diff --git a/shared/tunnelbroker-client/src/lib.rs b/shared/tunnelbroker-client/src/lib.rs
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/shared/tunnelbroker-client/src/lib.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+use lazy_static::lazy_static;
+use std::sync::Arc;
+use tokio::runtime::{Builder, Runtime};
+use tonic::transport::Channel;
+use tunnelbroker::tunnelbroker_service_client::TunnelbrokerServiceClient;
+
+mod tunnelbroker {
+  tonic::include_proto!("tunnelbroker");
+}
+
+lazy_static! {
+  pub static ref RUNTIME: Arc<Runtime> = Arc::new(
+    Builder::new_multi_thread()
+      .worker_threads(1)
+      .max_blocking_threads(1)
+      .enable_all()
+      .build()
+      .unwrap()
+  );
+}
+
+pub fn initialize_client<T>(
+  addr: String,
+) -> TunnelbrokerServiceClient<Channel> {
+  RUNTIME
+    .block_on(TunnelbrokerServiceClient::connect(addr))
+    .expect("Failed to create Tokio runtime for the Tunnelbroker client")
+}