diff --git a/.github/workflows/proto.yml b/.github/workflows/proto.yml
index 02fd18e72d27b..f4c7d73ee3952 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/proto.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/proto.yml
@@ -20,4 +20,5 @@ jobs:
       - run: apt update && apt install -y unzip
       - uses: actions/checkout@11bd71901bbe5b1630ceea73d27597364c9af683
       - run: git config --global --add safe.directory "$PWD" # actions/runner#2033
-      - run: bin/protoc-diff
+      - run: bin/protoc-go.sh
+      - run: git diff --exit-code
diff --git a/bin/protoc b/bin/protoc
deleted file mode 100755
index cb2cd03be92da..0000000000000
--- a/bin/protoc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,40 +0,0 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env sh
-
-set -eu
-
-if [ "$(uname -s)" = Darwin ]; then
-  os=osx
-else
-  os=linux
-fi
-arch=$(uname -m)
-
-bindir=$( cd "${0%/*}" && pwd )
-targetbin=$( cd "$bindir"/.. && pwd )/target/bin
-protocversion=3.20.0
-protocbin=$targetbin/protoc-$protocversion
-protocurl=https://github.com/google/protobuf/releases/download/v$protocversion/protoc-$protocversion-$os-$arch.zip
-
-require_from() {
-    if ! command -v "$1" >/dev/null 2>/dev/null ; then
-        echo "Please acquire $1 from $2" >&2
-        return 1
-    fi
-}
-
-if [ ! -f "$protocbin" ]; then
-  require_from curl 'https://curl.se/download.html'
-  require_from unzip 'http://infozip.sourceforge.net/UnZip.html#Downloads'
-  tmp=$(mktemp -d -t protoc.XXX)
-  mkdir -p "$targetbin"
-  (
-    cd "$tmp"
-    "$bindir"/scurl -o "./protoc.zip" "$protocurl"
-    unzip -q "./protoc.zip" bin/protoc
-    chmod +x bin/protoc
-  )
-  mv "$tmp/bin/protoc" "$protocbin"
-  rm -rf "$tmp"
-fi
-
-"$protocbin" "$@"
diff --git a/bin/protoc-diff b/bin/protoc-diff
deleted file mode 100755
index c7f2327180166..0000000000000
--- a/bin/protoc-diff
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,16 +0,0 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env sh
-
-set -eu
-
-bindir=$( cd "${0%/*}" && pwd )
-"$bindir"/protoc-go.sh
-
-dir_dirty=$(git diff HEAD -- **/gen/**)
-if [ -z "$dir_dirty" ]; then
-  echo 'Protobuf definitions match generated code'
-  exit 0
-else
-  echo 'Protobuf definitions diverge from generated code:'
-  git status
-  exit 64
-fi
diff --git a/bin/protoc-go.sh b/bin/protoc-go.sh
index 0bfac376bdae7..598b3b61d33e2 100755
--- a/bin/protoc-go.sh
+++ b/bin/protoc-go.sh
@@ -2,21 +2,14 @@
 
 set -eu
 
-bindir=$( cd "${0%/*}" && pwd )
-
-if ! command -v protoc-gen-go-grpc >/dev/null ; then
-    go install -mod=readonly google.golang.org/protobuf/cmd/protoc-gen-go@v1.28
-    go install -mod=readonly google.golang.org/grpc/cmd/protoc-gen-go-grpc@v1.2
-fi
-
 rm -rf controller/gen/common controller/gen/config viz/metrics-api/gen viz/tap/gen
 mkdir -p controller/gen/common/net viz/metrics-api/gen/viz viz/tap/gen/tap
 
