diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 13f2b3b5..f3dc0c7e 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ license = { file = "license.md" }
 readme = "readme.md"
 dependencies = [
   "bottleneck>=1.2.1,<2",
+  "setuptools",
   "datajoint>=0.13.7",
   "datajoint-utilities @ git+https://github.com/datajoint-company/datajoint-utilities",
   "dotmap",