Chiko vs ProtoCall

Chiko is a free, open-source desktop terminal interface for testing gRPC APIs. When a server exposes reflection, it can discover and browse available gRPC endpoints. Chiko creates formatted request templates, and requests can include Bearer-token authorization, custom headers, and other metadata. You can save requests as bookmarks and replay them later. The project lists importing and exporting grpcurl commands as completed features, and a release changelog records SSL connection support. Installation instructions cover Homebrew, Go installation, building from source, and prebuilt releases. Chiko is licensed under the MIT License and lists a Free plan at free, with no paid plans or usage limits stated. OAuth, API keys, proto-file import, and password protection for sensitive bookmarks are listed as work in progress. Felix Angga, identified as a software engineer, is the maker.

ProtoCall is a cloud web app intended to simplify the steps of building APIs with gRPC. It runs in a browser without installation and organizes proto files into workspaces, where packages and imports resolve within one namespace. Users can create a workspace by importing proto files manually or bring in a GitHub repository they own, collaborate on, or can access through organization membership. Imports can track repository changes automatically. ProtoCall supports one repository per workspace, not a combination of repositories. The web app relies on ProtoCall Agent, a local webserver, for outbound requests that browsers cannot make directly because of CORS restrictions. The agent applies its own CORS rules and additional authentication to restrict communication from unauthorized non-browser processes. The agent runs through a Docker container on Windows and macOS, and as a binary executable on Linux. The Free plan costs nothing and supports GitHub imports and manually created workspaces. Listed platforms are Linux, macOS, web, and Windows.