diff --git a/artiq/protocols/__init__.py b/artiq/protocols/__init__.py
deleted file mode 100644
index e69de29bb..000000000
diff --git a/artiq/protocols/fire_and_forget.py b/artiq/protocols/fire_and_forget.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 61b2a4aa2..000000000
--- a/artiq/protocols/fire_and_forget.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,51 +0,0 @@
-import threading
-import logging
-import inspect
-
-
-logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
-
-
-class FFProxy:
-    """Proxies a target object and runs its methods in the background.
-
-    All method calls to this object are forwarded to the target and executed
-    in a background thread. Method calls return immediately. Exceptions from
-    the target method are turned into warnings. At most one method from the
-    target object may be executed in the background; if a new call is
-    submitted while the previous one is still executing, a warning is printed
-    and the new call is dropped.
-
-    This feature is typically used to wrap slow and non-critical RPCs in
-    experiments.
-    """
-    def __init__(self, target):
-        self.target = target
-
-        valid_methods = inspect.getmembers(target, inspect.ismethod)
-        self._valid_methods = {m[0] for m in valid_methods}
-        self._thread = None
-
-    def ff_join(self):
-        """Waits until any background method finishes its execution."""
-        if self._thread is not None:
-            self._thread.join()
-
-    def __getattr__(self, k):
-        if k not in self._valid_methods:
-            raise AttributeError
-        def run_in_thread(*args, **kwargs):
-            if self._thread is not None and self._thread.is_alive():
-                logger.warning("skipping fire-and-forget call to %r.%s as "
-                               "previous call did not complete",
-                               self.target, k)
-                return
-            def thread_body():
-                try:
-                    getattr(self.target, k)(*args, **kwargs)
-                except:
-                    logger.warning("fire-and-forget call to %r.%s raised an "
-                                   "exception:", self.target, k, exc_info=True)
-            self._thread = threading.Thread(target=thread_body)
-            self._thread.start()
-        return run_in_thread
diff --git a/artiq/test/test_fire_and_forget.py b/artiq/test/test_fire_and_forget.py
deleted file mode 100644
index fb8e67555..000000000
--- a/artiq/test/test_fire_and_forget.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,17 +0,0 @@
-import unittest
-
-from artiq.protocols import fire_and_forget
-
-
-class FireAndForgetCase(unittest.TestCase):
-    def _set_ok(self):
-        self.ok = True
-
-    def test_fire_and_forget(self):
-        self.ok = False
-        p = fire_and_forget.FFProxy(self)
-        p._set_ok()
-        with self.assertRaises(AttributeError):
-            p.non_existing_method
-        p.ff_join()
-        self.assertTrue(self.ok)