# rpc error: code = Internal desc = stream terminated by RST_STREAM with error code: PROTOCOL_ERROR

- **ID:** `go/grpc-internal-http2-frame-error`
- **Domain:** go
- **Category:** network_error
- **Verification:** ai_generated
- **Fix Rate:** 80%

## Root Cause

HTTP/2 framing violation between client and server. Often caused by an intermediate proxy (nginx/Envoy) that doesn't support gRPC, or a mismatched h2c/TLS configuration.

## Version Compatibility

| Version | Status | Introduced | Deprecated |
|---------|--------|------------|------------|
| 1.50+ | active | — | — |

## Workarounds

1. **** (85% success)
   ```
   Configure the proxy for gRPC (HTTP/2 end-to-end). For nginx:
location /pb.UserService/ {
  grpc_pass grpc://backend:50051;
  grpc_read_timeout 300s;
}
   ```
2. **** (90% success)
   ```
   Bypass the proxy entirely to isolate: dial the gRPC server directly from the client host and confirm the call succeeds.
   ```

## Dead Ends

- **** — PROTOCOL_ERROR is a framing issue, not a stream-count limit. (90% fail)
- **** — Keepalives don't fix malformed HTTP/2 frames; aggressive pings may trigger GOAWAY from servers. (80% fail)