diff --git a/BUILDING.md b/BUILDING.md
index 8e3cf3d4..7ee44732 100644
--- a/BUILDING.md
+++ b/BUILDING.md
@@ -100,8 +100,6 @@ the environment variable `BUILDTAGS`.
 <dl>
 <dt>noresumabledigest</dt>
 <dd>Compiles without resumable digest support</dd>
-<dt>include_gcs</dt>
-<dd>Adds support for <a href="https://cloud.google.com/storage">Google Cloud Storage</a></dd>
 </dl>
 
 ### Local cloud storage environment
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 05ccb16e..7c88b1ce 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ RUN --mount=target=. \
 FROM base AS build
 ARG TARGETPLATFORM
 ARG LDFLAGS="-s -w"
-ARG BUILDTAGS="include_gcs"
+ARG BUILDTAGS=""
 RUN --mount=type=bind,target=/src \
     --mount=type=cache,target=/root/.cache/go-build \
     --mount=target=/go/pkg/mod,type=cache \
diff --git a/dockerfiles/lint.Dockerfile b/dockerfiles/lint.Dockerfile
index d4629a3d..b059e297 100644
--- a/dockerfiles/lint.Dockerfile
+++ b/dockerfiles/lint.Dockerfile
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 ARG GO_VERSION=1.20.12
 ARG ALPINE_VERSION=3.18
 ARG GOLANGCI_LINT_VERSION=v1.55.2
-ARG BUILDTAGS="include_gcs"
+ARG BUILDTAGS=""
 
 FROM golangci/golangci-lint:${GOLANGCI_LINT_VERSION}-alpine AS golangci-lint
 
diff --git a/registry/storage/driver/gcs/doc.go b/registry/storage/driver/gcs/doc.go
index 0f23ea78..30df0589 100644
--- a/registry/storage/driver/gcs/doc.go
+++ b/registry/storage/driver/gcs/doc.go
@@ -1,3 +1,2 @@
-// Package gcs implements the Google Cloud Storage driver backend. Support can be
-// enabled by including the "include_gcs" build tag.
+// Package gcs implements the Google Cloud Storage driver backend.
 package gcs
diff --git a/registry/storage/driver/gcs/gcs.go b/registry/storage/driver/gcs/gcs.go
index cab97165..beb9261e 100644
--- a/registry/storage/driver/gcs/gcs.go
+++ b/registry/storage/driver/gcs/gcs.go
@@ -1,6 +1,3 @@
-//go:build include_gcs
-// +build include_gcs
-
 // Package gcs provides a storagedriver.StorageDriver implementation to
 // store blobs in Google cloud storage.
 //
diff --git a/registry/storage/driver/gcs/gcs_test.go b/registry/storage/driver/gcs/gcs_test.go
index 67176273..b0d35c17 100644
--- a/registry/storage/driver/gcs/gcs_test.go
+++ b/registry/storage/driver/gcs/gcs_test.go
@@ -1,6 +1,3 @@
-//go:build include_gcs
-// +build include_gcs
-
 package gcs
 
 import (