diff --git a/go_modules/Dockerfile b/go_modules/Dockerfile
index b2fe5de260f4..961412e23463 100644
--- a/go_modules/Dockerfile
+++ b/go_modules/Dockerfile
@@ -17,10 +17,6 @@ RUN cd /tmp \
   && tar -xzf go-${TARGETARCH}.tar.gz -C /opt \
   && rm go-${TARGETARCH}.tar.gz
 
-ENV DEPENDABOT_NATIVE_HELPERS_PATH="/opt"
-
-COPY go_modules/helpers /opt/go_modules/helpers
-RUN bash /opt/go_modules/helpers/build
-
 USER dependabot
+# TODO: can this be deleted? I think no, it needs to stay for writing to the go module cache...
 COPY --chown=dependabot:dependabot go_modules /home/dependabot/go_modules
diff --git a/go_modules/README.md b/go_modules/README.md
index 178dfe922bc5..f0bcb9a1a61e 100644
--- a/go_modules/README.md
+++ b/go_modules/README.md
@@ -4,18 +4,12 @@ Go modules support for [`dependabot-core`][core-repo].
 
 ### Running locally
 
-1. Install native helpers
-   ```
-   $ export DEPENDABOT_NATIVE_HELPERS_PATH=$PWD/helpers/install-dir
-   $ helpers/build
-   ```
-
-2. Install Ruby dependencies
+1. Install Ruby dependencies
    ```
    $ bundle install
    ```
 
-3. Run tests
+2. Run tests
    ```
    $ bundle exec rspec spec
    ```
diff --git a/go_modules/dependabot-go_modules.gemspec b/go_modules/dependabot-go_modules.gemspec
index 6021a2a31559..73aa0f6e2211 100644
--- a/go_modules/dependabot-go_modules.gemspec
+++ b/go_modules/dependabot-go_modules.gemspec
@@ -35,5 +35,5 @@ Gem::Specification.new do |spec|
 
   next unless File.exist?("../.gitignore")
 
