diff --git a/proto/build.rs b/proto/build.rs
index edf2a03..e14b3b4 100644
--- a/proto/build.rs
+++ b/proto/build.rs
@@ -13,10 +13,14 @@ fn main() {
         env::set_var("TENDERDASH_COMMITISH", DEFAULT_VERSION);
     }
 
+    // build gRPC server and client
+    // note it should be safe to build both server and client; we will just not use
+    // them in the lib.rs
+
     #[cfg(feature = "server")]
     // build gRPC server (includes client)
     tenderdash_proto_compiler::proto_compile(GenerationMode::GrpcServer);
-    #[cfg(all(feature = "client", not(feature = "server")))]
+    #[cfg(feature = "client")]
     // build gRPC client only
     tenderdash_proto_compiler::proto_compile(GenerationMode::GrpcClient);
     // we always build nostd version