Install ghz with Homebrew, MacPorts, Nix, scoop

Project links

• Homepage
• Repository
• Upstream docs
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• ghz

Project history

The public GitHub repository was created in March 2018 by Bojan D., with the project described from the start as a simple gRPC benchmarking and load testing tool. The documentation presents ghz as both a CLI and a Go package, so the project evolved around two usage surfaces: a terminal tool for direct test runs and library APIs for embedding performance tests in Go programs.

The release stream moved through many 0.x versions, with tagged releases reaching the 0.100 series by the early 2020s. That long pre-1.0 series fits the tool's role in a fast-moving gRPC ecosystem, where users needed practical support for proto/protoset inputs, reflection, TLS options, load schedules, output formats, and CI-friendly regression testing.

Adoption history

ghz gained adoption among teams that operate gRPC services and need a protocol-aware load generator rather than adapting HTTP-centric tools. Its availability through Homebrew, MacPorts, Nix, Scoop, Docker, GitHub releases, and `go install` made it easy to put into developer laptops, CI jobs, and ephemeral benchmark environments.

The repository's public footprint, package-manager coverage, and dedicated documentation site indicate a tool used beyond a single internal project. Its significance is strongest in Go and gRPC communities, where generated protobuf types and service method names are already part of the normal development workflow.

How it is used

Practitioners use ghz to run local checks against a gRPC endpoint, tune request rate and worker concurrency, exercise unary or streaming methods, and emit summary, JSON, CSV, HTML, or Influx-compatible output. The documented Go package lets teams build custom performance tests around the same runner and printer machinery.

A common workflow is to provide a `.proto` file or protoset, name a fully qualified service method, pass JSON call data and metadata, then vary request counts, duration, rate limits, concurrency schedules, and TLS settings while watching latency and error distributions.

Why package nerds care

For package maintainers, ghz is a compact example of a Go CLI that ships well across ecosystems: single binaries, Homebrew formula, Scoop manifest, Nix package, Docker build, and direct `go install`. For users, it is the installable gRPC benchmarker that avoids building a one-off harness for every service.

Timeline

• 2018: Public GitHub repository created.
• 2023: The project had tagged releases in the 0.113 to 0.117 range.
• 2024: Releases continued through the 0.120 series.
• 2025: The 0.121.0 release was published.

Related projects

• ghz is related to gRPC, Protocol Buffers, Go benchmark tooling, and general load-testing tools such as wrk, vegeta, and k6, but it specializes in gRPC request construction and reporting.

Sources

• https://api.github.com/repos/bojand/ghz
• https://ghz.sh/docs/intro.html
• https://github.com/bojand/ghz
• https://github.com/bojand/ghz/releases