diff --git a/src/Fluxzy.Core/Formatters/FormatSettings.cs b/src/Fluxzy.Core/Formatters/FormatSettings.cs
index b7f6fdc9..673aaaf3 100644
--- a/src/Fluxzy.Core/Formatters/FormatSettings.cs
+++ b/src/Fluxzy.Core/Formatters/FormatSettings.cs
@@ -20,6 +20,14 @@ public class FormatSettings
 
         public int MaxFormattableProtobufLength { get; set; } = 2 * 1024 * 1024;
 
+        /// <summary>
+        ///     An optional custom protobuf decoder. When set, this decoder is tried first for
+        ///     gRPC message decoding. If it returns null, the built-in protoc-based decoding
+        ///     is used as a fallback (when <see cref="ProtoDirectories" /> is configured and
+        ///     protoc is available on PATH), followed by raw wire-format decoding.
+        /// </summary>
+        public IProtobufDecoder? ProtobufDecoder { get; set; }
+
         public List<string> ProtoDirectories { get; set; } = new();
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/Fluxzy.Core/Formatters/IProtobufDecoder.cs b/src/Fluxzy.Core/Formatters/IProtobufDecoder.cs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..af8aa678
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/Fluxzy.Core/Formatters/IProtobufDecoder.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,98 @@
+// Copyright 2021 - Haga Rakotoharivelo - https://github.com/haga-rak
+
+using System;
+
+namespace Fluxzy.Formatters
+{
+    /// <summary>
+    ///     Decodes raw protobuf message bytes into a human-readable text representation.
+    ///     Implement this interface to provide custom protobuf decoding
+    ///     without requiring the protoc CLI tool on PATH.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <example>
+    ///     Using a delegate:
+    ///     <code>
+    ///     formatSettings.ProtobufDecoder = ProtobufDecoder.Create(context => {
+    ///         // Your custom decoding logic here
+    ///         return decodedText;
+    ///     });
+    ///     </code>
+    /// </example>
+    public interface IProtobufDecoder
+    {
+        /// <summary>
+        ///     Attempts to decode a protobuf message into a human-readable text representation.
+        /// </summary>
+        /// <param name="context">Context containing the raw message bytes and gRPC metadata.</param>
+        /// <returns>A decoded text representation of the message, or null if decoding is not possible.</returns>
+        string? TryDecode(ProtobufDecodeContext context);
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    ///     Provides context for decoding a single protobuf message extracted from a gRPC frame.
+    /// </summary>
+    public readonly struct ProtobufDecodeContext
+    {
+        public ProtobufDecodeContext(
+            ReadOnlyMemory<byte> messageData,
+            string? serviceName,
+            string? methodName,
+            bool isRequest)
+        {
+            MessageData = messageData;
+            ServiceName = serviceName;
+            MethodName = methodName;
+            IsRequest = isRequest;
+        }
+
+        /// <summary>
+        ///     The raw protobuf message bytes (without the gRPC 5-byte frame header).
+        /// </summary>
+        public ReadOnlyMemory<byte> MessageData { get; }
+
+        /// <summary>
+        ///     The gRPC service name extracted from the request path (e.g., "mypackage.MyService").
+        /// </summary>
+        public string? ServiceName { get; }
+
+        /// <summary>
+        ///     The gRPC method name extracted from the request path (e.g., "MyMethod").
+        /// </summary>
+        public string? MethodName { get; }
+
+        /// <summary>
+        ///     True if this is a request (input) message, false for a response (output) message.
+        /// </summary>
+        public bool IsRequest { get; }
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    ///     Factory methods for creating <see cref="IProtobufDecoder" /> instances.
+    /// </summary>
+    public static class ProtobufDecoder
+    {
+        /// <summary>
+        ///     Creates an <see cref="IProtobufDecoder" /> from a delegate.
+        /// </summary>
+        /// <param name="decode">
+        ///     A function that takes a <see cref="ProtobufDecodeContext" /> and returns
+        ///     a decoded text representation, or null if decoding is not possible.
+        /// </param>
+        public static IProtobufDecoder Create(Func<ProtobufDecodeContext, string?> decode)
+        {
+            return new DelegateProtobufDecoder(decode ?? throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(decode)));
+        }
+
+        private class DelegateProtobufDecoder : IProtobufDecoder
+        {
+            private readonly Func<ProtobufDecodeContext, string?> _decode;
+
+            public DelegateProtobufDecoder(Func<ProtobufDecodeContext, string?> decode)
+            {
+                _decode = decode;
+            }
+
+            public string? TryDecode(ProtobufDecodeContext context) => _decode(context);
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/Fluxzy.Core/Formatters/Producers/Grpc/RequestProtobufProducer.cs b/src/Fluxzy.Core/Formatters/Producers/Grpc/RequestProtobufProducer.cs
index 981188e0..22c6c52d 100644
--- a/src/Fluxzy.Core/Formatters/Producers/Grpc/RequestProtobufProducer.cs
+++ b/src/Fluxzy.Core/Formatters/Producers/Grpc/RequestProtobufProducer.cs
@@ -46,8 +46,8 @@ internal class RequestProtobufProducer : IFormattingProducer<ProtobufFormattingR
                     continue;
                 }
 
-                var decoded = TryDecodeFrame(frame.Data, registry, serviceName, methodName,
-                    true, maxLength, out var usedDescriptor);
+                var decoded = TryDecodeFrame(frame.Data, registry, context.Settings.ProtobufDecoder,
+                    serviceName, methodName, true, maxLength, out var usedDescriptor);
 
                 if (usedDescriptor)
                     hasDescriptor = true;
@@ -70,6 +70,7 @@ internal class RequestProtobufProducer : IFormattingProducer<ProtobufFormattingR
         internal static string TryDecodeFrame(
             ReadOnlyMemory<byte> data,
             ProtoFileRegistry? registry,
+            IProtobufDecoder? customDecoder,
             string? serviceName,
             string? methodName,
             bool isRequest,
@@ -78,6 +79,18 @@ internal static string TryDecodeFrame(
         {
             usedDescriptor = false;
 
+            // Try custom decoder first
+            if (customDecoder != null) {
+                var context = new ProtobufDecodeContext(data, serviceName, methodName, isRequest);
+                var result = customDecoder.TryDecode(context);
+
+                if (result != null) {
+                    usedDescriptor = true;
+                    return result;
+                }
+            }
+
+            // Fall back to protoc-based decoding
             if (registry != null && serviceName != null && methodName != null) {
                 var (input, output) = registry.FindServiceMethod(serviceName, methodName);
                 var descriptor = isRequest ? input : output;
diff --git a/src/Fluxzy.Core/Formatters/Producers/Grpc/ResponseProtobufProducer.cs b/src/Fluxzy.Core/Formatters/Producers/Grpc/ResponseProtobufProducer.cs
index ec6e356c..b6b93d66 100644
--- a/src/Fluxzy.Core/Formatters/Producers/Grpc/ResponseProtobufProducer.cs
+++ b/src/Fluxzy.Core/Formatters/Producers/Grpc/ResponseProtobufProducer.cs
@@ -51,8 +51,8 @@ internal class ResponseProtobufProducer : IFormattingProducer<ProtobufFormatting
                 }
 
                 var decoded = RequestProtobufProducer.TryDecodeFrame(
-                    frame.Data, registry, serviceName, methodName,
-                    false, maxLength, out var usedDescriptor);
+                    frame.Data, registry, context.Settings.ProtobufDecoder,
+                    serviceName, methodName, false, maxLength, out var usedDescriptor);
 
                 if (usedDescriptor)
                     hasDescriptor = true;