-  spec.files += `git -C #{__dir__} ls-files lib helpers -z`.split("\x0")
+  spec.files += `git -C #{__dir__} ls-files lib -z`.split("\x0")
 end
diff --git a/go_modules/helpers/Makefile b/go_modules/helpers/Makefile
deleted file mode 100644
index 1d5994f70054..000000000000
--- a/go_modules/helpers/Makefile
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,9 +0,0 @@
-.PHONY = all
-
-all: darwin linux
-
-darwin:
-	GOOS=darwin GOARCH=amd64 go build -o go-helpers.darwin64 .
-
-linux:
-	GOOS=linux GOARCH=amd64  go build -o go-helpers.linux64 .
diff --git a/go_modules/helpers/build b/go_modules/helpers/build
deleted file mode 100755
index 0833055ed06b..000000000000
--- a/go_modules/helpers/build
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,28 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/bash
-
-set -e
-
-if [ -z "$DEPENDABOT_NATIVE_HELPERS_PATH" ]; then
-  echo "Unable to build, DEPENDABOT_NATIVE_HELPERS_PATH is not set"
-  exit 1
-fi
-
-install_dir="$DEPENDABOT_NATIVE_HELPERS_PATH/go_modules"
-
-if ! [[ "$install_dir" =~ ^/ ]]; then
-  echo "$install_dir must be an absolute path"
-  exit 1
-fi
-
-if [ ! -d "$install_dir/bin" ]; then
-  mkdir -p "$install_dir/bin"
-fi
-
-helpers_dir="$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")"
-cd "$helpers_dir"
-
-os="$(uname -s | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')"
-echo "building $install_dir/bin/helper"
-
-GOOS="$os" GOARCH=amd64 go build -o "$install_dir/bin/helper" .
-go clean -cache -modcache
diff --git a/go_modules/helpers/go.mod b/go_modules/helpers/go.mod
deleted file mode 100644
index 56db04ad0be4..000000000000
--- a/go_modules/helpers/go.mod
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,5 +0,0 @@
-module github.com/dependabot/dependabot-core/go_modules/helpers
-
-go 1.20
-
-require github.com/Masterminds/vcs v1.13.3
diff --git a/go_modules/helpers/go.sum b/go_modules/helpers/go.sum
deleted file mode 100644
index 89365af4e39f..000000000000
--- a/go_modules/helpers/go.sum
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-github.com/Masterminds/vcs v1.13.3 h1:IIA2aBdXvfbIM+yl/eTnL4hb1XwdpvuQLglAix1gweE=
-github.com/Masterminds/vcs v1.13.3/go.mod h1:TiE7xuEjl1N4j016moRd6vezp6e6Lz23gypeXfzXeW8=
diff --git a/go_modules/helpers/importresolver/main.go b/go_modules/helpers/importresolver/main.go
deleted file mode 100644
index 938980edbeff..000000000000
--- a/go_modules/helpers/importresolver/main.go
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,34 +0,0 @@
-package importresolver
-
-import (
-	"io/ioutil"
-	"strings"
-
-	"github.com/Masterminds/vcs"
-)
-
-type Args struct {
-	Import string
-}
-
-func VCSRemoteForImport(args *Args) (interface{}, error) {
-	remote := args.Import
-	scheme := strings.Split(remote, ":")[0]
-	switch scheme {
-	case "http", "https":
-	default:
-		remote = "https://" + remote
-	}
-
-	local, err := ioutil.TempDir("", "unused-vcs-local-dir")
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
-	}
-
-	repo, err := vcs.NewRepo(remote, local)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
-	}
-
-	return repo.Remote(), nil
-}
diff --git a/go_modules/helpers/main.go b/go_modules/helpers/main.go
deleted file mode 100644
index 4f8d6e8747d4..000000000000
--- a/go_modules/helpers/main.go
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,67 +0,0 @@
-package main
-
-import (
-	"encoding/json"
-	"fmt"
-	"log"
-	"os"
-
-	"github.com/dependabot/dependabot-core/go_modules/helpers/importresolver"
-)
-
-type HelperParams struct {
-	Function string          `json:"function"`
-	Args     json.RawMessage `json:"args"`
-}
-
-type Output struct {
-	Error  string      `json:"error,omitempty"`
-	Result interface{} `json:"result,omitempty"`
-}
-
-func main() {
-	d := json.NewDecoder(os.Stdin)
-	helperParams := &HelperParams{}
-	if err := d.Decode(helperParams); err != nil {
-		abort(err)
-	}
-
-	var (
-		funcOut interface{}
-		funcErr error
-	)
-	switch helperParams.Function {
-	case "getVcsRemoteForImport":
-		var args importresolver.Args
-		parseArgs(helperParams.Args, &args)
-		funcOut, funcErr = importresolver.VCSRemoteForImport(&args)
-	default:
-		abort(fmt.Errorf("unrecognised function '%s'", helperParams.Function))
-	}
-
-	if funcErr != nil {
-		abort(funcErr)
-	}
-
-	output(&Output{Result: funcOut})
-}
-
-func parseArgs(data []byte, args interface{}) {
-	if err := json.Unmarshal(data, args); err != nil {
-		abort(err)
-	}
-}
-
-func output(o *Output) {
-	bytes, jsonErr := json.Marshal(o)
-	if jsonErr != nil {
-		log.Fatal(jsonErr)
-	}
-
-	os.Stdout.Write(bytes)
-}
-
-func abort(err error) {
-	output(&Output{Error: err.Error()})
-	os.Exit(1)
-}
diff --git a/go_modules/lib/dependabot/go_modules/file_parser.rb b/go_modules/lib/dependabot/go_modules/file_parser.rb
index 023010f8c5ce..6f7a1813baa9 100644
--- a/go_modules/lib/dependabot/go_modules/file_parser.rb
+++ b/go_modules/lib/dependabot/go_modules/file_parser.rb
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@
 require "open3"
 require "dependabot/dependency"
 require "dependabot/file_parsers/base/dependency_set"
-require "dependabot/go_modules/path_converter"
 require "dependabot/go_modules/replace_stubber"
 require "dependabot/errors"
 require "dependabot/file_parsers"
diff --git a/go_modules/lib/dependabot/go_modules/file_updater/go_mod_updater.rb b/go_modules/lib/dependabot/go_modules/file_updater/go_mod_updater.rb
index 6ffabe89186a..8ce5e2472c04 100644
--- a/go_modules/lib/dependabot/go_modules/file_updater/go_mod_updater.rb
+++ b/go_modules/lib/dependabot/go_modules/file_updater/go_mod_updater.rb
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@
 require "dependabot/errors"
 require "dependabot/logger"
 require "dependabot/go_modules/file_updater"
-require "dependabot/go_modules/native_helpers"
 require "dependabot/go_modules/replace_stubber"
 require "dependabot/go_modules/resolvability_errors"
 
diff --git a/go_modules/lib/dependabot/go_modules/metadata_finder.rb b/go_modules/lib/dependabot/go_modules/metadata_finder.rb
index 037d85431d13..3d6d9db64bbe 100644
--- a/go_modules/lib/dependabot/go_modules/metadata_finder.rb
+++ b/go_modules/lib/dependabot/go_modules/metadata_finder.rb
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@
 
