diff --git a/.buildkite/ci_config_rocm.yaml b/.buildkite/ci_config_rocm.yaml
index cc7c2ad27f..c2da292a83 100644
--- a/.buildkite/ci_config_rocm.yaml
+++ b/.buildkite/ci_config_rocm.yaml
@@ -25,7 +25,6 @@ run_all_patterns:
   - "rust/"
   - "rust-toolchain.toml"
   - "tools/build_rust.py"
-  - "tools/install_protoc.sh"
   - "tools/install_torchcodec_rocm.sh"
   - "tests/vllm_test_utils/"
   - "vllm/envs.py"
diff --git a/.buildkite/scripts/build-macos-wheel.sh b/.buildkite/scripts/build-macos-wheel.sh
index ac0e4eb1d7..cb95d92ff1 100755
--- a/.buildkite/scripts/build-macos-wheel.sh
+++ b/.buildkite/scripts/build-macos-wheel.sh
@@ -10,11 +10,6 @@ set -euo pipefail
 # The macmini queue uses persistent checkouts, so refresh tags for setuptools-scm.
 git fetch --tags --force origin
 
-# The Rust frontend build needs protoc.
-if ! command -v protoc >/dev/null 2>&1; then
-  brew install protobuf
-fi
-
 # upload-nightly-wheels.sh expects exactly one wheel.
 rm -rf artifacts/dist
 mkdir -p artifacts/dist
diff --git a/.buildkite/scripts/ci-bake-rocm.sh b/.buildkite/scripts/ci-bake-rocm.sh
index 614987f6d1..ef38b8be58 100644
--- a/.buildkite/scripts/ci-bake-rocm.sh
+++ b/.buildkite/scripts/ci-bake-rocm.sh
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ set -euo pipefail
 
 DEFAULT_REPO_SLUG="vllm-project/vllm"
 DEFAULT_CI_HCL_SOURCE="docker/ci-rocm.hcl"
-DEFAULT_CI_BASE_CONTENT_FILES=".dockerignore requirements/common.txt requirements/rocm.txt requirements/test/rocm.txt tools/install_torchcodec_rocm.sh tools/install_protoc.sh rust-toolchain.toml tests/vllm_test_utils"
+DEFAULT_CI_BASE_CONTENT_FILES=".dockerignore requirements/common.txt requirements/rocm.txt requirements/test/rocm.txt tools/install_torchcodec_rocm.sh rust-toolchain.toml tests/vllm_test_utils"
 DEFAULT_CI_BASE_DOCKERFILE="docker/Dockerfile.rocm"
 DEFAULT_CI_BASE_DOCKERFILE_STAGES="base rust_toolchain_input_0 rust-toolchain-input rust-toolchain build_nixl lmcache_source build_lmcache build_rocshmem build_deepep mori_base ci_base"
 DEFAULT_CI_BASE_METADATA_VERSION="3"
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ DEFAULT_CI_BASE_METADATA_VERSION="3"
 # local-source stages rather than unreachable remote-fetch alternatives.
 DEFAULT_ROCM_CSRC_CONTENT_FILES=".dockerignore requirements/common.txt requirements/rocm.txt pyproject.toml setup.py CMakeLists.txt cmake csrc vllm/envs.py vllm/__init__.py tools/build_rust.py"
 DEFAULT_ROCM_CSRC_DOCKERFILE_STAGES="base fetch_vllm_0 fetch_vllm build_vllm_dependencies rocm-triton-kernels csrc-build"
-DEFAULT_ROCM_RUST_CONTENT_FILES=".dockerignore .git_archival.txt pyproject.toml requirements/build/rust.txt rust/Cargo.lock rust/Cargo.toml rust/proto rust/src rust-toolchain.toml tools/build_rust.py tools/install_protoc.sh build_rust.sh"
+DEFAULT_ROCM_RUST_CONTENT_FILES=".dockerignore .git_archival.txt pyproject.toml requirements/build/rust.txt rust/Cargo.lock rust/Cargo.toml rust/proto rust/src rust-toolchain.toml tools/build_rust.py build_rust.sh"
 DEFAULT_ROCM_RUST_DOCKERFILE_STAGES="base fetch_vllm_0 fetch_vllm vllm-version rust_toolchain_input_0 rust-toolchain-input rust_input_0 rust-input rust-toolchain rust-build"
 # Docker's 128-character tag limit minus the longest cache prefix
 # ("csrc-rocm-branch-" and "rust-rocm-branch-", both 17 characters).
diff --git a/.buildkite/scripts/run-rust-frontend-cargo-ci.sh b/.buildkite/scripts/run-rust-frontend-cargo-ci.sh
index 215650a07f..62a70fd664 100755
--- a/.buildkite/scripts/run-rust-frontend-cargo-ci.sh
+++ b/.buildkite/scripts/run-rust-frontend-cargo-ci.sh
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@ export CARGO_HOME="${CARGO_HOME:-$HOME/.cargo}"
 export RUSTUP_HOME="${RUSTUP_HOME:-$HOME/.rustup}"
 export PATH="$CARGO_HOME/bin:$PATH"
 
