diff --git a/kong/pluginsocket.proto b/kong/include/kong/pluginsocket.proto
similarity index 100%
rename from kong/pluginsocket.proto
rename to kong/include/kong/pluginsocket.proto
diff --git a/kong/plugins/opentelemetry/proto.lua b/kong/plugins/opentelemetry/proto.lua
index 59a9b15868d9..484f0374716a 100644
--- a/kong/plugins/opentelemetry/proto.lua
+++ b/kong/plugins/opentelemetry/proto.lua
@@ -1,8 +1,4 @@
 local grpc = require "kong.tools.grpc"
-local pl_path = require "pl.path"
-
-local abspath = pl_path.abspath
-local splitpath = pl_path.splitpath
 
 local proto_fpath = "opentelemetry/proto/collector/trace/v1/trace_service.proto"
 
@@ -10,8 +6,6 @@ local function load_proto()
   local grpc_util = grpc.new()
   local protoc_instance = grpc_util.protoc_instance
 
-  local dir = splitpath(abspath(proto_fpath))
-  protoc_instance:addpath(dir)
   protoc_instance:loadfile(proto_fpath)
 end
 
diff --git a/kong/runloop/plugin_servers/pb_rpc.lua b/kong/runloop/plugin_servers/pb_rpc.lua
index b41785beefe8..52859a9b8919 100644
--- a/kong/runloop/plugin_servers/pb_rpc.lua
+++ b/kong/runloop/plugin_servers/pb_rpc.lua
@@ -1,18 +1,18 @@
 local kong_global = require "kong.global"
 local cjson = require "cjson.safe"
-local protoc = require "protoc"
+local grpc_tools = require "kong.tools.grpc"
 local pb = require "pb"
 local lpack = require "lua_pack"
 
 local ngx = ngx
 local kong = kong
-
-
 local cjson_encode = cjson.encode
 local t_unpack = table.unpack       -- luacheck: ignore table
 local st_pack = lpack.pack
 local st_unpack = lpack.unpack
 
+local proto_fname = "kong/pluginsocket.proto"
+
 local Rpc = {}
 Rpc.__index = Rpc
 
@@ -191,16 +191,11 @@ local function index_table(table, field)
 end
 
 local function load_service()
-  local p = protoc.new()
-  p:addpath("/usr/include")
-  p:addpath("/usr/local/opt/protobuf/include")
-  p:addpath("/usr/local/kong/lib")
-  p:addpath("kong")
-  p:addpath("spec/fixtures/grpc")
-  p.include_imports = true
-
-  p:loadfile("pluginsocket.proto")
-  local parsed = p:parsefile("pluginsocket.proto")
+  local p = grpc_tools.new()
+  local protoc_instance = p.protoc_instance
+
+  protoc_instance:loadfile(proto_fname)
+  local parsed = protoc_instance:parsefile(proto_fname)
 
   local service = {}
   for i, s in ipairs(parsed.service) do
diff --git a/kong/tools/grpc.lua b/kong/tools/grpc.lua
index 7b18e5a72d0a..7ed532a0766f 100644
--- a/kong/tools/grpc.lua
+++ b/kong/tools/grpc.lua
@@ -65,11 +65,11 @@ end
 
 function _M.new()
   local protoc_instance = protoc.new()
+  -- order by priority
   for _, v in ipairs {
+    "/usr/local/kong/include",
+    "/usr/local/opt/protobuf/include/", -- homebrew
     "/usr/include",
-    "/usr/local/opt/protobuf/include/",
-    "/usr/local/kong/lib/",
-    "kong",
     "kong/include",
     "spec/fixtures/grpc",
   } do
diff --git a/kong/tools/wrpc/proto.lua b/kong/tools/wrpc/proto.lua
index 64948ea9d667..d4d84acf57ff 100644
--- a/kong/tools/wrpc/proto.lua
+++ b/kong/tools/wrpc/proto.lua
@@ -11,8 +11,6 @@ local _MT = { __index = _M, }
 
 local wrpc_proto_name = "wrpc.wrpc"
 
-local default_proto_path = { "kong/include/", "/usr/include/", }
-
 local function parse_annotation(annotation)
   local parsed = {}
   for kv_pair in annotation:gmatch("[^;]+=[^;]+") do
@@ -81,7 +79,6 @@ function _M.new()
     name_to_mthd = {},
   }, _MT)
 
-  proto_instance:addpath(default_proto_path)
   proto_instance:import(wrpc_proto_name)
   return proto_instance
 end