCustomAuthProvider;

#[async_trait]
impl HeadersProvider for MyCustomAuthProvider {
    async fn get_headers(&self) -> ZerobusResult<HashMap<&'static str, String>> {
        let mut headers = HashMap::new();
        // Custom logic to fetch and cache a token would go here.
        headers.insert("authorization", "Bearer <your-token>".to_string());
        headers.insert("x-databricks-zerobus-table-name", "<your-table-name>".to_string());
        Ok(headers)
    }
}

async fn example(sdk: ZerobusSdk, table_properties: TableProperties) -> ZerobusResult<()> {
    let custom_provider = Arc::new(MyCustomAuthProvider {});
    let stream = sdk.create_stream_with_headers_provider(
        table_properties,
        custom_provider,
        None,
    ).await?;
    Ok(())
}

Usage Guide

The SDK supports two approaches for data serialization:

  1. JSON - Simpler approach that uses JSON strings. No schema generation required, making it ideal for quick prototyping. See examples/README.md for a complete example.
  2. Protocol Buffers - Type-safe approach with schema validation at compile time. Recommended for production use cases. This guide focuses on the Protocol Buffers approach.

For JSON-based ingestion, you can skip the schema generation step and directly pass JSON strings to ingest_record().

1. Generate Protocol Buffer Schema (Protocol Buffers approach only)

Important Note: The schema generation tool and examples are only available in the GitHub repository. The crate published on crates.io contains only the core Zerobus ingestion SDK logic. To generate protobuf schemas or see working examples, clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/databricks/zerobus-sdk.git
cd zerobus-sdk/rust

Use the included tool to generate schema files from your Unity Catalog table:

cd tools/generate_files

# For AWS
cargo run -- \
  --uc-endpoint "https://<your-workspace>.cloud.databricks.com" \
  --client-id "your-client-id" \
  --client-secret "your-client-secret" \
  --table "catalog.schema.table" \
  --output-dir "../../output"

# For Azure
cargo run -- \
  --uc-endpoint "https://<your-workspace>.azuredatabricks.net" \
  --client-id "your-client-id" \
  --client-secret "your-client-secret" \
  --table "catalog.schema.table" \
  --output-dir "../../output"

This generates three files:

  • {table}.proto - Protocol Buffer schema definition
  • {table}.rs - Rust structs with serialization code
  • {table}.descriptor - Binary descriptor for runtime validation

See tools/generate_files/README.md for supported data types and limitations.

See examples/README.md for more information on how to get OAuth credentials.

2. Initialize the SDK

Create an SDK instance using the builder pattern:

// For AWS
let sdk = ZerobusSdk::builder()
    .endpoint("https://<your-shard-id>.zerobus.<region>.cloud.databricks.com")
    .unity_catalog_url("https://<your-workspace>.cloud.databricks.com")
    .build()?;

// For Azure
let sdk = ZerobusSdk::builder()
    .endpoint("https://<your-shard-id>.zerobus.<region>.azuredatabricks.net")
    .unity_catalog_url("https://<your-workspace>.azuredatabricks.net")
    .build()?;

Note: The workspace ID is automatically extracted from the Zerobus endpoint. The https:// scheme is optional — if omitted, the SDK automatically prepends https://.

TLS Configuration

By default, the SDK uses SecureTlsConfig which enables TLS with the operating system's trusted CA certificates. For testing against a local http:// server, use NoTlsConfig (requires the testing feature):

use databricks_zerobus_ingest_sdk::{ZerobusSdk, NoTlsConfig};
use std::sync::Arc;

let sdk = ZerobusSdk::builder()
    .endpoint("http://localhost:50051")
    .tls_config(Arc::new(NoTlsConfig))
    .build()?;

For custom certificate handling, implement the TlsConfig trait:

use databricks_zerobus_ingest_sdk::{TlsConfig, ZerobusResult};
use tonic::transport::Endpoint;

struct MyTlsConfig { /* ... */ }

impl TlsConfig for MyTlsConfig {
    fn configure_endpoint(&self, endpoint: Endpoint) -> ZerobusResult<Endpoint> {
        // Custom TLS configuration logic
        Ok(endpoint)
    }
}

3. Configure Authentication

The SDK handles authentication automatically. You just need to provide:

  • Client ID - Your OAuth client ID
  • Client Secret - Your OAuth client secret
  • Unity Catalog Endpoint - Passed to SDK constructor
  • Table Name - Included in table properties
let client_id = "your-client-id".to_string();
let client_secret = "your-client-secret".to_string();

See examples/README.md for more information on how to get these credentials.

