diff --git a/dev-vcs/pkgcruft-git/pkgcruft-git-0.0.3.ebuild b/dev-vcs/pkgcruft-git/pkgcruft-git-0.0.3.ebuild
index d2cbc94ab927c..3349c8c60bda0 100644
--- a/dev-vcs/pkgcruft-git/pkgcruft-git-0.0.3.ebuild
+++ b/dev-vcs/pkgcruft-git/pkgcruft-git-0.0.3.ebuild
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ BDEPEND+="
 	$(llvm_gen_dep '
 		llvm-core/clang:${LLVM_SLOT}
 	')
+	dev-libs/protobuf[protoc(+)]
 	test? ( dev-util/cargo-nextest )
 "
 
diff --git a/dev-vcs/pkgcruft-git/pkgcruft-git-9999.ebuild b/dev-vcs/pkgcruft-git/pkgcruft-git-9999.ebuild
index f3c243cc17696..226716636527c 100644
--- a/dev-vcs/pkgcruft-git/pkgcruft-git-9999.ebuild
+++ b/dev-vcs/pkgcruft-git/pkgcruft-git-9999.ebuild
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ BDEPEND+="
 	$(llvm_gen_dep '
 		llvm-core/clang:${LLVM_SLOT}
 	')
+	dev-libs/protobuf[protoc(+)]
 	test? ( dev-util/cargo-nextest )
 "