-PROTOC_VERSION="${PROTOC_VERSION:-31.1}"
 CARGO_BINSTALL_VERSION="${CARGO_BINSTALL_VERSION:-1.20.1}"
 UV_VERSION="${UV_VERSION:-0.11.28}"
 PYO3_PYTHON_VERSION="${PYO3_PYTHON_VERSION:-3.12}"
@@ -34,34 +33,6 @@ log_section() {
   echo "--- $*"
 }
 
-install_protoc() {
-  local arch
-  case "$(uname -m)" in
-    x86_64)
-      arch="x86_64"
-      ;;
-    aarch64|arm64)
-      arch="aarch_64"
-      ;;
-    *)
-      echo "Unsupported protoc architecture: $(uname -m)" >&2
-      return 1
-      ;;
-  esac
-
-  local url="https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/releases/download/v${PROTOC_VERSION}/protoc-${PROTOC_VERSION}-linux-${arch}.zip"
-  local tmp_dir
-  tmp_dir="$(mktemp -d)"
-
-  log_section "Installing protoc ${PROTOC_VERSION}"
-  curl -L --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf "$url" -o "$tmp_dir/protoc.zip"
-  mkdir -p "$CARGO_HOME/bin"
-  unzip -q "$tmp_dir/protoc.zip" bin/protoc 'include/*' -d "$CARGO_HOME"
-  chmod +x "$CARGO_HOME/bin/protoc"
-  rm -rf "$tmp_dir"
-  protoc --version
-}
-
 rust_toolchain() {
   awk -F '"' '/channel[[:space:]]*=/ { print $2; exit }' rust-toolchain.toml
 }
@@ -186,7 +157,6 @@ run_tests() {
     --no-fail-fast
 }
 
-install_protoc
 install_rust_toolchain
 
 case "$MODE" in
diff --git a/docker/Dockerfile b/docker/Dockerfile
index 543f4b1281..17ee9be316 100644
--- a/docker/Dockerfile
+++ b/docker/Dockerfile
@@ -243,21 +243,18 @@ ENV TORCH_CUDA_ARCH_LIST=${torch_cuda_arch_list}
 
 #################### RUST BUILD IMAGE ####################
 # Build the Rust frontend (`vllm-rs`) in a dedicated stage so the main wheel
-# build stage doesn't need the rust toolchain, protoc, or the rust source.
+# build stage doesn't need the rust toolchain or the rust source.
 # This stage reuses the Python environment from base and runs in parallel with
 # csrc-build/extensions-build.
 FROM base AS rust-build
 ARG USE_SCCACHE
 ARG SCCACHE_ENDPOINT
 
-# Install native tools needed only for Rust/protoc builds.
-RUN dnf install -y --setopt=install_weak_deps=False make unzip \
+# Install native tools needed only for Rust builds.
+RUN dnf install -y --setopt=install_weak_deps=False make \
     && dnf clean all \
     && rm -rf /var/cache/dnf
 
-COPY tools/install_protoc.sh /tmp/install_protoc.sh
-RUN /tmp/install_protoc.sh && rm /tmp/install_protoc.sh
-
 WORKDIR /workspace
 
 COPY requirements/build/rust.txt requirements/build/rust.txt
diff --git a/docker/Dockerfile.cpu b/docker/Dockerfile.cpu
index 43fab4bccb..744336d926 100644
--- a/docker/Dockerfile.cpu
+++ b/docker/Dockerfile.cpu
@@ -127,19 +127,16 @@ RUN echo 'ulimit -c 0' >> ~/.bashrc
 
