diff --git a/keyserver/package.json b/keyserver/package.json
--- a/keyserver/package.json
+++ b/keyserver/package.json
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@
   "dependencies": {
     "@babel/runtime": "^7.13.10",
     "@grpc/grpc-js": "^1.7.1",
+    "@grpc/proto-loader": "^0.7.3",
     "@matrix-org/olm": "3.2.4",
     "@parse/node-apn": "^3.2.0",
     "@vingle/bmp-js": "^0.2.5",
diff --git a/keyserver/src/grpc/grpc-client.js b/keyserver/src/grpc/grpc-client.js
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/keyserver/src/grpc/grpc-client.js
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+// @flow
+
+import * as grpc from '@grpc/grpc-js';
+import * as protoLoader from '@grpc/proto-loader';
+
+import type { IdentityServiceClient } from 'lib/types/grpc-types';
+
+const PROTO_PATH = '../shared/protos/identity.proto';
+const packageDefinition = protoLoader.loadSync(PROTO_PATH, {
+  keepCase: true,
+  longs: String,
+  enums: String,
+  defaults: true,
+  oneofs: true,
+});
+const identity = grpc.loadPackageDefinition(packageDefinition).identity;
+const identityClient: IdentityServiceClient = new identity.IdentityService(
+  'localhost:50051',
+  grpc.credentials.createInsecure(),
+);
+
+export { identityClient };
diff --git a/yarn.lock b/yarn.lock
--- a/yarn.lock
+++ b/yarn.lock
@@ -2477,7 +2477,7 @@
     protobufjs "^6.10.0"
     yargs "^16.2.0"
 
-"@grpc/proto-loader@^0.7.0":
+"@grpc/proto-loader@^0.7.0", "@grpc/proto-loader@^0.7.3":
   version "0.7.3"
   resolved "https://registry.yarnpkg.com/@grpc/proto-loader/-/proto-loader-0.7.3.tgz#75a6f95b51b85c5078ac7394da93850c32d36bb8"
   integrity sha512-5dAvoZwna2Py3Ef96Ux9jIkp3iZ62TUsV00p3wVBPNX5K178UbNi8Q7gQVqwXT1Yq9RejIGG9G2IPEo93T6RcA==