Dapr is a distributed application runtime that provides a sidecar-based infrastructure layer for building resilient microservices and event-driven applications. By utilizing a sidecar proxy pattern, it abstracts complex infrastructure tasks into standardized, network-accessible APIs, allowing developers to focus on application logic while the runtime handles service discovery, state management, and secure communication.
The platform distinguishes itself through a pluggable component architecture and language-agnostic design, enabling services written in any programming language to interact with infrastructure building blocks via standard HTTP or gRPC protocols. It provides specialized support for stateful workflow orchestration and agentic AI development, ensuring that long-running processes and intelligent agents maintain state and reliability across service restarts. Furthermore, it enforces security through automatic mutual TLS authentication for all network traffic.
Beyond its core orchestration capabilities, the runtime offers comprehensive observability features, including automated distributed tracing, system metrics collection, and log management. These tools provide visibility into complex service architectures without requiring manual instrumentation of the primary application code. The project includes extensive documentation, language-specific software development kits, and interactive learning resources to assist in the development and operation of distributed systems.
