diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 7c40cb72a7c..fb8f628a382 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -265,16 +265,8 @@ set(ESPRESSO_INSTALL_LIBDIR "${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}/${CMAKE_INSTALL_LIBDIR}")
 
 # python site-packages, can be overriden with CMake options
 if(ESPRESSO_BUILD_WITH_PYTHON)
-  if(NOT ESPRESSO_INSTALL_PYTHON)
-    if(CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX STREQUAL "/")
-      set(ESPRESSO_INSTALL_PYTHON "${Python_SITEARCH}")
-    else()
-      set(ESPRESSO_INSTALL_PYTHON
-          "${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}/${CMAKE_INSTALL_LIBDIR}/python${Python_VERSION_MAJOR}.${Python_VERSION_MINOR}/site-packages"
-      )
-    endif()
-  endif()
   # override: package C++, CUDA and Cython shared objects together
+  set(ESPRESSO_INSTALL_PYTHON "${Python_SITEARCH}")
   set(ESPRESSO_INSTALL_LIBDIR "${ESPRESSO_INSTALL_PYTHON}/espressomd")
 endif()
 
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..81e753edde8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+[build-system]
+requires = [
+  "scikit-build-core",
+  "cmake>=3.18",
+  "numpy>=1.23",
+  "cython>=0.29.21,<=3.0.7",
+]
+build-backend = "scikit_build_core.build"
+
+[project]
+name = "espressomd"
+version = "4.3"
+requires-python = ">=3.9"
+dependencies = [
+  "numpy>=1.23"
+]
+description = "Extensible Simulation Package for Research on Soft Matter Systems"
+readme = "Readme.md"
+authors = [{name = "The ESPResSo project"}]
+license = {file = "COPYING"}
+
+[project.urls]
+Homepage = "https://espressomd.org"
+Repository = "https://github.com/espressomd/espresso"
+Issues = "https://github.com/espressomd/espresso/issues"
+Documentation = "https://espressomd.github.io/"