diff --git a/.cargo/config.toml b/.cargo/config.toml
index ce666a159..838b8d683 100644
--- a/.cargo/config.toml
+++ b/.cargo/config.toml
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 [env]
 STRINGS_JSON = { value = "out/rslib/i18n/strings.json", relative = true }
 # build script will append .exe if necessary
-PROTOC_BINARY = { value = "out/extracted/protoc/bin/protoc", relative = true }
+PROTOC = { value = "out/extracted/protoc/bin/protoc", relative = true }
 PYO3_NO_PYTHON = "1"
 MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET = "10.13.4"
 
diff --git a/rslib/build/protobuf.rs b/rslib/build/protobuf.rs
index 2e4affa5b..4f8b3b3ca 100644
--- a/rslib/build/protobuf.rs
+++ b/rslib/build/protobuf.rs
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ fn service_generator() -> Box<dyn prost_build::ServiceGenerator> {
 }
 
 pub fn write_backend_proto_rs() {
-    maybe_add_protobuf_to_path();
+    set_protoc_path();
     let proto_dir = PathBuf::from("../proto");
 
     let subfolders = &["anki"];
@@ -122,13 +122,14 @@ pub fn write_backend_proto_rs() {
         .unwrap();
 }
 
-/// If PROTOC is not defined, and protoc is not on path, use the protoc
-/// fetched by Bazel so that Rust Analyzer does not fail.
-fn maybe_add_protobuf_to_path() {
-    if let Ok(protoc) = env::var("PROTOC_BINARY") {
-        env::set_var("PROTOC", &protoc);
-        if cfg!(windows) && !protoc.ends_with(".exe") {
-            env::set_var("PROTOC", format!("{protoc}.exe"));
+/// Set PROTOC to the custom path provided by PROTOC_BINARY, or add .exe to
+/// the standard path if on Windows.
+fn set_protoc_path() {
+    if let Ok(custom_protoc) = env::var("PROTOC_BINARY") {
+        env::set_var("PROTOC", custom_protoc);
+    } else if let Ok(bundled_protoc) = env::var("PROTOC") {
+        if cfg!(windows) && !bundled_protoc.ends_with(".exe") {
+            env::set_var("PROTOC", format!("{bundled_protoc}.exe"));
         }
     }
 }