According to this link it seems to be more than a wire protocol and seems more like a service mesh. https://github.com/TarsCloud/Tars/blob/master/Introduction.m...

I see:

    -seems to be implemented as a library and not a sidecar?
    -a protobuf type protocol
    -client side load balancing with a name server
    -a consistent request queuing strategy
    -a web console for your services
    -unlike a service mesh, the scope seems to dip 
     into things like service config
    -end to end request flow tracking?

Hopefully someone familiar with it will flesh out the details.