diff --git a/cmd/grpcurl/grpcurl.go b/cmd/grpcurl/grpcurl.go
index aaead29..80f87bf 100644
--- a/cmd/grpcurl/grpcurl.go
+++ b/cmd/grpcurl/grpcurl.go
@@ -45,6 +45,8 @@ var version = noVersion
 var (
 	exit = os.Exit
 
+	isUnixSocket func() bool // nil when run on non-unix platform
+
 	flags = flag.NewFlagSet(os.Args[0], flag.ExitOnError)
 
 	help = flags.Bool("help", false, prettify(`
@@ -481,6 +483,13 @@ func main() {
 		if *maxMsgSz > 0 {
 			opts = append(opts, grpc.WithDefaultCallOptions(grpc.MaxCallRecvMsgSize(*maxMsgSz)))
 		}
+		network := "tcp"
+		if isUnixSocket != nil && isUnixSocket() {
+			network = "unix"
+			if *authority == "" {
+				*authority = "localhost"
+			}
+		}
 		var creds credentials.TransportCredentials
 		if *plaintext {
 			if *authority != "" {
@@ -547,7 +556,7 @@ func main() {
 
 		blockingDialTiming := dialTiming.Child("BlockingDial")
 		defer blockingDialTiming.Done()
-		cc, err := grpcurl.BlockingDial(ctx, target, creds, opts...)
+		cc, err := grpcurl.BlockingDial(ctx, network, target, creds, opts...)
 		if err != nil {
 			fail(err, "Failed to dial target host %q", target)
 		}
@@ -872,7 +881,8 @@ method's request type will be sent.
 The address will typically be in the form "host:port" where host can be an IP
 address or a hostname and port is a numeric port or service name. If an IPv6
 address is given, it must be surrounded by brackets, like "[2001:db8::1]". For
-Unix variants, the address must start with schema "unix://" followed by the path.
+Unix variants, if a -unix=true flag is present, then the address must be the
+path to the domain socket.
 
 Available flags:
 `, os.Args[0])
diff --git a/cmd/grpcurl/unix.go b/cmd/grpcurl/unix.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cae4bed
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmd/grpcurl/unix.go
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+//go:build darwin || dragonfly || freebsd || linux || netbsd || openbsd || solaris || windows
+// +build darwin dragonfly freebsd linux netbsd openbsd solaris windows
+
+package main
+
+var (
+	unix = flags.Bool("unix", false, prettify(`
+		Indicates that the server address is the path to a Unix domain socket.`))
+)
+
+func init() {
+	isUnixSocket = func() bool {
+		return *unix
+	}
+}
diff --git a/grpcurl.go b/grpcurl.go
index b727382..9c8b08b 100644
--- a/grpcurl.go
+++ b/grpcurl.go
@@ -609,7 +609,7 @@ func ServerTransportCredentials(cacertFile, serverCertFile, serverKeyFile string
 // BlockingDial is a helper method to dial the given address, using optional TLS credentials,
 // and blocking until the returned connection is ready. If the given credentials are nil, the
 // connection will be insecure (plain-text).
-func BlockingDial(ctx context.Context, address string, creds credentials.TransportCredentials, opts ...grpc.DialOption) (*grpc.ClientConn, error) {
+func BlockingDial(ctx context.Context, network, address string, creds credentials.TransportCredentials, opts ...grpc.DialOption) (*grpc.ClientConn, error) {
 	if creds == nil {
 		creds = insecure.NewCredentials()
 	}
diff --git a/tls_settings_test.go b/tls_settings_test.go
index eaef68d..b12a251 100644
--- a/tls_settings_test.go
+++ b/tls_settings_test.go
@@ -333,7 +333,7 @@ func createTestServerAndClient(serverCreds, clientCreds credentials.TransportCre
 	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), 3*time.Second)
 	defer cancel()
 
-	cc, err := BlockingDial(ctx, fmt.Sprintf("127.0.0.1:%d", port), clientCreds)
+	cc, err := BlockingDial(ctx, "tcp", fmt.Sprintf("127.0.0.1:%d", port), clientCreds)
 	if err != nil {
 		return e, err
 	}