diff --git a/lazer/publisher_sdk/rust/Cargo.toml b/lazer/publisher_sdk/rust/Cargo.toml
index 010d1aea23..8b149278aa 100644
--- a/lazer/publisher_sdk/rust/Cargo.toml
+++ b/lazer/publisher_sdk/rust/Cargo.toml
@@ -12,3 +12,4 @@ protobuf = "3.7.2"
 
 [build-dependencies]
 protobuf-codegen = "3.7.2"
+
diff --git a/lazer/publisher_sdk/rust/build.rs b/lazer/publisher_sdk/rust/build.rs
index b8d1c542d5..effbd94bd8 100644
--- a/lazer/publisher_sdk/rust/build.rs
+++ b/lazer/publisher_sdk/rust/build.rs
@@ -2,16 +2,17 @@ use std::io::Result;
 
 /// Automatically runs during cargo build.
 /// Proto files for Lazer are defined in the lazer sdk folder in the proto/ subdirectory.
-/// Both JS and Rust SDKs read the proto files for generating types.
+/// They are symlinked as proto/ in this rust/ folder with this command: ln -s ../proto proto
+/// symlinking is necessary as cargo publish only includes files in the root for packaging
 fn main() -> Result<()> {
     // Tell cargo to recompile if any .proto files change
-    println!("cargo:rerun-if-changed=../proto/");
+    println!("cargo:rerun-if-changed=proto/");
 
     protobuf_codegen::Codegen::new()
         .pure()
-        .include("../proto")
-        .input("../proto/publisher_update.proto")
-        .input("../proto/pyth_lazer_transaction.proto")
+        .include("proto") // symlinked proto folder. Actual fiels are in ../proto
+        .input("proto/publisher_update.proto")
+        .input("proto/pyth_lazer_transaction.proto")
         .cargo_out_dir("protobuf")
         .run_from_script();
 
diff --git a/lazer/publisher_sdk/rust/proto b/lazer/publisher_sdk/rust/proto
new file mode 120000
index 0000000000..5c8d352537
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lazer/publisher_sdk/rust/proto
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+../proto
\ No newline at end of file