 ######################### RUST BUILD IMAGE #########################
 # Build the Rust frontend (`vllm-rs`) in a dedicated stage so the wheel build
-# stage doesn't need the rust toolchain or protoc. This stage runs in parallel
+# stage doesn't need the rust toolchain. This stage runs in parallel
 # with the main vllm-build stage.
 FROM base AS rust-build
 ENV DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
 
 RUN apt-get update -y \
     && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
-        build-essential unzip python3 python3-pip \
+        build-essential python3 python3-pip \
     && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
 
-COPY tools/install_protoc.sh /tmp/install_protoc.sh
-RUN /tmp/install_protoc.sh && rm /tmp/install_protoc.sh
-
 WORKDIR /workspace
 
 COPY requirements/build/rust.txt requirements/build/rust.txt
diff --git a/docker/Dockerfile.rocm b/docker/Dockerfile.rocm
index 0b02b9ec21..5bfd99bc3a 100644
--- a/docker/Dockerfile.rocm
+++ b/docker/Dockerfile.rocm
@@ -138,13 +138,12 @@ RUN --mount=type=cache,id=vllm-rocm-uv,target=/root/.cache/uv \
         > /vllm-version.txt
 
 # -----------------------
-# Rust/protoc toolchain inputs
+# Rust toolchain inputs
 #
 # Keep these separate from Rust source inputs so Rust source-only changes do not
 # invalidate the long-lived ci_base image that carries the toolchain.
 FROM scratch AS rust_toolchain_input_0
 COPY rust-toolchain.toml /rust-toolchain-input/vllm/rust-toolchain.toml
-COPY tools/install_protoc.sh /rust-toolchain-input/vllm/tools/install_protoc.sh
 
 FROM base AS rust_toolchain_input_1
 ARG VLLM_REPO
@@ -155,7 +154,6 @@ RUN git clone --no-checkout --filter=blob:none ${VLLM_REPO} /rust-toolchain-inpu
     && git sparse-checkout init --no-cone \
     && git sparse-checkout set \
         rust-toolchain.toml \
-        tools/install_protoc.sh \
     && git checkout FETCH_HEAD
 
 FROM rust_toolchain_input_${REMOTE_VLLM} AS rust-toolchain-input
@@ -195,21 +193,17 @@ RUN git clone --no-checkout --filter=blob:none ${VLLM_REPO} /rust-input/vllm \
 FROM rust_input_${REMOTE_VLLM} AS rust-input
 
 # -----------------------
-# Rust/protoc toolchain
+# Rust toolchain
 FROM base AS rust-toolchain
 
 ENV CARGO_HOME=/root/.cargo
 ENV RUSTUP_HOME=/root/.rustup
 ENV PATH=${CARGO_HOME}/bin:${PATH}
 
-# protoc is used by tonic-build/prost-build.
 RUN apt-get update -q -y && apt-get install -q -y --no-install-recommends \
-        ca-certificates curl unzip \
+        ca-certificates curl \
     && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
 
-COPY --from=rust-toolchain-input /rust-toolchain-input/vllm/tools/install_protoc.sh /tmp/install_protoc.sh
-RUN /tmp/install_protoc.sh && rm /tmp/install_protoc.sh
-
 COPY --from=rust-toolchain-input /rust-toolchain-input/vllm/rust-toolchain.toml /tmp/rust-toolchain.toml
 RUN TOOLCHAIN="$(grep '^channel' /tmp/rust-toolchain.toml | sed 's/.*= *"\(.*\)"/\1/')" \
     && if ! command -v rustup >/dev/null 2>&1; then \
@@ -224,7 +218,7 @@ RUN TOOLCHAIN="$(grep '^channel' /tmp/rust-toolchain.toml | sed 's/.*= *"\(.*\)"
 # -----------------------
 # Rust build stage
 # Builds the `vllm-rs` frontend in a dedicated stage so the wheel build stages
-# don't need the rust toolchain or protoc.
+# don't need the rust toolchain.
 FROM rust-toolchain AS rust-build
 ARG COMMON_WORKDIR
 ARG USE_SCCACHE
@@ -780,12 +774,10 @@ ENV CARGO_HOME=/root/.cargo
 ENV RUSTUP_HOME=/root/.rustup
 ENV PATH=${CARGO_HOME}/bin:${PATH}
 
