diff --git a/services/commtest/src/tunnelbroker/tunnelbroker_utils.rs b/services/commtest/src/tunnelbroker/tunnelbroker_utils.rs
index cfe256251..7d6db17fe 100644
--- a/services/commtest/src/tunnelbroker/tunnelbroker_utils.rs
+++ b/services/commtest/src/tunnelbroker/tunnelbroker_utils.rs
@@ -1,4 +1,16 @@
+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_PORT_TUNNELBROKER")
+    .unwrap_or(String::from("50051"));
+  let host = env::var("COMM_SERVICES_HOST_TUNNELBROKER")
+    .unwrap_or(String::from("localhost"));
+  TunnelbrokerServiceClient::connect(format!("http://{}:{}", host, port)).await
+}