How to send protobuf binary data via Pulsar REST API?

[jlbelmonte]

Hello.
I need to send protobuf messages through Pulsar's HTTP REST API, but I'm running into encoding issues that break compatibility with my existing consumers.

I have an edge case where I can only use the REST API endpoint to produce a message, and my consumers expect raw binary protobuf data.

What I've Tried:

• Base64 encoding in JSON payload - Works for sending but consumers receive Base64 string, not binary protobuf, so my consumer fails the decoding.
• BYTES schema type - I tried to setup value schema with type BYTES but I get Unable to add schema SchemaData(type=BYTES...
• STRING schema or no schema - Same issue, consumers still get Base64 string
• Raw bytes in the body with Content-Type application/octet-stream', gets a 415.

Questions:

• Is there a way to send binary protobuf data via REST API so consumers receive raw bytes?
• Any configuration to make Pulsar automatically decode Base64 payloads before delivering to consumers?
• Alternative approaches for HTTP-based binary message production?

Environment:
Using Ruby with HTTParty for REST calls
Pulsar broker with JWT authentication
Existing rust protobuf consumers expecting binary data

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!