# grpc-tools

> Bradley Kemp's suite of gRPC debugging tools, described as Fiddler or Charles for gRPC. grpc-dump runs as a local HTTP(S) proxy that logs every gRPC and gRPC-Web call an application makes as a JSON stream with service and method names, metadata, any error status and each message both raw and parsed; without the .proto files it decodes messages heuristically. grpc-replay re-sends the recorded requests and checks the server's responses, grpc-fixture answers clients from a saved dump, and the grpc-proxy Go library underlies them.

- Type: Tool
- Targets: App · Protocol
- Category: Protocol analysis tools
- Relationship: Foundation tool
- Sources reviewed: 2026-10-27
- Added to the catalog: 2026-11-04
- Original resource: <https://github.com/bradleyjkemp/grpc-tools>
- Primary source: <https://github.com/bradleyjkemp/grpc-tools/blob/928b1b952d0d1345f0ef8fd2702e2df5240068bd/README.md>
- Catalog page: <https://awesomerea.org/resources/grpc-tools/>
- Record JSON: <https://awesomerea.org/resources/grpc-tools/record.json>
- Chinese version: [简体中文](https://awesomerea.org/zh/resources/grpc-tools/index.md)

## Requirements & limits

- Reviewed at master commit 928b1b9 (2023-11-14), the last push. The latest release is v0.2.6 (2020-06-30), and master has six later commits, mostly dependency bumps plus a 64 MB message-size limit. The README calls the tools alpha and warns of breaking changes between releases.
- Install through the author's Homebrew tap, the release zips (amd64 builds for Linux, macOS and Windows) or go install; go.mod declares Go 1.13 and requires grpc-go v1.26.0, golang/protobuf v1.4.2 and protoreflect v1.7.0. The application under test must be pointed at the proxy, and the README notes that clients connecting to localhost usually ignore proxy settings; the system_proxy option is documented for macOS.
- Clients that expect TLS need a certificate they trust for the intercepted domains; the README recommends mkcert-generated certificates installed on the user's own machine. Supplying .proto roots or descriptors gives exact decoding instead of the heuristic one. The integration tests use a small test.proto and their own recorded dump and fixture files; CircleCI configuration is included.
- MIT license. Dumps contain full message contents and metadata, including any credentials in headers, so they should be treated as sensitive.

## Primary sources

1. <https://github.com/bradleyjkemp/grpc-tools/blob/928b1b952d0d1345f0ef8fd2702e2df5240068bd/README.md>
2. <https://github.com/bradleyjkemp/grpc-tools/blob/928b1b952d0d1345f0ef8fd2702e2df5240068bd/grpc-dump/README.md>
3. <https://github.com/bradleyjkemp/grpc-tools/blob/928b1b952d0d1345f0ef8fd2702e2df5240068bd/grpc-proxy/README.md>
4. <https://github.com/bradleyjkemp/grpc-tools/blob/928b1b952d0d1345f0ef8fd2702e2df5240068bd/grpc-replay/README.md>
5. <https://github.com/bradleyjkemp/grpc-tools/blob/928b1b952d0d1345f0ef8fd2702e2df5240068bd/grpc-fixture/README.md>
6. <https://github.com/bradleyjkemp/grpc-tools/blob/928b1b952d0d1345f0ef8fd2702e2df5240068bd/CHANGELOG.md>
7. <https://github.com/bradleyjkemp/grpc-tools/blob/928b1b952d0d1345f0ef8fd2702e2df5240068bd/go.mod>
8. <https://github.com/bradleyjkemp/grpc-tools/blob/928b1b952d0d1345f0ef8fd2702e2df5240068bd/.goreleaser.yml>
9. <https://github.com/bradleyjkemp/grpc-tools/blob/928b1b952d0d1345f0ef8fd2702e2df5240068bd/LICENSE>
10. <https://github.com/bradleyjkemp/grpc-tools/tree/928b1b952d0d1345f0ef8fd2702e2df5240068bd/integration_test>
11. <https://github.com/bradleyjkemp/grpc-tools/releases/tag/v0.2.6>

## More in Protocols

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## About this entry

The description was reviewed against primary sources.
Original editorial content: MIT. Linked projects, papers and assets retain their own rights and licenses.