# Install grpcui with Homebrew, apk, Nix

Interactive web UI for gRPC, along the lines of postman. Version 1.5.2 via Homebrew; verified 2026-07-29. Also installable with nix: nix profile install nixpkgs#grpcui.

## Install

```sh
sudo av install brew:grpcui
```

Additional install commands:

### macOS

- Homebrew (100%):

```sh
brew install grpcui
```

  Evidence: local Homebrew formula metadata

### Linux

- apk (92%):

```sh
sudo apk add grpcui
```

  Evidence: Alpine Linux edge package indexes: grpcui from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/testing/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz

- Nix (92%):

```sh
nix profile install nixpkgs#grpcui
```

  Evidence: nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/gr/grpcui/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1

## Package facts

- **Package key:** brew:grpcui
- **Package manager:** Homebrew
- **Version:** 1.5.2
- **Source summary:** Interactive web UI for gRPC, along the lines of postman
- **Homepage:** <https://github.com/fullstorydev/grpcui>
- **Repository:** <https://github.com/fullstorydev/grpcui>
- **Last updated:** 2026-07-29T16:05:06+02:00
- **Generated:** 2026-08-03T19:37:03+00:00

## Executables

- grpcui (alias)

## Install behavior

- Bottle: not available

## Freshness

- Page generated: 2026-08-03
- Package-manager version: 1.5.2
## Project history and usage

grpcui is a command-line tool that opens a browser-based UI for exploring and invoking gRPC services. It is best understood as the graphical sibling of grpcurl: grpcurl is the CLI, grpcui is the interactive web form.

### Project history

The official GitHub repository was created in 2018, and its first listed GitHub release was v0.1.0 in January 2019. The README describes grpcui as a browser-based tool for gRPC APIs and explicitly positions it as an extension of grpcurl.

grpcui builds on the same general gRPC reflection and descriptor-file model as grpcurl: it can query server reflection, read proto source files, or load compiled protoset files to discover schemas and render forms.

### Adoption history

grpcui adoption tracks the growth of gRPC APIs that are inconvenient to test with ordinary HTTP tools. It gives teams a Postman-like workflow for gRPC without needing each developer to write a custom client.

Because it is packaged as a single CLI that launches a local web UI, it fits neatly into Homebrew and similar developer-tool package managers. The package is mostly a debugging and exploration tool, not an application runtime.

### How it is used

Users run `grpcui` with connection flags for a gRPC server. The tool prints a local URL, starts an HTTP server, and renders service and method selectors plus forms for request messages.

It supports plaintext and TLS servers, mutual TLS, request metadata, JSON request entry, response headers and trailers, and descriptor discovery through reflection, proto files, or protosets.

### Why package nerds care

grpcui is package-nerd useful because it turns a binary RPC protocol into an inspectable local web tool without requiring a whole desktop API client suite.

It also shows a common modern CLI pattern: install a small Go binary from a package manager, then use it to launch a local browser UI for an otherwise hard-to-inspect protocol.

### Timeline

- 2018: The grpcui GitHub repository was created.
- 2019: v0.1.0 was published on GitHub releases.
- 2019: FullStory described grpcui as a way to explore running gRPC interfaces alongside grpcurl.
- 2020s: The README documents Homebrew installation and Go installation workflows.

### Related projects

- grpcurl is the companion CLI and conceptual base for grpcui.
- gRPC server reflection enables grpcui to discover schemas from a running server.
- Protocol Buffers and protoset descriptor files provide the schema data grpcui uses to build forms.

### Sources

- <https://github.com/fullstorydev/grpcui>
- <https://github.com/fullstorydev/grpcui/releases>
- <https://raw.githubusercontent.com/fullstorydev/grpcui/master/README.md>
- <https://www.fullstory.com/blog/grpcui-dont-grpc-without-it/>


## Security Notes

narrow executable package without higher-risk signals.

- **Geiger risk:** green / low
- narrow executable package without higher-risk signals

## Other Package-Manager Records

- Nix - grpcui: normalized package name match | nixpkgs package indexes: pkgs/by-name/gr/grpcui/package.nix from https://api.github.com/repos/NixOS/nixpkgs/git/trees/master?recursive=1
- apk - grpcui - 1.5.1-r10: normalized package name match | Alpine Linux edge package indexes: grpcui from https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/testing/x86_64/APKINDEX.tar.gz | Interactive web UI for gRPC, along the lines of postman | https://github.com/fullstorydev/grpcui


## Combined YAML source

View the package source record on GitHub. [combined/grpcui.yml](https://github.com/mxcl/pkgdb/blob/main/combined/grpcui.yml)


## Sources

- pkg.so package database
- Geiger risk classifier
- curated package history
- pkgdb category and tag curation
- external package-manager database matches
- cross-ecosystem install command graph