-# Bake the Rust/protoc toolchain into ci_base so Rust build/test steps do not
+# Bake the Rust toolchain into ci_base so Rust build/test steps do not
 # need to fetch it on each per-commit image build.
 COPY --from=rust-toolchain /root/.cargo /root/.cargo
 COPY --from=rust-toolchain /root/.rustup /root/.rustup
-COPY --from=rust-toolchain /usr/local/bin/protoc /usr/local/bin/protoc
-COPY --from=rust-toolchain /usr/local/include/google /usr/local/include/google
 
 # Update rdma-core to support latest rocshmem.
 ARG DEEPEP_NIC
diff --git a/docker/Dockerfile.rocm_gfx1250 b/docker/Dockerfile.rocm_gfx1250
index 6e88eb9fed..e1f2c75d97 100644
--- a/docker/Dockerfile.rocm_gfx1250
+++ b/docker/Dockerfile.rocm_gfx1250
@@ -141,18 +141,10 @@ RUN --mount=type=cache,id=vllm-rocm-uv,target=/root/.cache/uv \
 # -----------------------
 # Rust build stage
 # Builds the `vllm-rs` frontend in a dedicated stage so the wheel build stages
-# don't need the rust toolchain or protoc.
+# don't need the rust toolchain.
 FROM fetch_vllm AS rust-build
 ARG COMMON_WORKDIR
 
-# protoc is used by tonic-build/prost-build.
-RUN apt-get update -q -y && apt-get install -q -y --no-install-recommends \
-        ca-certificates curl unzip \
-    && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
-
-COPY tools/install_protoc.sh /tmp/install_protoc.sh
-RUN /tmp/install_protoc.sh && rm /tmp/install_protoc.sh
-
 # Cap cargo parallelism to avoid exhausting the AMD CI host's open-file limit
 # (rustc spawns enough concurrent processes to hit RLIMIT_NOFILE otherwise).
 ENV CARGO_BUILD_JOBS=4
diff --git a/docker/Dockerfile.xpu b/docker/Dockerfile.xpu
index 0811d64dff..12ebfa36fe 100644
--- a/docker/Dockerfile.xpu
+++ b/docker/Dockerfile.xpu
@@ -1,17 +1,14 @@
 ######################### RUST BUILD IMAGE #########################
 # Build the Rust frontend (`vllm-rs`) in a dedicated stage so the main image
-# doesn't need the rust toolchain or protoc. Runs in parallel with vllm-base.
+# doesn't need the rust toolchain. Runs in parallel with vllm-base.
 FROM ubuntu:22.04 AS rust-build
 ENV DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
 
 RUN apt-get update -y \
     && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
-        ca-certificates curl git build-essential unzip python3 python3-pip \
+        ca-certificates curl git build-essential python3 python3-pip \
     && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
 
-COPY tools/install_protoc.sh /tmp/install_protoc.sh
-RUN /tmp/install_protoc.sh && rm /tmp/install_protoc.sh
-
 WORKDIR /workspace
 
 COPY requirements/build/rust.txt requirements/build/rust.txt
diff --git a/rust/Cargo.lock b/rust/Cargo.lock
index a8608e34f2..de6c97654b 100644
--- a/rust/Cargo.lock
+++ b/rust/Cargo.lock
@@ -385,6 +385,12 @@ version = "1.8.3"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "2af50177e190e07a26ab74f8b1efbfe2ef87da2116221318cb1c2e82baf7de06"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "beef"
+version = "0.5.2"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "3a8241f3ebb85c056b509d4327ad0358fbbba6ffb340bf388f26350aeda225b1"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "bit-set"
 version = "0.5.3"
@@ -661,7 +667,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "encode_unicode",
  "libc",
  "once_cell",
- "unicode-width",
+ "unicode-width 0.2.2",
  "windows-sys 0.61.2",
 ]
 