4. Create a Stream

Configure table properties and stream options:

use std::fs;
use prost::Message;
use prost_types::{FileDescriptorSet, DescriptorProto};

// Load descriptor from generated files
fn load_descriptor(path: &str, file: &str, msg: &str) -> DescriptorProto {
    let bytes = fs::read(path).expect("Failed to read descriptor");
    let file_set = FileDescriptorSet::decode(bytes.as_ref()).unwrap();

    let file_desc = file_set.file.into_iter()
        .find(|f| f.name.as_deref() == Some(file))
        .unwrap();

    file_desc.message_type.into_iter()
        .find(|m| m.name.as_deref() == Some(msg))
        .unwrap()
}

let descriptor_proto = load_descriptor(
    "output/orders.descriptor",
    "orders.proto",
    "table_Orders",
);

let table_properties = TableProperties {
    table_name: "catalog.schema.orders".to_string(),
    descriptor_proto,
};

let options = StreamConfigurationOptions {
    max_inflight_requests: 10000,
    recovery: true,
    recovery_timeout_ms: 15000,
    recovery_backoff_ms: 2000,
    recovery_retries: 4,
    ..Default::default()
};

let mut stream = sdk.create_stream(
    table_properties,
    client_id,
    client_secret,
    Some(options),
).await?;

5. Ingest Data

The SDK provides flexible ways to ingest data with different levels of abstraction:

Wrapper Format Description
ProtoMessage<T> Proto Auto-encoding: pass structs, SDK handles encoding
ProtoBytes Proto Pre-encoded: pass bytes with explicit wrapper
Vec<u8> Proto Backward-compatible: raw bytes without wrapper
JsonValue<T> JSON Auto-serializing: pass structs, SDK handles JSON conversion
JsonString JSON Pre-serialized: pass JSON strings with explicit wrapper
String JSON Backward-compatible: raw strings without wrapper

Single Record Ingestion

use databricks_zerobus_ingest_sdk::ProtoMessage;

let record = YourMessage { id: Some(1), name: Some("Alice".to_string()) };

// Ingest and get offset (after queuing)
let offset = stream.ingest_record_offset(ProtoMessage(record)).await?;

// Wait for server acknowledgment
stream.wait_for_offset(offset).await?;

Batch Ingestion

Ingest multiple records at once for higher throughput with all-or-nothing semantics.

use databricks_zerobus_ingest_sdk::ProtoMessage;

let records: Vec<ProtoMessage<YourMessage>> = vec![
    ProtoMessage(YourMessage { id: Some(1), /* ... */ }),
    ProtoMessage(YourMessage { id: Some(2), /* ... */ }),
    ProtoMessage(YourMessage { id: Some(3), /* ... */ }),
];

// Returns Some(offset) for non-empty batches, None for empty batches
if let Some(offset) = stream.ingest_records_offset(records).await? {
    stream.wait_for_offset(offset).await?;
}

High Throughput Pattern

Ingest many records without waiting for each acknowledgment, then flush periodically:

for i in 0..100_000 {
    let record = YourMessage { id: Some(i), /* ... */ };
    let _offset = stream.ingest_record_offset(ProtoMessage(record)).await?;

    // Periodically flush to avoid unbounded memory growth
    if (i + 1) % 10_000 == 0 {
        stream.flush().await?;
    }
}
stream.flush().await?;

See examples/ for complete working examples with all wrapper types, serialization formats, and ingestion patterns.

