diff --git a/.circleci/config.yml b/.circleci/config.yml
index c0fcf6dfc7..467f61e2ca 100644
--- a/.circleci/config.yml
+++ b/.circleci/config.yml
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ jobs:
       # Needed to install go
       OS: linux
       ARCH: amd64
-      GOVERSION: 1.11
+      GOVERSION: 1.13
       # Needed to install protoc
       PROTOC_VERSION: 3.6.1
 
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index fa099aa4f2..85a00f30d7 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -1,5 +1,10 @@
 # NOTE(dperny): for some reason, alpine was giving me trouble
-FROM golang:1.11.0-stretch
+ARG GO_VERSION=1.13.15
+ARG DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
+ARG BASE_DEBIAN_DISTRO="buster"
+ARG GOLANG_IMAGE="golang:${GO_VERSION}-${BASE_DEBIAN_DISTRO}"
+
+FROM ${GOLANG_IMAGE}
 
 RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y make git unzip
 
@@ -16,6 +21,7 @@ WORKDIR /go/src/github.com/docker/swarmkit/
 # install the dependencies from `make setup`
 # we only copy `direct.mk` to avoid busting the cache too easily
 COPY direct.mk .
+COPY hack/protobuild hack/protobuild
 RUN make --file=direct.mk setup
 
 # now we can copy the rest
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index ffc744c313..36a43de881 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -332,3 +332,5 @@ drzndxnjz3c8iujdewzaplgr6    redis      5       redis:3.0.7    RUNNING
 ```
 
 As you can see, every Task running on `node-1` was rebalanced to either `node-2` or `node-3` by the reconciliation loop.
+
+
diff --git a/direct.mk b/direct.mk
index 4e1f4bf216..17f418217d 100644
--- a/direct.mk
+++ b/direct.mk
@@ -42,7 +42,11 @@ setup: ## install dependencies
 	# install golangci-lint version 1.17.1 to ./bin/golangci-lint
 	@curl -sfL https://install.goreleaser.com/github.com/golangci/golangci-lint.sh | sh -s v1.17.1
 	@go get -u github.com/lk4d4/vndr
-	@go get -u github.com/stevvooe/protobuild
+	# horrid, awful hack to fix CI. we use a version of protobuild that predates
+	# some changes that result in it failing on some newer version because of
+	# dependencies. this is a binary checked into this branch, then copied into
+	# the go path where it would be expected.
+	@cp $$(go env GOPATH)/src/github.com/docker/swarmkit/hack/protobuild $$(go env GOPATH)/bin/protobuild
 
 .PHONY: generate
 generate: protos
diff --git a/hack/protobuild b/hack/protobuild
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..a0dc71364b
Binary files /dev/null and b/hack/protobuild differ