 require "dependabot/metadata_finders"
 require "dependabot/metadata_finders/base"
-require "dependabot/go_modules/path_converter"
 
 module Dependabot
   module GoModules
@@ -10,9 +9,37 @@ class MetadataFinder < Dependabot::MetadataFinders::Base
       private
 
       def look_up_source
-        url = Dependabot::GoModules::PathConverter.git_url_for_path(dependency.name)
+        look_up_source_using_go_list(dependency.name)
+      end
+
+      # TODO should this func be moved to lib/dependabot/go_modules/metadata_finder/ subdir?
+      # I'm unclear when we organize things into a subfolder rather than inlining...
+      def look_up_source_using_go_list(path)
+        debugger
+        # Save a query by manually converting golang.org/x names
+        import_path = path.gsub(%r{^golang\.org/x}, "github.com/golang")
+
+        # TODO WIP, this command isn't quite right I'm reading though `go help list` to grok it
+        command = + "go list -m -f '{{.Origin}}' " + import_path
+        command = SharedHelpers.escape_command(command)
+
+        stdout, stderr, status = Open3.capture3(environment, command)
+        handle_subprocess_error(stderr) unless status.success?
+
+        debugger
+
+        url = stdout # TODO extract URL for returned result
         Source.from_url(url) if url
       end
+
+      def handle_subprocess_error(stderr)
+        # As we discover errors custom to go list, add handling for them here.
+        # See go_mod_updater.rb#handle_subprocess_error for example
+
+        # We don't know what happened so we raise a generic error
+        msg = stderr.lines.last(10).join.strip
+        raise Dependabot::DependabotError, msg
+      end
     end
   end
 end
diff --git a/go_modules/lib/dependabot/go_modules/native_helpers.rb b/go_modules/lib/dependabot/go_modules/native_helpers.rb
deleted file mode 100644
index 676a783c00d0..000000000000
--- a/go_modules/lib/dependabot/go_modules/native_helpers.rb
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,20 +0,0 @@
-# frozen_string_literal: true
-
-module Dependabot
-  module GoModules
-    module NativeHelpers
-      def self.helper_path
-        clean_path(File.join(native_helpers_root, "go_modules/bin/helper"))
-      end
-
-      def self.native_helpers_root
-        default_path = File.join(__dir__, "../../../helpers/install-dir")
-        ENV.fetch("DEPENDABOT_NATIVE_HELPERS_PATH", default_path)
-      end
-
-      def self.clean_path(path)
-        Pathname.new(path).cleanpath.to_path
-      end
-    end
-  end
-end
diff --git a/go_modules/lib/dependabot/go_modules/path_converter.rb b/go_modules/lib/dependabot/go_modules/path_converter.rb
deleted file mode 100644
index dc073992a6c1..000000000000
--- a/go_modules/lib/dependabot/go_modules/path_converter.rb
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,20 +0,0 @@
-# frozen_string_literal: true
-
-require "dependabot/go_modules/native_helpers"
-
-module Dependabot
-  module GoModules
-    module PathConverter
-      def self.git_url_for_path(path)
-        # Save a query by manually converting golang.org/x names
-        import_path = path.gsub(%r{^golang\.org/x}, "github.com/golang")
-
-        SharedHelpers.run_helper_subprocess(
-          command: NativeHelpers.helper_path,
-          function: "getVcsRemoteForImport",
-          args: { import: import_path }
-        )
-      end
-    end
-  end
-end
diff --git a/go_modules/lib/dependabot/go_modules/update_checker.rb b/go_modules/lib/dependabot/go_modules/update_checker.rb
index 3f6ac0dbb11d..2329a8a493ef 100644
--- a/go_modules/lib/dependabot/go_modules/update_checker.rb
+++ b/go_modules/lib/dependabot/go_modules/update_checker.rb
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@
 require "dependabot/update_checkers/base"
 require "dependabot/shared_helpers"
 require "dependabot/errors"
-require "dependabot/go_modules/native_helpers"
 require "dependabot/go_modules/version"
 