-"$bindir"/protoc -I proto --go_out=paths=source_relative:controller/gen proto/common/net.proto
-"$bindir"/protoc -I proto -I viz/metrics-api/proto --go_out=paths=source_relative:viz/metrics-api/gen viz/metrics-api/proto/viz.proto
-"$bindir"/protoc -I proto -I viz/metrics-api/proto --go-grpc_out=paths=source_relative:viz/metrics-api/gen/viz viz/metrics-api/proto/viz.proto
-"$bindir"/protoc -I proto -I viz/tap/proto -I viz/metrics-api/proto --go_out=paths=source_relative:viz/tap/gen viz/tap/proto/viz_tap.proto
-"$bindir"/protoc -I proto -I viz/tap/proto -I viz/metrics-api/proto --go-grpc_out=paths=source_relative:viz/tap/gen/tap viz/tap/proto/viz_tap.proto
+protoc -I proto --go_out=paths=source_relative:controller/gen proto/common/net.proto
+protoc -I proto -I viz/metrics-api/proto --go_out=paths=source_relative:viz/metrics-api/gen viz/metrics-api/proto/viz.proto
+protoc -I proto -I viz/metrics-api/proto --go-grpc_out=paths=source_relative:viz/metrics-api/gen/viz viz/metrics-api/proto/viz.proto
+protoc -I proto -I viz/tap/proto -I viz/metrics-api/proto --go_out=paths=source_relative:viz/tap/gen viz/tap/proto/viz_tap.proto
+protoc -I proto -I viz/tap/proto -I viz/metrics-api/proto --go-grpc_out=paths=source_relative:viz/tap/gen/tap viz/tap/proto/viz_tap.proto
 
 mv controller/gen/common/net.pb.go   controller/gen/common/net/
 mv viz/metrics-api/gen/viz.pb.go viz/metrics-api/gen/viz/viz.pb.go
diff --git a/controller/gen/common/net/net.pb.go b/controller/gen/common/net/net.pb.go
index 8a059897cfb28..c975540f4abe3 100644
--- a/controller/gen/common/net/net.pb.go
+++ b/controller/gen/common/net/net.pb.go
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 // Code generated by protoc-gen-go. DO NOT EDIT.
 // versions:
 // 	protoc-gen-go v1.35.2
-// 	protoc        v3.20.0
+// 	protoc        v5.29.0
 // source: common/net.proto
 
 package net
diff --git a/viz/metrics-api/gen/viz/viz.pb.go b/viz/metrics-api/gen/viz/viz.pb.go
index 8a76d12f92f61..e0a72468d59e2 100644
--- a/viz/metrics-api/gen/viz/viz.pb.go
+++ b/viz/metrics-api/gen/viz/viz.pb.go
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 // Code generated by protoc-gen-go. DO NOT EDIT.
 // versions:
 // 	protoc-gen-go v1.35.2
-// 	protoc        v3.20.0
+// 	protoc        v5.29.0
 // source: viz.proto
 
 package viz
diff --git a/viz/metrics-api/gen/viz/viz_grpc.pb.go b/viz/metrics-api/gen/viz/viz_grpc.pb.go
index 7acade30226cf..5c6b0db30734a 100644
--- a/viz/metrics-api/gen/viz/viz_grpc.pb.go
+++ b/viz/metrics-api/gen/viz/viz_grpc.pb.go
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 // Code generated by protoc-gen-go-grpc. DO NOT EDIT.
 // versions:
 // - protoc-gen-go-grpc v1.5.1
-// - protoc             v3.20.0
+// - protoc             v5.29.0
 // source: viz.proto
 
 package viz
diff --git a/viz/tap/gen/tap/viz_tap.pb.go b/viz/tap/gen/tap/viz_tap.pb.go
index 9ff3a810854d9..4cc50207b7595 100644
--- a/viz/tap/gen/tap/viz_tap.pb.go
+++ b/viz/tap/gen/tap/viz_tap.pb.go
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 // Code generated by protoc-gen-go. DO NOT EDIT.
 // versions:
 // 	protoc-gen-go v1.35.2
-// 	protoc        v3.20.0
+// 	protoc        v5.29.0
 // source: viz_tap.proto
 
 package tap
diff --git a/viz/tap/gen/tap/viz_tap_grpc.pb.go b/viz/tap/gen/tap/viz_tap_grpc.pb.go
index 8541c67fb7a7a..6ccc6313e457d 100644
--- a/viz/tap/gen/tap/viz_tap_grpc.pb.go
+++ b/viz/tap/gen/tap/viz_tap_grpc.pb.go
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 // Code generated by protoc-gen-go-grpc. DO NOT EDIT.
 // versions:
 // - protoc-gen-go-grpc v1.5.1
-// - protoc             v3.20.0
+// - protoc             v5.29.0
 // source: viz_tap.proto
 
 package tap