gRPC clients for the Mac
There are three kinds of tool for calling a gRPC service from a Mac today: a native app (istek), a cross-platform API client (Kreya or Postman), or the command line (grpcurl, with grpcui for a browser UI). BloomRPC, once the common choice, was archived in 2023.
Updated
At a glance
| Tool | What it is | Best when |
|---|---|---|
| istek | A native macOS app for gRPC only; $29 once | You want a fast, local Mac tool for the gRPC services you own |
| Kreya | A cross-platform client for gRPC, REST, GraphQL and more; free plan and paid plans | You work on several OSes or several protocols |
| Postman | A general API platform with gRPC support | Your team already lives in Postman workspaces |
| grpcurl | A free, open-source command-line tool | You want scripts, CI and copy-pasteable commands |
| grpcui | grpcurl's companion: a web UI served on localhost | You want a free UI and do not mind a browser tab |
What to check in any gRPC client
- Server reflection, so you do not have to hunt down
.protofiles. (Kreya's free plan does not include it.) - Local
.protoimport with imports and well-known types, for servers that turn reflection off. - All four call types, and a way to half-close a client stream and cancel a call.
- Mutual TLS with your own CA, and a clear warning when certificate checks are off.
- Where secrets go: tokens in plain JSON files end up in commits.
Where istek fits
istek is for backend developers on a Mac who call their own services all day. It is 5.4 MB to download, opens in 0.25 s, keeps secrets in the Keychain and contacts no host but the servers you call. It is not for teams that need shared workspaces, for scripted test suites, or for anyone off macOS.
What istek does not do yet
- It does not show response headers or trailers; you see the body, the status and the latency.
- It does not negotiate compression.
- It does not speak gRPC-Web or Connect; it is a native gRPC (HTTP/2) client.
- Environments save connection settings, not variables, so there is no
{{placeholder}}substitution in request bodies. - It runs only on macOS 14 or later on Apple Silicon. There is no Windows, Linux or Intel build.