Getting path to vcpkg tools (.exe) location from VS?

[jdx-john]

Obviously vcpkg automatically sorts out header and library paths for installed ports.
But we want to use a tool in a custom build step. It is located at \installed\x64-windows\tools\protobuf\protoc.exe so I wondered if I could just use "protoc ..." in my step but it's not found.

I've realised I can use the $(VcpkgRoot) so $(VcpkgRoot)\installed\x64-windows\tools\protobuf\protoc.exe ... but I wondered is there a simpler way? x64-windows is not our build triplet, but I think the tool is being built using the host triplet and that doesn't seem to be available to VS.

It works as-is so it's not a big problem, just seems a little inelegant.