diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
index 41a7367d84..c908ca8d07 100644
--- a/.gitattributes
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -13,11 +13,3 @@
 selfdrive/car/tests/test_models_segs.txt filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
 system/hardware/tici/updater_weston filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
 system/hardware/tici/updater_magic filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
-third_party/**/*.a filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
-third_party/**/*.so filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
-third_party/**/*.so.* filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
-third_party/**/*.dylib filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
-third_party/acados/*/t_renderer filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
-third_party/qt5/larch64/bin/lrelease filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
-third_party/qt5/larch64/bin/lupdate filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
-third_party/catch2/include/catch2/catch.hpp filter=lfs diff=lfs merge=lfs -text
diff --git a/.vscode/settings.json b/.vscode/settings.json
index f0731c362d..811306f399 100644
--- a/.vscode/settings.json
+++ b/.vscode/settings.json
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@
     "common/**",
     "selfdrive/**",
     "system/**",
-    "third_party/**",
     "tools/**",
   ]
 }
diff --git a/SConstruct b/SConstruct
index 6e5f31d921..cd651bf289 100644
--- a/SConstruct
+++ b/SConstruct
@@ -111,14 +111,12 @@ env = Environment(
   CPPPATH=[
     "#",
     "#msgq",
-    "#third_party",
     acados_include_dirs,
     [x.INCLUDE_DIR for x in pkgs],
   ],
   LIBPATH=[
     "#common",
     "#msgq_repo",
-    "#third_party",
     "#selfdrive/pandad",
     "#rednose/helpers",
     [x.LIB_DIR for x in pkgs],
diff --git a/openpilot/third_party b/openpilot/third_party
deleted file mode 120000
index d838c05a86..0000000000
--- a/openpilot/third_party
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-../third_party
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index d9788925b2..75240aa05c 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -151,7 +151,7 @@ quiet-level = 3
 # if you've got a short variable name that's getting flagged, add it here
 ignore-words-list = "bu,ro,te,ue,alo,hda,ois,nam,nams,ned,som,parm,setts,inout,warmup,bumb,nd,sie,preints,whit,indexIn,ws,uint,grey,deque,stdio,amin,BA,LITE,atEnd,UIs,errorString,arange,FocusIn,od,tim,relA,hist,copyable,jupyter,thead,TGE,abl,lite,ser"
 builtin = "clear,rare,informal,code,names,en-GB_to_en-US"
-skip = "./third_party/*, ./tinygrad/*, ./tinygrad_repo/*, ./msgq/*, ./panda/*, ./opendbc/*, ./opendbc_repo/*, ./rednose/*, ./rednose_repo/*, ./teleoprtc/*, ./teleoprtc_repo/*, *.po, uv.lock, *.onnx, *.pem, ./cereal/gen/*, */c_generated_code/*, docs/assets/*, tools/plotjuggler/layouts/*, selfdrive/assets/offroad/mici_fcc.html"
+skip = "../tinygrad/*, ./tinygrad_repo/*, ./msgq/*, ./panda/*, ./opendbc/*, ./opendbc_repo/*, ./rednose/*, ./rednose_repo/*, ./teleoprtc/*, ./teleoprtc_repo/*, *.po, uv.lock, *.onnx, *.pem, ./cereal/gen/*, */c_generated_code/*, docs/assets/*, tools/plotjuggler/layouts/*, selfdrive/assets/offroad/mici_fcc.html"
 
 # https://docs.astral.sh/ruff/configuration/#using-pyprojecttoml
 [tool.ruff]
@@ -187,7 +187,6 @@ exclude = [
   "tinygrad_repo",
   "teleoprtc",
   "teleoprtc_repo",
-  "third_party",
   "*.ipynb",
   "generated",
 ]
@@ -197,7 +196,6 @@ lint.flake8-implicit-str-concat.allow-multiline = false
 "selfdrive".msg = "Use openpilot.selfdrive"
 "common".msg = "Use openpilot.common"
 "system".msg = "Use openpilot.system"
-"third_party".msg = "Use openpilot.third_party"
 "tools".msg = "Use openpilot.tools"
 "pytest.main".msg = "pytest.main requires special handling that is easy to mess up!"
 "unittest".msg = "Use pytest"
@@ -227,7 +225,6 @@ exclude = [
   "tinygrad_repo/",
   "teleoprtc/",
   "teleoprtc_repo/",
-  "third_party/",
 ]
 
 [tool.ty.rules]
diff --git a/release/build_release.sh b/release/build_release.sh
index 1f7c839056..69b46111c8 100755
--- a/release/build_release.sh
+++ b/release/build_release.sh
@@ -74,13 +74,6 @@ find . -name '__pycache__' -delete
 rm -rf .sconsign.dblite Jenkinsfile release/
 rm -f selfdrive/modeld/models/*.onnx
 
-find third_party/ -name '*x86*' -exec rm -r {} +
-find third_party/ -name '*Darwin*' -exec rm -r {} +
-
-
-# Restore third_party
-git checkout third_party/
-
 # Mark as prebuilt release
 touch prebuilt
 
diff --git a/scripts/lint/lint.sh b/scripts/lint/lint.sh
index 5581171e8f..4b6838449f 100755
--- a/scripts/lint/lint.sh
+++ b/scripts/lint/lint.sh
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ cd $ROOT
 FAILED=0
 
 IGNORED_FILES="uv\.lock|docs\/CARS.md"
-IGNORED_DIRS="^third_party.*|^msgq.*|^msgq_repo.*|^opendbc.*|^opendbc_repo.*|^cereal.*|^panda.*|^rednose.*|^rednose_repo.*|^tinygrad.*|^tinygrad_repo.*|^teleoprtc.*|^teleoprtc_repo.*"
+IGNORED_DIRS="^msgq.*|^msgq_repo.*|^opendbc.*|^opendbc_repo.*|^cereal.*|^panda.*|^rednose.*|^rednose_repo.*|^tinygrad.*|^tinygrad_repo.*|^teleoprtc.*|^teleoprtc_repo.*"
 
 function run() {
   shopt -s extglob