diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 324effb..7942d74 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -8,6 +8,9 @@ __pycache__
 *.so
 *.o
 *.a
+build/
+dist/
+*.egg-info/
 uv.lock
 catch2/
 
@@ -16,4 +19,4 @@ test_runner
 libmessaging.*
 libmessaging_shared.*
 .sconsign.dblite
-.mypy_cache/
\ No newline at end of file
+.mypy_cache/
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 752e3c2..49af831 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -1,3 +1,13 @@
+[build-system]
+requires = [
+  "setuptools>=69",
+  "wheel",
+  "Cython>=3",
+  "scons>=4",
+  "catch2 @ git+https://github.com/commaai/dependencies.git@release-catch2#subdirectory=catch2",
+]
+build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
+
 [project]
 name = "msgq"
 version = "0.0.1"
@@ -11,9 +21,12 @@ classifiers = [
   "Programming Language :: Python :: 3",
   "Topic :: System :: Hardware",
 ]
-dependencies = [
-  "setuptools",  # for distutils
+dependencies = []
+
+[project.optional-dependencies]
+dev = [
   "Cython",
+  "setuptools",
   "scons",
   "catch2 @ git+https://github.com/commaai/dependencies.git@release-catch2#subdirectory=catch2",
   "ruff",
@@ -25,6 +38,9 @@ dependencies = [
   "lefthook",
 ]
 
+[tool.setuptools.packages.find]
+include = ["msgq", "msgq.*"]
+
 # https://beta.ruff.rs/docs/configuration/#using-pyprojecttoml
 [tool.ruff]
 lint.select = ["E", "F", "W", "PIE", "C4", "ISC", "RUF100", "A"]
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..956eaa0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+import os
+import shlex
+import shutil
+import subprocess
+from pathlib import Path
+
+from setuptools import Extension, setup
+from setuptools.command.build_ext import build_ext
+
+
+ROOT = Path(__file__).resolve().parent
+SCONS_OUTPUTS = {
+  "msgq.ipc_pyx": ROOT / "msgq" / "ipc_pyx.so",
+  "msgq.visionipc.visionipc_pyx": ROOT / "msgq" / "visionipc" / "visionipc_pyx.so",
+}
+
+
+class SConsBuildExt(build_ext):
+  def run(self):
+    self.run_scons()
+    for ext in self.extensions:
+      self.copy_scons_output(ext)
+
+  def run_scons(self):
+    scons = shutil.which("scons")
+    if scons is None:
+      raise RuntimeError("scons is required to build msgq extension modules")
+
+    cmd = [scons, "--minimal"]
+    if self.parallel:
+      cmd += ["-j", str(self.parallel)]
+
+    extra_args = os.environ.get("MSGQ_SCONS_ARGS")
+    if extra_args:
+      cmd += shlex.split(extra_args)
+
+    self.announce(f"running {' '.join(cmd)}", level=2)
+    subprocess.check_call(cmd, cwd=ROOT)
+
+  def copy_scons_output(self, ext):
+    source = SCONS_OUTPUTS[ext.name]
+    if not source.exists():
+      raise RuntimeError(f"expected SCons output was not built: {source}")
+
+    destination = Path(self.get_ext_fullpath(ext.name))
+    destination.parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+    self.copy_file(str(source), str(destination))
+
+
+setup(
+  ext_modules=[
+    Extension("msgq.ipc_pyx", sources=[]),
+    Extension("msgq.visionipc.visionipc_pyx", sources=[]),
+  ],
+  cmdclass={"build_ext": SConsBuildExt},
+)