@@ -1499,7 +1505,7 @@ version = "0.2.24"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "cfe4fbac503b8d1f88e6676011885f34b7174f46e59956bba534ba83abded4df"
 dependencies = [
- "unicode-width",
+ "unicode-width 0.2.2",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -2005,7 +2011,7 @@ checksum = "25470f23803092da7d239834776d653104d551bc4d7eacaf31e6837854b8e9eb"
 dependencies = [
  "console",
  "portable-atomic",
- "unicode-width",
+ "unicode-width 0.2.2",
  "unit-prefix",
  "web-time",
 ]
@@ -2264,6 +2270,72 @@ version = "0.4.29"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "5e5032e24019045c762d3c0f28f5b6b8bbf38563a65908389bf7978758920897"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "logos"
+version = "0.15.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "ff472f899b4ec2d99161c51f60ff7075eeb3097069a36050d8037a6325eb8154"
+dependencies = [
+ "logos-derive 0.15.1",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "logos"
+version = "0.16.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "eb2c55a318a87600ea870ff8c2012148b44bf18b74fad48d0f835c38c7d07c5f"
+dependencies = [
+ "logos-derive 0.16.1",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "logos-codegen"
+version = "0.15.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "192a3a2b90b0c05b27a0b2c43eecdb7c415e29243acc3f89cc8247a5b693045c"
+dependencies = [
+ "beef",
+ "fnv",
+ "lazy_static",
+ "proc-macro2",
+ "quote",
+ "regex-syntax",
+ "rustc_version",
+ "syn 2.0.117",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "logos-codegen"
+version = "0.16.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "58b3ffaa284e1350d017a57d04ada118c4583cf260c8fb01e0fe28a2e9cf8970"
+dependencies = [
+ "fnv",
+ "proc-macro2",
+ "quote",
+ "regex-automata",
+ "regex-syntax",
+ "syn 2.0.117",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "logos-derive"
+version = "0.15.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "605d9697bcd5ef3a42d38efc51541aa3d6a4a25f7ab6d1ed0da5ac632a26b470"
+dependencies = [
+ "logos-codegen 0.15.1",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "logos-derive"
+version = "0.16.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "52d3a9855747c17eaf4383823f135220716ab49bea5fbea7dd42cc9a92f8aa31"
+dependencies = [
+ "logos-codegen 0.16.1",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "macro_rules_attribute"
 version = "0.2.2"
@@ -2375,6 +2447,28 @@ version = "0.3.3"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "38d1115007560874e373613744c6fba374c17688327a71c1476d1a5954cc857b"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "miette"
+version = "7.6.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "5f98efec8807c63c752b5bd61f862c165c115b0a35685bdcfd9238c7aeb592b7"
+dependencies = [
+ "cfg-if",
+ "miette-derive",
+ "unicode-width 0.1.14",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "miette-derive"
+version = "7.6.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "db5b29714e950dbb20d5e6f74f9dcec4edbcc1067bb7f8ed198c097b8c1a818b"
+dependencies = [
+ "proc-macro2",
+ "quote",
+ "syn 2.0.117",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "mimalloc"
 version = "0.1.52"
@@ -3116,6 +3210,18 @@ dependencies = [
  "syn 2.0.117",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "prost-reflect"
+version = "0.16.5"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "01b80ea363c31af2de2b92e3c07ed1156628f7838c4afb4df75ee78a37fedbd1"
+dependencies = [
+ "logos 0.16.1",
+ "miette",
+ "prost",
+ "prost-types",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "prost-types"
 version = "0.14.3"
@@ -3125,6 +3231,33 @@ dependencies = [
  "prost",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "protox"
+version = "0.9.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "4f25a07a73c6717f0b9bbbd685918f5df9815f7efba450b83d9c9dea41f0e3a1"
+dependencies = [
+ "bytes",
+ "miette",
+ "prost",
+ "prost-reflect",
+ "prost-types",
+ "protox-parse",
+ "thiserror 2.0.18",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "protox-parse"
+version = "0.9.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "072eee358134396a4643dff81cfff1c255c9fbd3fb296be14bdb6a26f9156366"
+dependencies = [
+ "logos 0.15.1",
+ "miette",
+ "prost-types",
+ "thiserror 2.0.18",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "pulldown-cmark"
 version = "0.13.3"
@@ -3623,6 +3756,15 @@ version = "2.1.1"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "357703d41365b4b27c590e3ed91eabb1b663f07c4c084095e60cbed4362dff0d"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "rustc_version"
+version = "0.4.1"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "cfcb3a22ef46e85b45de6ee7e79d063319ebb6594faafcf1c225ea92ab6e9b92"
+dependencies = [
+ "semver",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "rustfft"
 version = "6.4.1"
@@ -5284,6 +5426,12 @@ version = "1.13.1"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "da36089a805484bcccfffe0739803392c8298778a2d2f09febf76fac5ad9025b"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "unicode-width"
+version = "0.1.14"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "7dd6e30e90baa6f72411720665d41d89b9a3d039dc45b8faea1ddd07f617f6af"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "unicode-width"
 version = "0.2.2"
@@ -5733,6 +5881,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "openssl",
  "prost",
  "prost-types",
+ "protox",
  "rmp-serde",
  "rmpv",
  "serde",
diff --git a/rust/Cargo.toml b/rust/Cargo.toml
index 5c4b47d581..3e0b7b4365 100644
--- a/rust/Cargo.toml
+++ b/rust/Cargo.toml
@@ -75,6 +75,7 @@ prometheus-client = "0.24.0"
 prometheus-client-derive-encode = "0.5.0"
 prost = "0.14.3"
 prost-types = "0.14.3"
+protox = "0.9.1"
 pyo3 = "0.28.3"
 pythonize = "0.28.0"
 rand = "0.9.2"
diff --git a/rust/src/server/Cargo.toml b/rust/src/server/Cargo.toml
index f6e6f08b53..cc0d278f27 100644
--- a/rust/src/server/Cargo.toml
+++ b/rust/src/server/Cargo.toml
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ vllm-metrics.workspace = true
 vllm-text.workspace = true
 