 module Dependabot
diff --git a/go_modules/spec/dependabot/go_modules/metadata_finder_spec.rb b/go_modules/spec/dependabot/go_modules/metadata_finder_spec.rb
index 7a8b1e28d911..d662b7840b35 100644
--- a/go_modules/spec/dependabot/go_modules/metadata_finder_spec.rb
+++ b/go_modules/spec/dependabot/go_modules/metadata_finder_spec.rb
@@ -63,4 +63,46 @@
       it { is_expected.to eq("https://github.com/satori/go.uuid") }
     end
   end
+
+  describe "#look_up_source_using_go_list" do
+    subject { described_class.look_up_source_using_go_list(path) }
+
+    let(:path) { "gopkg.in/guregu/null.v3" }
+
+    context "with a path that is immediately recognisable as a git source" do
+      let(:path) { "github.com/drewolson/testflight" }
+      it { is_expected.to eq("https://github.com/drewolson/testflight") }
+    end
+
+    context "with a golang.org path" do
+      let(:path) { "golang.org/x/tools" }
+      it { is_expected.to eq("https://github.com/golang/tools") }
+    end
+
+    context "with a path that ends in .git" do
+      let(:path) { "git.fd.io/govpp.git" }
+      it { is_expected.to eq("https://git.fd.io/govpp.git") }
+    end
+
+    context "with a vanity URL that needs to be fetched" do
+      let(:path) { "k8s.io/apimachinery" }
+      it { is_expected.to eq("https://github.com/kubernetes/apimachinery") }
+    end
+
+    xcontext "with a vanity URL that redirects" do
+      let(:path) { "code.cloudfoundry.org/bytefmt" }
+      it { is_expected.to eq("https://github.com/cloudfoundry/bytefmt") }
+    end
+
+    context "with a vanity URL that 404s, but is otherwise valid" do
+      let(:path) { "gonum.org/v1/gonum" }
+      it { is_expected.to eq("https://github.com/gonum/gonum") }
+    end
+
+    context "with a path that already includes a scheme" do
+      let(:path) { "https://github.com/drewolson/testflight" }
+      it { is_expected.to eq("https://github.com/drewolson/testflight") }
+    end
+  end
+
 end
diff --git a/go_modules/spec/dependabot/go_modules/path_converter_spec.rb b/go_modules/spec/dependabot/go_modules/path_converter_spec.rb
deleted file mode 100644
index 53599d9c371d..000000000000
--- a/go_modules/spec/dependabot/go_modules/path_converter_spec.rb
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,47 +0,0 @@
-# frozen_string_literal: true
-
-require "spec_helper"
-require "dependabot/go_modules/path_converter"
-
-RSpec.describe Dependabot::GoModules::PathConverter do
-  describe ".git_url_for_path" do
-    subject { described_class.git_url_for_path(path) }
-
-    let(:path) { "gopkg.in/guregu/null.v3" }
-
-    context "with a path that is immediately recognisable as a git source" do
-      let(:path) { "github.com/drewolson/testflight" }
-      it { is_expected.to eq("https://github.com/drewolson/testflight") }
-    end
-
-    context "with a golang.org path" do
-      let(:path) { "golang.org/x/tools" }
-      it { is_expected.to eq("https://github.com/golang/tools") }
-    end
-
-    context "with a path that ends in .git" do
-      let(:path) { "git.fd.io/govpp.git" }
-      it { is_expected.to eq("https://git.fd.io/govpp.git") }
-    end
-
-    context "with a vanity URL that needs to be fetched" do
-      let(:path) { "k8s.io/apimachinery" }
-      it { is_expected.to eq("https://github.com/kubernetes/apimachinery") }
-    end
-
-    xcontext "with a vanity URL that redirects" do
-      let(:path) { "code.cloudfoundry.org/bytefmt" }
-      it { is_expected.to eq("https://github.com/cloudfoundry/bytefmt") }
-    end
-
-    context "with a vanity URL that 404s, but is otherwise valid" do
-      let(:path) { "gonum.org/v1/gonum" }
-      it { is_expected.to eq("https://github.com/gonum/gonum") }
-    end
-
-    context "with a path that already includes a scheme" do
-      let(:path) { "https://github.com/drewolson/testflight" }
-      it { is_expected.to eq("https://github.com/drewolson/testflight") }
-    end
-  end
-end
diff --git a/go_modules/spec/dependabot/go_modules/update_checker/latest_version_finder_spec.rb b/go_modules/spec/dependabot/go_modules/update_checker/latest_version_finder_spec.rb
index b13e01fd435d..d7d469814310 100644
--- a/go_modules/spec/dependabot/go_modules/update_checker/latest_version_finder_spec.rb
+++ b/go_modules/spec/dependabot/go_modules/update_checker/latest_version_finder_spec.rb
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@
 require "spec_helper"
 require "dependabot/dependency"
 require "dependabot/dependency_file"
-require "dependabot/go_modules/native_helpers"
 require "dependabot/go_modules/update_checker/latest_version_finder"
 
 RSpec.describe Dependabot::GoModules::UpdateChecker::LatestVersionFinder do