diff --git a/java/twirp-apache-httpclient/build.gradle.kts b/java/twirp-apache-httpclient/build.gradle.kts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9877d40
--- /dev/null
+++ b/java/twirp-apache-httpclient/build.gradle.kts
@@ -0,0 +1,85 @@
+plugins {
+    `java-library`
+    `maven-publish`
+    signing
+    id("com.diffplug.spotless")
+    id("com.gradleup.nmcp")
+}
+
+java {
+    sourceCompatibility = JavaVersion.VERSION_11
+    targetCompatibility = JavaVersion.VERSION_11
+
+    withJavadocJar()
+    withSourcesJar()
+}
+
+repositories {
+    mavenCentral()
+}
+
+dependencies {
+    api(platform(project(":twirp-bom")))
+
+    implementation(project(":twirp-common"))
+
+    api("com.google.protobuf:protobuf-java")
+    implementation("com.google.protobuf:protobuf-java-util")
+    implementation("org.apache.httpcomponents:httpclient:4.5.14")
+}
+
+publishing {
+    publications {
+        create<MavenPublication>("maven") {
+            groupId = project.group as String
+            artifactId = project.name
+            version = project.version as String
+
+            from(components["java"])
+
+            pom {
+                name = project.name
+                description = "Twirp Unirest client."
+                url = "https://github.com/ngyewch/protoc-gen-twirp-java"
+                licenses {
+                    license {
+                        name = "MIT License"
+                        url = "https://github.com/ngyewch/protoc-gen-twirp-java/blob/main/LICENSE"
+                    }
+                }
+                scm {
+                    connection = "scm:git:git@github.com:ngyewch/protoc-gen-twirp-java.git"
+                    developerConnection = "scm:git:git@github.com:ngyewch/protoc-gen-twirp-java.git"
+                    url = "https://github.com/ngyewch/protoc-gen-twirp-java"
+                }
+                developers {
+                    developer {
+                        id.set("ngyewch")
+                        name.set("Nick Ng")
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+signing {
+    useGpgCmd()
+    sign(publishing.publications["maven"])
+}
+
+spotless {
+    java {
+        googleJavaFormat("1.23.0").reflowLongStrings().skipJavadocFormatting()
+        formatAnnotations()
+        targetExclude("build/**")
+    }
+}
+
+nmcp {
+    publish("maven") {
+        username = project.properties["mavenCentralUsername"] as String?
+        password = project.properties["mavenCentralPassword"] as String?
+        publicationType = "AUTOMATIC"
+    }
+}
diff --git a/java/twirp-apache-httpclient/src/main/java/io/github/ngyewch/twirp/httpclient/client/AbstractService.java b/java/twirp-apache-httpclient/src/main/java/io/github/ngyewch/twirp/httpclient/client/AbstractService.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fc94a14
--- /dev/null
+++ b/java/twirp-apache-httpclient/src/main/java/io/github/ngyewch/twirp/httpclient/client/AbstractService.java
@@ -0,0 +1,124 @@
+package io.github.ngyewch.twirp.httpclient.client;
+
+import com.google.protobuf.InvalidProtocolBufferException;
+import com.google.protobuf.Message;
+import com.google.protobuf.util.JsonFormat;
+import io.github.ngyewch.twirp.*;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.net.URI;
+import org.apache.http.HttpEntity;
+import org.apache.http.HttpStatus;
+import org.apache.http.client.methods.CloseableHttpResponse;
+import org.apache.http.client.methods.HttpPost;
+import org.apache.http.entity.ByteArrayEntity;
+import org.apache.http.entity.ContentType;
+import org.apache.http.entity.StringEntity;
+import org.apache.http.impl.client.CloseableHttpClient;
+import org.apache.http.impl.client.HttpClients;
+import org.apache.http.util.EntityUtils;
+
+public abstract class AbstractService {
+  public static final ContentType PROTOBUF_CONTENT_TYPE =
+      ContentType.create("application/protobuf");
+  public static final ContentType JSON_CONTENT_TYPE = ContentType.create("application/json");
+
+  private final URI baseUri;
+  private final CloseableHttpClient httpClient;
