diff --git a/connpy/_version.py b/connpy/_version.py
index 31feb3b..7859aa3 100644
--- a/connpy/_version.py
+++ b/connpy/_version.py
@@ -1 +1 @@
-__version__ = "5.1b3"
+__version__ = "5.1b4"
diff --git a/connpy/api.py b/connpy/api.py
index 91edece..0cf5fa2 100755
--- a/connpy/api.py
+++ b/connpy/api.py
@@ -57,6 +57,12 @@ def debug_api(port=8048, config=None):
 
 def start_server(port=8048, config=None):
     try:
+        import sys
+        # Ensure project root is in path for the child process
+        base_dir = os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)))
+        if base_dir not in sys.path:
+            sys.path.insert(0, base_dir)
+            
         from connpy.grpc.server import serve
         conf = config or configfile()
         server = serve(conf, port=port, debug=False)
diff --git a/connpy/grpc/__init__.py b/connpy/grpc/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e69de29
diff --git a/connpy/proto/__init__.py b/connpy/proto/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e69de29
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 90983fa..cbdd28e 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ pyfzf>=0.3.1
 litellm>=1.40.0
 grpcio>=1.62.0
 grpcio-tools>=1.62.0
-protobuf>=4.21.0,<6.0.0
+protobuf>=6.31.1,<7.0.0
 google-api-python-client>=2.125.0
 google-auth-oauthlib>=1.2.0
 google-auth-httplib2>=0.2.0
diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
index bc15563..0e85a14 100644
--- a/setup.cfg
+++ b/setup.cfg
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ install_requires =
     litellm>=1.40.0
     grpcio>=1.62.0
     grpcio-tools>=1.62.0
-    protobuf>=4.21.0,<6.0.0
+    protobuf>=6.31.1,<7.0.0
     google-api-python-client>=2.125.0
     google-auth-oauthlib>=1.2.0
     google-auth-httplib2>=0.2.0