diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..274655e6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+project('foo', 'cython', 'cpp')
+
+py = import('python').find_installation()
+dep_py = py.dependency()
+
+harfbuzz_includes = include_directories('harfbuzz/src')
+harfbuzz = static_library(
+    'harfbuzz',
+    'harfbuzz/src/harfbuzz-subset.cc',
+    'harfbuzz/src/hb-coretext.cc',
+    'harfbuzz/src/hb-directwrite.cc',
+    'harfbuzz/src/hb-uniscribe.cc',
+    cpp_args: '-DHB_NO_MT=1 -DHB_EXPERIMENTAL_API=1',
+    include_directories: harfbuzz_includes,
+)
+
+py.extension_module(
+    'uharfbuzz',
+    'src/uharfbuzz/_harfbuzz.pyx',
+    dependencies: dep_py,
+    include_directories: harfbuzz_includes,
+    install: true,
+    link_with: [harfbuzz],
+    override_options: ['cython_language=cpp'],
+)
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 33070ec7..9de9b910 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -1,11 +1,14 @@
 [build-system]
+build-backend = "mesonpy"
 requires = [
-    "setuptools >= 36.4",
-    "wheel",
+    "meson-python",
     "setuptools_scm >= 2.1",
     "cython >= 0.28.1",
 ]
-build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
+
+[project]
+name = "uharfbuzz"
+version = "0.0.1"
 
 [tool.cibuildwheel]
 # only build for 64-bit