+  private final ContentType contentType;
+
+  protected AbstractService(String baseUri, ContentType contentType) {
+    super();
+
+    this.baseUri = URI.create(baseUri);
+    this.httpClient = HttpClients.createDefault();
+    this.contentType = contentType;
+  }
+
+  protected void doRequest(String path, Message input, Message.Builder outputBuilder) {
+    final URI uri = baseUri.resolve(path);
+    try {
+      if (contentType == PROTOBUF_CONTENT_TYPE) {
+        doProtobufRequest(uri, input, outputBuilder);
+      } else if (contentType == JSON_CONTENT_TYPE) {
+        doJsonRequest(uri, input, outputBuilder);
+      } else {
+        throw new IllegalArgumentException("unsupported content type");
+      }
+    } catch (IOException e) {
+      throw new RuntimeException(e);
+    }
+  }
+
+  private void doProtobufRequest(URI uri, Message input, Message.Builder outputBuilder)
+      throws IOException {
+    final HttpEntity requestBody = new ByteArrayEntity(input.toByteArray(), PROTOBUF_CONTENT_TYPE);
+    final HttpPost request = new HttpPost(uri);
+    request.setEntity(requestBody);
+    try (final CloseableHttpResponse response = httpClient.execute(request)) {
+      final HttpEntity responseBody = response.getEntity();
+      try {
+        if (response.getStatusLine().getStatusCode() == HttpStatus.SC_OK) {
+          expectContentType(responseBody, Constants.PROTOBUF_CONTENT_TYPE);
+          mergeProtobuf(outputBuilder, EntityUtils.toByteArray(responseBody));
+        } else {
+          expectContentType(responseBody, Constants.JSON_CONTENT_TYPE);
+          throw new TwirpException(TwirpError.fromJson(EntityUtils.toString(responseBody)));
+        }
+      } finally {
+        EntityUtils.consume(responseBody);
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
+  private void doJsonRequest(URI uri, Message input, Message.Builder outputBuilder)
+      throws IOException {
+    final HttpEntity requestBody =
+        new StringEntity(JsonFormat.printer().print(input), ContentType.APPLICATION_JSON);
+    final HttpPost request = new HttpPost(uri);
+    request.setEntity(requestBody);
+    try (final CloseableHttpResponse response = httpClient.execute(request)) {
+      final HttpEntity responseBody = response.getEntity();
+      try {
+        if (response.getStatusLine().getStatusCode() == HttpStatus.SC_OK) {
+          expectContentType(responseBody, Constants.JSON_CONTENT_TYPE);
+          mergeProtobufJson(outputBuilder, EntityUtils.toString(responseBody));
+        } else {
+          expectContentType(responseBody, Constants.JSON_CONTENT_TYPE);
+          throw new TwirpException(TwirpError.fromJson(EntityUtils.toString(responseBody)));
+        }
+      } finally {
+        EntityUtils.consume(responseBody);
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
+  private void expectContentType(HttpEntity responseBody, String expectedContentType) {
+    final String contentType =
+        (responseBody.getContentType() != null) ? responseBody.getContentType().getValue() : null;
+    if (contentType == null) {
+      throw new TwirpException(TwirpErrorCode.INVALID_ARGUMENT, "content type not specified", null);
+    } else if (!contentType.equals(expectedContentType)) {
+      throw new TwirpException(
+          TwirpErrorCode.INVALID_ARGUMENT,
+          "unexpected content type",
+          new Meta().set("Content-Type", contentType).get());
+    }
+  }
+
+  private Message.Builder mergeProtobufJson(Message.Builder messageBuilder, String json) {
+    try {
+      JsonFormat.parser().merge(json, messageBuilder);
+      return messageBuilder;
+    } catch (InvalidProtocolBufferException e) {
+      throw new TwirpException(TwirpErrorCode.MALFORMED, e, true);
+    }
+  }
+
+  private Message.Builder mergeProtobuf(Message.Builder messageBuilder, byte[] data) {
+    try {
+      return messageBuilder.mergeFrom(data);
+    } catch (InvalidProtocolBufferException e) {
+      throw new TwirpException(TwirpErrorCode.MALFORMED, e, true);
+    }
+  }
+}