diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 2488dbdb5a..642018d5ea 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -211,7 +211,13 @@ protobuild:
 .PHONY: protolint
 protolint:
 	@buf lint
-	@buf breaking --against 'https://github.com/hashicorp/boundary.git#branch=stable-website'
+	# First check all protos except controller/servers for WIRE_JSON compatibility
+	cd internal/proto && buf breaking --against 'https://github.com/hashicorp/boundary.git#branch=stable-website,subdir=internal/proto' \
+		--exclude-path=controller/servers \
+		--config buf.breaking.json.yaml
+	# Next check all protos for WIRE compatibility. WIRE is a subset of WIRE_JSON so we don't need to exclude any files.
+	cd internal/proto && buf breaking --against 'https://github.com/hashicorp/boundary.git#branch=stable-website,subdir=internal/proto' \
+		--config buf.breaking.wire.yaml
 
 .PHONY: website
 # must have nodejs and npm installed
diff --git a/internal/proto/buf.breaking.json.yaml b/internal/proto/buf.breaking.json.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ce4090a95b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/proto/buf.breaking.json.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+# This file defines the breaking change configuration we use for
+# files for which we require only JSON level compatibility checks,
+# such as those used to describe the HTTP/JSON API we expose to the CLI,
+# the Desktop client and the admin UI.
+version: v1
+name: buf.build/hashicorp/boundary
+deps:
+  - buf.build/googleapis/googleapis
+  - buf.build/grpc-ecosystem/grpc-gateway
+breaking:
+  use:
+    - WIRE_JSON
+  ignore_only:
+    FIELD_NO_DELETE_UNLESS_NUMBER_RESERVED:
+      # The proto files in controller/api are only exposed as json files so enforcing
+      # proto backward compatability doesn't make sense, except for maybe the names.
+      - controller/api
+      # Storage protos are used by gorm.  Gorm relies on go tags and the json
+      # names to determine what columns to update so we don't care of the field
+      # numbers remain the same.
+      - controller/storage
diff --git a/internal/proto/buf.breaking.wire.yaml b/internal/proto/buf.breaking.wire.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1b567da204
--- /dev/null
+++ b/internal/proto/buf.breaking.wire.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+# This file defines the breaking change configuration we use for
+# files for which we require only WIRE level compatibility checks,
+# such as those used to describe the gRPC API between worker and controller.
+version: v1
+name: buf.build/hashicorp/boundary
+deps:
+  - buf.build/googleapis/googleapis
+  - buf.build/grpc-ecosystem/grpc-gateway
+breaking:
+  use:
+    - WIRE
+  ignore_only:
+    FIELD_NO_DELETE_UNLESS_NUMBER_RESERVED:
+      # The proto files in controller/api are only exposed as json files so enforcing
+      # proto backward compatability doesn't make sense, except for maybe the names.
+      - controller/api
+      # Storage protos are used by gorm.  Gorm relies on go tags and the json
+      # names to determine what columns to update so we don't care of the field
+      # numbers remain the same.
+      - controller/storage
diff --git a/internal/proto/buf.yaml b/internal/proto/buf.yaml
index c951d7b3c0..7dbb9f9d2c 100644
--- a/internal/proto/buf.yaml
+++ b/internal/proto/buf.yaml
@@ -3,18 +3,6 @@ name: buf.build/hashicorp/boundary
 deps:
   - buf.build/googleapis/googleapis
   - buf.build/grpc-ecosystem/grpc-gateway
-breaking:
-  use:
-    - WIRE_JSON
-  ignore_only:
-    FIELD_NO_DELETE_UNLESS_NUMBER_RESERVED:
-      # The proto files in controller/api are only exposed as json files so enforcing
-      # proto backward compatability doesn't make sense, except for maybe the names.
-      - controller/api
-      # Storage protos are used by gorm.  Gorm relies on go tags and the json
-      # names to determine what columns to update so we don't care of the field
-      # numbers remain the same.
-      - controller/storage
 lint:
   use:
     - DEFAULT