6. Handle Acknowledgments

The recommended ingest_record_offset() and ingest_records_offset() methods return offsets directly (after queuing):

  • ingest_record_offset() returns OffsetId (the logical offset)
  • ingest_records_offset() returns Option<OffsetId> (None if the batch is empty)
// Ingest and get offset, after queuing the record.
let offset_id = stream.ingest_record_offset(data).await?;
println!("Record sent with offset Id: {}", offset_id);

// Wait for acknowledgment when needed.
stream.wait_for_offset(offset_id).await?;
println!("Record committed at offset: {}", offset_id);

// For batches, the method returns Option<OffsetId>.
// None if the batch is empty.
let batch = vec![data1, data2, data3];
if let Some(offset_id) = stream.ingest_records_offset(batch).await? {
    println!("Batch sent with last offset: {}", offset_id);
    stream.wait_for_offset(offset_id).await?;
    println!("Batch committed");
} else {
    println!("Empty batch, no records ingested");
}

// High-throughput: collect offsets and wait selectively.
let mut offsets = Vec::new();
for i in 0..1000 {
    let offset = stream.ingest_record_offset(record).await?;
    offsets.push(offset);
}
// Wait for specific offsets as needed.
for offset in offsets {
    stream.wait_for_offset(offset).await?;
}

// Or use flush() to wait for all pending acknowledgments at once.
stream.flush().await?;

Using Acknowledgment Callbacks

For scenarios where you need to track acknowledgments without explicitly waiting (e.g., for metrics or logging), you can use callbacks:

use databricks_zerobus_ingest_sdk::{AckCallback, OffsetId};
use std::sync::Arc;

// Define a callback that implements the AckCallback trait
struct MyCallback;

impl AckCallback for MyCallback {
    fn on_ack(&self, offset_id: OffsetId) {
        // Called when a record is acknowledged
        println!("✓ Acknowledged offset: {}", offset_id);
    }

    fn on_error(&self, offset_id: OffsetId, error_message: &str) {
        // Called when a record encounters an error
        eprintln!("✗ Error for offset {}: {}", offset_id, error_message);
    }
}

// Configure stream with callback
let options = StreamConfigurationOptions {
    max_inflight_requests: 10000,
    ack_callback: Some(Arc::new(MyCallback)),
    ..Default::default()
};

let mut stream = sdk.create_stream(
    table_properties,
    client_id,
    client_secret,
    Some(options),
).await?;

for i in 0..1000 {
    let record = YourMessage { id: Some(i), /* ... */ };
    stream.ingest_record_offset(record.encode_to_vec()).await?;
    // Callback fires when this record is acknowledged
}

stream.flush().await?;

Important: Callbacks run synchronously in a dedicated callback handler task. Keep them lightweight (simple logging, metrics increment) to avoid callback backlog. For heavy work like database writes or network calls, send data to a channel for processing in a separate task:

use tokio::sync::mpsc;

struct ChannelCallback {
    tx: mpsc::UnboundedSender<OffsetId>,
}

impl AckCallback for ChannelCallback {
    fn on_ack(&self, offset_id: OffsetId) {
        // Lightweight: just send to channel
        let _ = self.tx.send(offset_id);
    }

    fn on_error(&self, offset_id: OffsetId, error_message: &str) {
        eprintln!("Error: {}", error_message);
    }
}

let (tx, mut rx) = mpsc::unbounded_channel();
let callback = Arc::new(ChannelCallback { tx });

// Heavy processing in separate task
tokio::spawn(async move {
    while let Some(offset) = rx.recv().await {
        // Heavy work here (database writes, API calls, etc.)
        write_to_database(offset).await;
    }
});

7. Close the Stream

Always close streams to ensure data is flushed:

// Close gracefully (flushes automatically)
stream.close().await?;

If the stream fails, retrieve unacknowledged records:

match stream.close().await {
    Err(_) => {
        // Option 1: Get individual records (flattened)
        let unacked = stream.get_unacked_records().await?;
        let total_records = unacked.count();
        println!("Failed to ack {} records", total_records);
        
        // Option 2: Get records grouped by batch (preserves batch structure)
        let unacked_batches = stream.get_unacked_batches().await?;
        let total_records: usize = unacked_batches.iter().map(|batch| batch.get_record_count()).sum();
        println!("Failed to ack {} records in {} batches", total_records, unacked_batches.len());
        
        // Retry with a new stream
    }
    Ok(_) => println!("Stream closed successfully"),
}

