diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index daed3de5..5acf8f41 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -19,15 +19,6 @@
 # LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
 # OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
 # SOFTWARE.
-import os
-import sys
-from typing import List
-from typing import Tuple
-
-import pkg_resources
-import setuptools.command.build_py
-import setuptools.command.test
-from setuptools import Command
 from setuptools import find_packages
 from setuptools import setup
 
@@ -38,63 +29,6 @@ with open("requirements.txt") as f:
     requirements = [r for r in f.read().split("\n") if len(r)]
 
 
-class BuildPyCommand(setuptools.command.build_py.build_py):
-    """Custom build command."""
-
-    def run(self):
-        self.run_command('build_proto_modules')
-        setuptools.command.build_py.build_py.run(self)
-
-
-def build_package_protos(package_root, strict_mode=False):
-    # Import grpc_tools here because it is not available at top of module.
-    from grpc_tools import protoc
-
-    proto_files = []
-    inclusion_root = os.path.abspath(package_root)
-    for root, _, files in os.walk(inclusion_root):
-        for filename in files:
-            if filename.endswith('.proto'):
-                proto_files.append(os.path.abspath(os.path.join(root,
-                                                                filename)))
-
-    well_known_protos_include = pkg_resources.resource_filename(
-        'grpc_tools', '_proto')
-
-    for proto_file in proto_files:
-        command = [
-            'grpc_tools.protoc',
-            '--proto_path={}'.format(inclusion_root),
-            '--proto_path={}'.format(well_known_protos_include),
-            '--python_out={}'.format(inclusion_root),
-            '--grpc_python_out={}'.format(inclusion_root),
-            '--mypy_out={}'.format(inclusion_root),
-        ] + [proto_file]
-        if protoc.main(command) != 0:
-            if strict_mode:
-                raise Exception('error: {} failed'.format(command))
-            else:
-                sys.stderr.write('warning: {} failed'.format(command))
-
-
-class BuildPackageProtos(Command):
-    """Command to generate project *_pb2.py modules from proto files."""
-
-    description = 'build grpc protobuf modules'
-    user_options: List[Tuple[str, str, str]] = []
-
-    def initialize_options(self):
-        pass
-
-    def finalize_options(self):
-        pass
-
-    def run(self):
-        # import grpc_tools.command
-        # grpc_tools.command.build_package_protos('.')
-        build_package_protos('.')
-
-
 setup(
     name="squeaknode",
     version=__version__,
@@ -102,7 +36,7 @@ setup(
     packages=find_packages(),
     include_package_data=True,
     zip_safe=False,
-    setup_requires=['grpcio-tools==1.39.0', 'wheel==0.37.1'],
+    setup_requires=['wheel==0.37.1'],
     install_requires=requirements,
     extras_require={
         "test": ["pytest", "coverage"],
@@ -113,8 +47,4 @@ setup(
             'squeaknode = squeaknode.main:main',
         ],
     },
-    cmdclass={
-        'build_proto_modules': BuildPackageProtos,
-        'build_py': BuildPyCommand,
-    },
 )
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index dfa046b6..ddd7b223 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -19,5 +19,3 @@ commands =
 
 [testenv:setup]
 basepython = python3.8
-commands =
-     {envbindir}/python setup.py build_proto_modules