diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 57542c50..2f3e8dfe 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -13,4 +13,8 @@ dist/
 *.swp
 *~
 .tox/
-.mypy_cache/
\ No newline at end of file
+.mypy_cache/
+
+# Ignore generated python proto files
+*pb2.py
+*pb2_grpc.py
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index a00b1530..ada42131 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
 import io
 
 import setuptools.command.build_py
-from grpc_tools.command import BuildPackageProtos
+# from grpc_tools.command import BuildPackageProtos
 from setuptools import find_packages, setup
+from setuptools import Command
 
 PACKAGE_DIRECTORIES = {
     '': '.',
@@ -20,6 +21,22 @@ class BuildPyCommand(setuptools.command.build_py.build_py):
         setuptools.command.build_py.build_py.run(self)
 
 
+class BuildPackageProtos(Command):
+    """Command to generate project *_pb2.py modules from proto files."""
+
+    description = 'build grpc protobuf modules'
+    user_options = []
+
+    def initialize_options(self):
+        pass
+
+    def finalize_options(self):
+        pass
+
+    def run(self):
+        import grpc_tools.command
+        grpc_tools.command.build_package_protos('.')
+
 setup(
     name="squeakserver",
     version="1.0.0",
@@ -27,7 +44,7 @@ setup(
     description="Server for squeak protocol.",
     long_description=readme,
     packages=find_packages(),
-    package_dir=PACKAGE_DIRECTORIES,
+    #package_dir=PACKAGE_DIRECTORIES,
     include_package_data=True,
     zip_safe=False,
     extras_require={"test": ["pytest", "coverage"]},
diff --git a/squeakserver/proto/__init__.py b/squeakserver/proto/__init__.py
deleted file mode 100644
index e69de29b..00000000