Safeguarding nutrition security worldwide and strengthening global climate action have accelerated transition toward alternative protein sources. Grain legumes are the most affordable sources of plant-based proteins and have served as an integral part of the human diet for millennia. Transformative breeding methods must be embraced to fast-track yield increase and climate adaptation in these crops. State-of-the-art genetic technologies, statistical methods, and genomics-assisted breeding approaches hold great promise to address future breeding objectives. Detailed molecular profiles of gene bank collections, breeder’s germplasm, and artificial populations pave the way for efficient utilization of allelic diversity for developing future-ready grain legumes. Efforts to identify and track novel genetic variations should leverage the growing wealth of genetic sequence information of tens to hundreds of individuals. Modern breeding tools including genomic selection (GS), speed breeding (SB), and haplotype-based breeding (HBB) augment rapid integration of the beneficial alleles in crop breeding programs. In the long term, increasing the rate of genetic gain in crop breeding programs calls for optimization of breeding strategies like optimal contribution selection (OCS) that could sustain genetic gain under constrained scenarios (e.g., permissible inbreeding rates/coancestry). Harnessing the full potential of cutting-edge genetic solutions to bring rapid and precise changes in the desired traits would be crucial for climate-proofing of future grain legume varieties.