I have updated the classpath in jmeter when testing grpc api, have also tested by providing the jar files in lib and lib>ext folder. However I keep running into the issue: ClassNotFoundException error being thrown for the ***APIGrpc class, which is being called in the initGrpcClient method of the GrpcClientSampler. This error is causing a NullPointerException in the sample method of the GrpcClientSampler, which is being caught by JMeter and reported in the log. My proto file is ending with name *API. Not sure what is missing here.
You might have added the grpc-api library to the lib/ext directory - But, it might require some transitive dependencies as well
By taking a look at the grpc-api library the below are the transitive dependencies - you should try adding them and give it a try