diff --git a/services/commtest/src/tunnelbroker/tunnelbroker_utils.rs b/services/commtest/src/tunnelbroker/tunnelbroker_utils.rs
--- a/services/commtest/src/tunnelbroker/tunnelbroker_utils.rs
+++ b/services/commtest/src/tunnelbroker/tunnelbroker_utils.rs
@@ -1,4 +1,17 @@
+use std::env;
+use tonic::transport::Channel;
+use tonic::transport::Error;
 pub mod proto {
   tonic::include_proto!("tunnelbroker");
 }
 pub use proto::tunnelbroker_service_client::TunnelbrokerServiceClient;
+
+pub async fn tonic_client_builder(
+) -> Result<TunnelbrokerServiceClient<Channel>, Error> {
+  let port = env::var("COMM_SERVICES_TUNNELBROKER_PORT").expect(
+    "`COMM_SERVICES_TUNNELBROKER_PORT` environment variable expected but not received",
+  );
+  let host = env::var("COMM_SERVICES_TUNNELBROKER_HOST")
+    .unwrap_or(String::from("localhost"));
+  TunnelbrokerServiceClient::connect(format!("http://{}:{}", host, port)).await
+}