Configuration Options

StreamConfigurationOptions

Field Type Default Description
max_inflight_requests usize 1,000,000 Maximum unacknowledged requests in flight
recovery bool true Enable automatic stream recovery on failure
recovery_timeout_ms u64 15,000 Timeout for recovery operations (ms)
recovery_backoff_ms u64 2,000 Delay between recovery retry attempts (ms)
recovery_retries u32 4 Maximum number of recovery attempts
server_lack_of_ack_timeout_ms u64 60,000 Timeout waiting for server acks (ms)
flush_timeout_ms u64 300,000 Timeout for flush operations (ms)
record_type RecordType RecordType::Proto Record serialization format (Proto or Json)
stream_paused_max_wait_time_ms Option<u64> None Max time to wait during graceful close (None = full server duration, Some(0) = immediate, Some(x) = min(x, server_duration))
ack_callback Option<Arc<dyn AckCallback>> None Optional callback for acknowledgment notifications
callback_max_wait_time_ms Option<u64> None Maximum time to wait for callback processing to complete after closing the stream (None = wait indefinitely, Some(x) = wait up to x ms)

Example:

let options = StreamConfigurationOptions {
    max_inflight_requests: 50000,
    recovery: true,
    recovery_timeout_ms: 20000,
    recovery_retries: 5,
    flush_timeout_ms: 600000,
    ..Default::default()
};

Error Handling

The SDK categorizes errors as retryable or non-retryable:

Retryable Errors

Auto-recovered if recovery is enabled:

  • Network failures
  • Connection timeouts
  • Temporary server errors
  • Stream closed by server

Non-Retryable Errors

Require manual intervention:

  • InvalidUCTokenError - Invalid OAuth credentials
  • InvalidTableName - Table doesn't exist or invalid format
  • InvalidArgument - Invalid parameters or schema mismatch
  • Code::Unauthenticated - Authentication failure
  • Code::PermissionDenied - Insufficient table permissions
  • ChannelCreationError - Failed to establish TLS connection

Check if an error is retryable:

match stream.ingest_record(payload).await {
    Ok(ack) => {
        let offset = ack.await?;
    }
    Err(e) if e.is_retryable() => {
        eprintln!("Retryable error, SDK will auto-recover: {}", e);
    }
    Err(e) => {
        eprintln!("Fatal error, manual intervention needed: {}", e);
        return Err(e.into());
    }
}

Examples

Complete Working Examples

The examples/ directory contains four working examples covering different serialization formats and ingestion patterns:

Example Serialization Ingestion Package
json/single/ JSON Single-record example_json_single
json/batch/ JSON Batch example_json_batch
proto/single/ Protocol Buffers Single-record example_proto_single
proto/batch/ Protocol Buffers Batch example_proto_batch

Check examples/README.md for setup instructions and detailed comparisons.

Stream Recovery

let sdk = ZerobusSdk::builder()
    .endpoint(endpoint)
    .unity_catalog_url(uc_endpoint)
    .build()?;

let mut stream = sdk.create_stream(
    table_properties.clone(),
    client_id.clone(),
    client_secret.clone(),
    Some(options),
).await?;

// Ingest data...
match stream.close().await {
    Err(_) => {
        // Stream failed, recreate with unacked records
        stream = sdk.recreate_stream(stream).await?;
    }
    Ok(_) => println!("Closed successfully"),
}

Tests

Integration tests live in the tests/ crate and run against a lightweight mock Zerobus gRPC server.

  • Mock server: tests/src/mock_grpc.rs
  • Test suite: tests/src/rust_tests.rs

Run tests with logs:

cargo test -p tests -- --nocapture

Best Practices

  1. Reuse SDK Instances - Create one ZerobusSdk per application and reuse for multiple streams
  2. Always Close Streams - Use stream.close().await? to ensure all data is flushed
  3. Choose the Right Ingestion Method:
    • Use ingest_records_offset() for high throughput batch ingestion
    • Use ingest_record_offset() when processing records individually
    • Both return offsets directly; use wait_for_offset() to explicitly wait for acknowledgments
    • The older ingest_record() and ingest_records() methods are deprecated
  4. Tune Inflight Limits - Adjust max_inflight_requests based on memory and throughput needs
  5. Enable Recovery - Always set recovery: true in production environments
  6. Handle Ack Futures - Use tokio::spawn for fire-and-forget or batch-wait for verification
  7. Monitor Errors - Log and alert on non-retryable errors
  8. Validate Schemas - Use the schema generation tool to ensure type safety (for Protocol Buffers)
  9. Secure Credentials - Never hardcode secrets; use environment variables or secret managers
  10. Test Recovery - Simulate failures to verify your error handling logic

API Reference

ZerobusSdk

Main entry point for the SDK.

