https://github.com/prnvbn/grpcexp
an interactive explorer for interacting with grpc servers. a tui on top of grpcurl
https://github.com/prnvbn/grpcexp
grpc grpcurl
Last synced: 24 days ago
JSON representation
an interactive explorer for interacting with grpc servers. a tui on top of grpcurl
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/prnvbn/grpcexp
- Owner: prnvbn
- Created: 2026-01-04T22:41:38.000Z (6 months ago)
- Default Branch: main
- Last Pushed: 2026-05-21T22:43:17.000Z (about 1 month ago)
- Last Synced: 2026-05-22T07:49:36.403Z (about 1 month ago)
- Topics: grpc, grpcurl
- Language: Go
- Homepage:
- Size: 256 KB
- Stars: 8
- Watchers: 0
- Forks: 0
- Open Issues: 1
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
Awesome Lists containing this project
README
# grpcexp
`grpcexp` is an interactive explorer for interacting with grpc servers. It's basically a tui on top of [`grpcurl`](https://github.com/fullstorydev/grpcurl).
## Installation
### Linux or MacOS
You can install the latest version of `grpcexp` by running the following command in your terminal.
```bash
bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/prnvbn/grpcexp/main/installer.sh)"
```
Move the binary to a directory in your PATH. For e.g. `/usr/local/bin` on linux.
### via `homebrew`
You can install `grpcexp` using the [prnvbn/homebrew-tap](https://github.com/prnvbn/homebrew-tap).
```bash
brew install prnvbn/tap/grpcexp
```
### via `go install`
```bash
go install github.com/prnvbn/grpcexp/cmd/grpcexp@latest
```
### Windows
Windows installation instructions are a WIP. In the meantime, you can download the latest release from the [releases page](https://github.com/prnvbn/grpcexp/releases)
> [!NOTE]
>
> To update `grpcexp` to the latest version, simply re-run any of the installation methods above.
> They always install the most recent release.
#### Enabling Command Autocompletion
To enable autocomplete, add the following to your `.bashrc` or `.bash_profile` file:
```bash
# you can also generate completions for zsh and fish shells by replacing bash with zsh or fish
source <(grpcexp completion bash)
```
## Why
Let me preface this by saying, I really like grpcurl but have a few nits:
I have to run ~5 commands to make one grpc call
```shell
$ grpcurl -plaintext :50051 list
grpc.reflection.v1.ServerReflection
grpc.reflection.v1alpha.ServerReflection
helloworld.Greeter
```
```shell
$ grpcurl -plaintext :50051 list helloworld.Greeter
helloworld.Greeter.SayHello
```
```shell
$ grpcurl -plaintext :50051 describe helloworld.Greeter.SayHello
helloworld.Greeter.SayHello is a method:
rpc SayHello ( .helloworld.HelloRequest ) returns ( .helloworld.HelloReply );
```
```shell
$ grpcurl -plaintext :50051 describe helloworld.HelloRequest
helloworld.HelloRequest is a message:
message HelloRequest {
string name = 1;
}
```
```shell
$ grpcurl -plaintext -d '{"name": "joe"}' :50051 helloworld.Greeter.SayHello
{
"message": "Hello joe"
}
```
the lack of POSIX/GNU-style --flags
personal taste.
manual JSON construction for complex types
With `grpcurl`, you have to manually construct JSON for nested messages, maps, lists, and oneofs which is very tedious.
## Contributing
Feel free to open an issue or submit a pull request. I'm always open to suggestions and improvements :)