diff --git a/Dockerfile.tmpl b/Dockerfile.tmpl
index 472e7434..a5e5df79 100644
--- a/Dockerfile.tmpl
+++ b/Dockerfile.tmpl
@@ -27,8 +27,9 @@ RUN uv pip install --no-build-isolation --no-cache --system "git+https://github.
 # b/404590350: Ray and torchtune have conflicting cli named `tune`. `ray` is not part of Colab's base image. Re-install `tune` to ensure the torchtune CLI is available by default.
 # b/468367647: Unpin protobuf, version greater than v5.29.5 causes issues with numerous packages
 # grpcio-tools must be installed here (not in kaggle_requirements.txt) to stay version-compatible with protobuf.
+# setuptools v82+ removed pkg_resources
 RUN uv pip install --system --force-reinstall --no-cache --no-deps torchtune
-RUN uv pip install --system --force-reinstall --no-cache "protobuf==5.29.5" "grpcio-tools>=1.60.0"
+RUN uv pip install --system --force-reinstall --no-cache "protobuf==5.29.5" "grpcio-tools>=1.60.0" "setuptools>=70.0,<82"
 
 # Adding non-package dependencies:
 ADD clean-layer.sh  /tmp/clean-layer.sh