Builder:

let sdk = ZerobusSdk::builder()
    .endpoint("https://workspace.zerobus.databricks.com")  // Required
    .unity_catalog_url("https://workspace.cloud.databricks.com")  // Optional with custom headers
    .tls_config(Arc::new(SecureTlsConfig::new()))  // Optional, defaults to SecureTlsConfig
    .build()?;

Methods:

pub async fn create_stream(
    &self,
    table_properties: TableProperties,
    client_id: String,
    client_secret: String,
    options: Option<StreamConfigurationOptions>,
) -> ZerobusResult<ZerobusStream>

pub async fn recreate_stream(
    &self,
    stream: ZerobusStream
) -> ZerobusResult<ZerobusStream>

Recreates a failed stream, preserving and re-ingesting unacknowledged records.

pub async fn create_stream_with_headers_provider(
    &self,
    table_properties: TableProperties,
    headers_provider: Arc<dyn HeadersProvider>,
    options: Option<StreamConfigurationOptions>,
) -> ZerobusResult<ZerobusStream>

Creates a stream with a custom headers provider for advanced authentication.

ZerobusStream

Represents an active ingestion stream.

Methods:

pub async fn ingest_record_offset(
    &self,
    payload: impl Into<EncodedRecord>
) -> ZerobusResult<OffsetId>

Ingests a single encoded record (Protocol Buffers or JSON). The await queues the record for sending and returns the logical offset ID directly. Use wait_for_offset() to explicitly wait for server acknowledgment of this offset.

pub async fn ingest_records_offset(
    &self,
    payloads: Vec<impl Into<EncodedRecord>>
) -> ZerobusResult<Option<OffsetId>>

Ingests multiple encoded records as a batch with all-or-nothing semantics. The entire batch either succeeds or fails as a unit. The await queues the batch for sending and returns the logical offset ID directly (or None for empty batches). Use wait_for_offset() to explicitly wait for server acknowledgment.

pub async fn ingest_record(
    &self,
    payload: Vec<u8>
) -> ZerobusResult<impl Future<Output = ZerobusResult<OffsetId>>>>

Deprecated: Use ingest_record_offset() instead. Returns a future that resolves to the offset ID.

pub async fn ingest_records(
    &self,
    payloads: Vec<Vec<u8>>
) -> ZerobusResult<impl Future<Output = ZerobusResult<Option<OffsetId>>>>

Deprecated: Use ingest_records_offset() instead. Returns a future that resolves to Some(offset_id) for non-empty batches, or None if the batch is empty.

pub async fn wait_for_offset(&self, offset_id: OffsetId) -> ZerobusResult<()>

Waits for acknowledgment of a specific logical offset. Use this method with offsets returned from ingest_record_offset() or ingest_records_offset() to explicitly wait for server acknowledgment.

pub async fn flush(&self) -> ZerobusResult<()>

Flushes all pending records and waits for acknowledgment.

pub async fn close(&mut self) -> ZerobusResult<()>

Flushes and closes the stream gracefully.

pub async fn get_unacked_records(&self) -> ZerobusResult<impl Iterator<Item = EncodedRecord>>

Returns an iterator over all unacknowledged records as individual EncodedRecord items. This flattens batches into individual records. Only call after stream failure.

pub async fn get_unacked_batches(&self) -> ZerobusResult<Vec<EncodedBatch>>

Returns unacknowledged records grouped by batch, preserving the original batch structure. Records ingested together remain grouped:

  • Each ingest_record() call creates a batch containing one record
  • Each ingest_records() call creates a batch containing multiple records

Only call after stream failure.

TableProperties

Configuration for the target table.

Fields:

pub struct TableProperties {
    pub table_name: String,
    pub descriptor_proto: Option<prost_types::DescriptorProto>,
}
  • table_name - Full table name (e.g., "catalog.schema.table")
  • descriptor_proto - Optional Protocol buffer descriptor loaded from generated files (required for Proto record type, None for JSON)

StreamConfigurationOptions

Stream behavior configuration.

