diff --git a/BUILD.bazel b/BUILD.bazel
index 8324e60175a3..657f06be7e36 100644
--- a/BUILD.bazel
+++ b/BUILD.bazel
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-load("@gazelle//:def.bzl", "gazelle")
 load("@bazel_skylib//rules:common_settings.bzl", "string_setting")
+load("@gazelle//:def.bzl", "gazelle")
 load("@rules_python//python:pip.bzl", "compile_pip_requirements")
 
 package(default_visibility = ["//visibility:public"])
diff --git a/WORKSPACE.bazel b/WORKSPACE.bazel
index 04a7894d2fc2..3b354ee624ed 100644
--- a/WORKSPACE.bazel
+++ b/WORKSPACE.bazel
@@ -68,7 +68,6 @@ oci_register_toolchains(name = "oci")
 
 load("@rules_oci//oci:pull.bzl", "oci_pull")
 load("//bazel:mainnet-canisters.bzl", "canisters")
-
 load("//third_party/lmdb:repository.bzl", "lmdb_repository")
 
 # We cannot derive the Bazel repository names (e.g. @mainnet_nns_registry_canister) directly
diff --git a/bazel/prost.bzl b/bazel/prost.bzl
index 90b0de54eb82..6a1f65678553 100644
--- a/bazel/prost.bzl
+++ b/bazel/prost.bzl
@@ -6,9 +6,8 @@ load("@rules_rust//rust:defs.bzl", "rust_binary", "rust_test")
 
 # the prost crate expects PROTOC_INCLUDE to point to a directory containing
 # various .proto files. Creating a directory is not straightforward in Bazel
-# so as a workaround we simply point to the sources. Unfortunately
-# needs to be updated whenever we bump protobuf.
-PROTOC_INCLUDE = "external/protobuf~28.2/src"
+# so as a workaround we simply point to the sources.
+PROTOC_INCLUDE = "external/protobuf~/src"
 
 def generated_files_check(name, srcs, deps, data, manifest_dir):
     rust_test(