diff --git a/MAINTAINERS.rst b/MAINTAINERS.rst
index a79fce1a..e8ef6e09 100644
--- a/MAINTAINERS.rst
+++ b/MAINTAINERS.rst
@@ -66,8 +66,8 @@ Pre-release test plan
 
 7. Assuming that all went well (if it didn't, go fix it and repeat):
 
-   - update __version__ to 'X.Y.Z' (i.e. drop the 'aN' suffix that denotes
-     alpha N)
+   - update version in pyproject.toml to 'X.Y.Z' (i.e. drop the 'aN' suffix
+     that denotes alpha N)
 
    - tag the release on GitHub (see "Tagging the release" for a procedure)
 
@@ -158,7 +158,7 @@ Summary of what happens:
 3. In vX.Y-branch, in src/west/version.py, set __version__ to X.Y.0a1.
    Push this to origin/vX.Y-branch. You don't need a PR for this.
 
-4. In the main branch, set __version__ to X.Y.99.
+4. In the main branch, set version in pyproject.toml to X.Y.99.
    Push this to origin/main. You don't need a PR for this.
 
 5. Create an annotated tag vX.Y.99 which points to the main branch commit you
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..03a2053c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+[build-system]
+requires = ["setuptools>=61.2"]
+build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
+
+[project]
+name = "west"
+version = "1.2.99"
+authors = [{name = "Zephyr Project", email = "devel@lists.zephyrproject.org"}]
+description = "Zephyr RTOS Project meta-tool"
+classifiers = [
+    "Programming Language :: Python :: 3",
+    "License :: OSI Approved :: Apache Software License",
+    "Operating System :: POSIX :: Linux",
+    "Operating System :: MacOS :: MacOS X",
+    "Operating System :: Microsoft :: Windows",
+]
+requires-python = ">=3.8"
+dependencies = [
+    "colorama",
+    "PyYAML>=5.1",
+    "pykwalify",
+    "setuptools",
+    "packaging",
+]
+
+[project.license]
+file = "LICENSE"
+
+[project.readme]
+file = "README.rst"
+content-type = "text/x-rst"
+
+[project.urls]
+Homepage = "https://github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/west"
+
+[project.scripts]
+west = "west.app.main:main"
+
+[tool.setuptools]
+package-dir = {"" = "src"}
+zip-safe = false
+include-package-data = true
+
+[tool.setuptools.packages.find]
+where = ["src"]
+namespaces = false
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 1d68190d..00000000
--- a/setup.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,53 +0,0 @@
-# Copyright 2018 Open Source Foundries Limited.
-# Copyright (c) 2020, Nordic Semiconductor ASA
-#
-# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
-
-import os
-
-import setuptools
-
-SCRIPT_DIR = os.path.dirname(os.path.realpath(__file__))
-os.chdir(SCRIPT_DIR)
-
-with open('README.rst', 'r') as f:
-    long_description = f.read()
-
-with open('src/west/version.py', 'r') as f:
-    __version__ = None
-    exec(f.read())
-    assert __version__ is not None
-
-version = os.environ.get('WEST_VERSION', __version__)
-
-setuptools.setup(
-    name='west',
-    version=version,
-    author='Zephyr Project',
-    author_email='devel@lists.zephyrproject.org',
-    description='Zephyr RTOS Project meta-tool',
-    long_description=long_description,
-    # http://docutils.sourceforge.net/FAQ.html#what-s-the-official-mime-type-for-restructuredtext-data
-    long_description_content_type="text/x-rst",
-    url='https://github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/west',
-    packages=setuptools.find_packages(where='src'),
-    package_dir={'': 'src'},
-    include_package_data=True,
-    classifiers=[
-        'Programming Language :: Python :: 3',
-        'License :: OSI Approved :: Apache Software License',
-        'Operating System :: POSIX :: Linux',
-        'Operating System :: MacOS :: MacOS X',
-        'Operating System :: Microsoft :: Windows',
-    ],
-    install_requires=[
-        'colorama',
-        'PyYAML>=5.1',
-        'pykwalify',
-        'setuptools',
-        'packaging',
-    ],
-    python_requires='>=3.8',
-    entry_points={'console_scripts': ('west = west.app.main:main',)},
-    zip_safe=False
-)
diff --git a/src/west/version.py b/src/west/version.py
index 4a167787..b6ddd081 100644
--- a/src/west/version.py
+++ b/src/west/version.py
@@ -5,7 +5,9 @@
 # This is the Python 3 version of option 3 in:
 # https://packaging.python.org/guides/single-sourcing-package-version/#single-sourcing-the-version
 
-__version__ = '1.2.99'
+import importlib.metadata
+
+__version__ = importlib.metadata.version("west")
 #
 # MAINTAINERS:
 #