Fields:

pub struct StreamConfigurationOptions {
    pub max_inflight_requests: usize,
    pub recovery: bool,
    pub recovery_timeout_ms: u64,
    pub recovery_backoff_ms: u64,
    pub recovery_retries: u32,
    pub server_lack_of_ack_timeout_ms: u64,
    pub flush_timeout_ms: u64,
    pub record_type: RecordType,
    pub stream_paused_max_wait_time_ms: Option<u64>,
    pub ack_callback: Option<Arc<dyn AckCallback>>,
    pub callback_max_wait_time_ms: Option<u64>
}

See Configuration Options for details.

AckCallback

Trait for receiving acknowledgment notifications.

Methods:

pub trait AckCallback: Send + Sync {
    fn on_ack(&self, offset_id: OffsetId);
    fn on_error(&self, offset_id: OffsetId, error_message: &str);
}
  • on_ack() - Called when a record/batch is successfully acknowledged
  • on_error() - Called when a record/batch encounters an error

HeadersProvider

Trait for custom authentication header providers.

Methods:

#[async_trait]
pub trait HeadersProvider: Send + Sync {
    async fn get_headers(&self) -> ZerobusResult<HashMap<&'static str, String>>;
}

Implement this trait to provide custom authentication headers. The default implementation (OAuthHeadersProvider) handles OAuth 2.0 token management. Use this for:

  • Custom token caching strategies
  • Alternative authentication mechanisms
  • Integration with centralized credential services

See Custom Authentication section for usage examples.

TlsConfig

Trait for TLS configuration strategies.

Implementations:

  • SecureTlsConfig (default) - Production TLS with system CA certificates
  • NoTlsConfig - No-op TLS for testing with http:// endpoints (requires testing feature)
pub trait TlsConfig: Send + Sync {
    fn configure_endpoint(&self, endpoint: Endpoint) -> ZerobusResult<Endpoint>;
}

ZerobusError

Error type for all SDK operations.

Methods:

pub fn is_retryable(&self) -> bool

Returns true if the error can be automatically recovered by the SDK.

Language Bindings

This repository includes bindings for building SDKs in other languages.

C FFI (ffi/)

C Foreign Function Interface for languages that can call C functions (Go, C#, C++, etc.).

# Build static and dynamic libraries
cargo build -p zerobus-ffi --release

# Output:
# target/release/libzerobus_ffi.a      (static library for Go, C++)
# target/release/libzerobus_ffi.so     (Linux dynamic library for C#)
# target/release/libzerobus_ffi.dylib  (macOS dynamic library for C#)
# target/release/zerobus_ffi.dll       (Windows dynamic library for C#)
# ffi/zerobus.h                        (C header file)

Pre-built binaries for all platforms are available in GitHub Releases with tags ffi-vX.X.X.

JNI (jni/)

Java Native Interface bindings for the Zerobus Java SDK.

# Build JNI library
cargo build -p zerobus-jni --release

# Output:
# target/release/libzerobus_jni.so     (Linux)
# target/release/libzerobus_jni.dylib  (macOS)
# target/release/zerobus_jni.dll       (Windows)

Pre-built binaries are available in GitHub Releases with tags jni-vX.X.X.

Building from Source

For contributors or those who want to build and test the SDK:

git clone https://github.com/databricks/zerobus-sdk.git
cd zerobus-sdk/rust
cargo build --workspace

Build specific components:

# Build only SDK
cargo build -p databricks-zerobus-ingest-sdk

# Build only schema tool
cargo build -p generate_files

# Build and run JSON single-record example
cargo run -p example_json_single

# Build and run JSON batch example
cargo run -p example_json_batch

# Build and run Protocol Buffers single-record example
cargo run -p example_proto_single

# Build and run Protocol Buffers batch example
cargo run -p example_proto_batch

Community and Contributing

This is an open source project. We welcome contributions, feedback, and bug reports.

License

This SDK is licensed under the Databricks License. See the LICENSE file for the full license text. The license is also available online at https://www.databricks.com/legal/db-license.

Requirements

  • Rust 1.70 or higher (2021 edition)
  • TLS - Uses native OS certificate store by default (configurable via TlsConfig trait)
  • See prerequisites for Databricks workspace and credential requirements

For issues, questions, or contributions, please visit the GitHub repository. See the monorepo README for an overview of all available SDKs.