 [build-dependencies]
+protox.workspace = true
 tonic-prost-build.workspace = true
 
 [dev-dependencies]
diff --git a/rust/src/server/build.rs b/rust/src/server/build.rs
index 585c3c70b9..1a2ba8a6b0 100644
--- a/rust/src/server/build.rs
+++ b/rust/src/server/build.rs
@@ -3,19 +3,22 @@
 
 fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
     let manifest_dir = std::env::var("CARGO_MANIFEST_DIR").unwrap();
-    let proto_dir = format!("{manifest_dir}/../../proto");
+    let proto_dir = std::path::PathBuf::from(format!("{manifest_dir}/../../proto"));
+    let protos = [
+        proto_dir.join("control.proto"),
+        proto_dir.join("inference.proto"),
+    ];
+
+    for proto in &protos {
+        println!("cargo:rerun-if-changed={}", proto.display());
+    }
+
+    let file_descriptor_set = protox::compile(&protos, [&proto_dir])?;
 
     tonic_prost_build::configure()
         .build_server(true)
         .build_client(true)
-        .protoc_arg("--experimental_allow_proto3_optional") // be compatible with old compilers
-        .compile_protos(
-            &[
-                format!("{proto_dir}/control.proto"),
-                format!("{proto_dir}/inference.proto"),
-            ],
-            &[proto_dir],
-        )?;
+        .compile_fds(file_descriptor_set)?;
 
     Ok(())
 }
diff --git a/tools/install_protoc.sh b/tools/install_protoc.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index a995fdb6f6..0000000000
--- a/tools/install_protoc.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,37 +0,0 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env bash
-set -euo pipefail
-
-# Install a pinned protoc binary from upstream GitHub releases.
-#
-# Distro protobuf-compiler packages vary widely in version (e.g.
-# AlmaLinux/RHEL 8 ships protoc 3.5, predating the
-# --experimental_allow_proto3_optional flag the rust frontend's build.rs
-# passes), so we pin the protoc version here instead.
-#
-# Override the version via the PROTOC_VERSION env var.
-# Requires: curl, unzip, root privileges.
-
-if [[ $(id -u) -ne 0 ]]; then
-  echo "Must be run as root" >&2
-  exit 1
-fi
-
-VERSION="${PROTOC_VERSION:-34.2}"
-
-ARCH="$(uname -m)"
-case "${ARCH}" in
-    # protoc release archives use "aarch_64" (with an underscore), not
-    # "aarch64". Don't "fix" this.
-    aarch64|arm64) URL_ARCH="aarch_64" ;;
-    x86_64|amd64)  URL_ARCH="x86_64" ;;
-    *) echo "Unsupported arch for protoc binary: ${ARCH}" >&2; exit 1 ;;
-esac
-
-URL="https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/releases/download/v${VERSION}/protoc-${VERSION}-linux-${URL_ARCH}.zip"
-TMPDIR="$(mktemp -d)"
-trap 'rm -rf "${TMPDIR}"' EXIT
-
-echo "Downloading: ${URL}"
-curl -fsSL -o "${TMPDIR}/protoc.zip" "${URL}"
-unzip -q -o "${TMPDIR}/protoc.zip" -d /usr/local
-echo "Installed $(protoc --version)"