diff --git a/MODULE.bazel b/MODULE.bazel
index cb631b8..f3119b6 100644
--- a/MODULE.bazel
+++ b/MODULE.bazel
@@ -9,3 +9,4 @@ bazel_dep(name = "bazel_skylib", version = "1.3.0")
 # Dependencies needed in tests
 bazel_dep(name = "rules_cc", version = "0.0.1", dev_dependency = True)
 bazel_dep(name = "googletest", version = "1.11.0", dev_dependency = True, repo_name = "com_google_googletest")
+bazel_dep(name = "protobuf", version = "21.7", dev_dependency = True, repo_name = "com_google_protobuf")
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/WORKSPACE b/WORKSPACE
index 8563f11..709c8c3 100644
--- a/WORKSPACE
+++ b/WORKSPACE
@@ -6,13 +6,17 @@ rules_proto_dependencies()
 
 rules_proto_toolchains()
 
+
 # Dev-only dependencies. USERS SHOULD NOT INSTALL THESE!
 load(":dev_deps.bzl", "rules_proto_dev_deps")
-
 rules_proto_dev_deps()
 
-load("@bazelci_rules//:rbe_repo.bzl", "rbe_preconfig")
 
+load("@com_google_protobuf//:protobuf_deps.bzl", "protobuf_deps")
+protobuf_deps()
+
+
+load("@bazelci_rules//:rbe_repo.bzl", "rbe_preconfig")
 rbe_preconfig(
     name = "buildkite_config",
     toolchain = "ubuntu1804-bazel-java11",
diff --git a/dev_deps.bzl b/dev_deps.bzl
index 75f7d9b..8924465 100644
--- a/dev_deps.bzl
+++ b/dev_deps.bzl
@@ -2,9 +2,10 @@
 
 load("@bazel_tools//tools/build_defs/repo:http.bzl", "http_archive")
 
+
 def rules_proto_dev_deps():
     http_archive(
-        name = "rules_cc",
+        name = "rules_cc",   
         sha256 = "4aeb102efbcfad509857d7cb9c5456731e8ce566bfbf2960286a2ec236796cc3",
         strip_prefix = "rules_cc-2f8c04c04462ab83c545ab14c0da68c3b4c96191",
         urls = [
@@ -31,3 +32,13 @@ def rules_proto_dev_deps():
             "https://github.com/bazelbuild/continuous-integration/releases/download/rules-1.0.0/bazelci_rules-1.0.0.tar.gz",
         ],
     )
+
+    http_archive(
+        name = "com_google_protobuf",
+        sha256 = "75be42bd736f4df6d702a0e4e4d30de9ee40eac024c4b845d17ae4cc831fe4ae",
+        strip_prefix = "protobuf-21.7",
+        urls = [
+            "https://mirror.bazel.build/github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/archive/v21.7.tar.gz",
+            "https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf/archive/v21.7.tar.gz",
+        ],
+    )
\ No newline at end of file