diff --git a/setup.json b/setup.json
deleted file mode 100644
index 9869277..0000000
--- a/setup.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,27 +0,0 @@
-{
-  "author": "Juan S. Medina, Juan E. Arango",
-  "classifiers": [
-    "License :: OSI Approved :: MIT License",
-    "Operating System :: Unix",
-    "Operating System :: POSIX",
-    "Topic :: Utilities"
-  ],
-  "install_requires": ["cookiecutter>=1.7.3"],
-  "setup_requires": ["pytest-runner>=5.3.1"],
-  "extras_require": {
-    "test": [
-      "pytest-cov>=2.12.1",
-      "binaryornot>=0.4.4",
-      "pytest>=6.2.5",
-      "pytest-cookies>=0.6.1",
-      "tox>=3.24.3"
-    ]
-  },
-  "keywords": ["cookiecutter", "toil"],
-  "license": "BSD",
-  "name": "cookiecutter-toil",
-  "description": "🍪 A cookiecutter for the creation of toil pipelines.",
-  "long_description": "📘 learn more about this project on [GitHub](https://github.com/papaemmelab/cookiecutter-toil)!",
-  "long_description_content_type": "text/markdown",
-  "url": "https://github.com/papaemmelab/cookiecutter-toil"
-}
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 0c3d0ad..99247e0 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -1,32 +1,43 @@
 """cookiecutter-toil setup.py."""
-
-from os.path import join
-from os.path import abspath
-from os.path import dirname
-import json
-
 from setuptools import find_packages
 from setuptools import setup
 
-# make sure we use absolute paths
-ROOT = abspath(dirname(__file__))
-
-# please put setup keywords in the setup.json to keep this file clean
-with open(join(ROOT, "setup.json"), "r") as f:
-    SETUP = json.load(f)
-
 setup(
     # the version is only defined in one place
-    version="1.0.0",
-
+    version="2.0.0",
     # in combination with recursive-includes in MANIFEST.in, non-python files
     # included inside the {{cookiecutter.project_slug}} will be copied to the
     # site-packages installation directory
     include_package_data=True,
-
     # return a list all Python packages found within the ROOT directory
     packages=find_packages(),
-
-    # pass parameters loaded from setup.json including author and version
-    **SETUP
-    )
+    # package-specific parameters
+    author="Juan S. Medina, Juan E. Arango",
+    classifiers=[
+        "License :: OSI Approved :: MIT License",
+        "Operating System :: Unix",
+        "Operating System :: POSIX",
+        "Topic :: Utilities",
+    ],
+    install_requires=["cookiecutter>=1.7.3"],
+    setup_requires=["pytest-runner>=5.3.1"],
+    extras_require={
+        "test": [
+            "pytest-cov>=2.12.1",
+            "binaryornot>=0.4.4",
+            "pytest>=6.2.5",
+            "pytest-cookies>=0.6.1",
+            "tox>=3.24.3",
+        ]
+    },
+    keywords=["cookiecutter", "toil"],
+    license="BSD",
+    name="cookiecutter-toil",
+    description="🍪 A cookiecutter for the creation of toil pipelines.",
+    long_description=(
+        "📘 learn more about this project on "
+        "[GitHub](https://github.com/papaemmelab/cookiecutter-toil)!"
+    ),
+    long_description_content_type="text/markdown",
+    url="https://github.com/papaemmelab/cookiecutter-toil",
+)
diff --git a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/setup.json b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/setup.json
deleted file mode 100644
index 4320d13..0000000
--- a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/setup.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,44 +0,0 @@
-{
-    "classifiers": [
-        "Intended Audience :: Developers",
-        "Intended Audience :: Science/Research",
-        "License :: OSI Approved :: MIT License",
-        "Natural Language :: English",
-        "Operating System :: Unix",
-        "Operating System :: POSIX",
-        "Programming Language :: Python :: 3 :: Only",
-        "Topic :: Utilities"
-    ],
-    "entry_points": {
-        "console_scripts": [
-            "{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}={{cookiecutter.project_slug}}.cli:main"
-        ]
-    },
-    "setup_requires": [
-        "pytest-runner>=5.3.1"
-    ],
-    "install_requires": [
-        {% if cookiecutter.cli_type == 'toil' %}"toil_container>=2.0.0"{% else %}"click>=7.0"{% endif %}
-    ],
-    "extras_require": {
-        "test": [
-            "coverage>=5.5.0",
-            "pydocstyle>=6.1.1",
-            "pytest-cov>=2.12.1",
-            "pytest>=6.2.5",
-            "pytest-env>=0.6.2",
-            "pytest-sugar>=0.9.1",
-            "pylint>=1.8.1",
-            "requests>=2.18.4",
-            "tox>=2.9.1"
-        ]
-    },
-    "author": "{{cookiecutter.full_name}}",
-    "keywords": [],
-    "license": "BSD",
-    "name": "{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}",
-    "test_suite": "tests",
-    "long_description": "📘 learn more on `GitHub <https://github.com/{{cookiecutter.github_account}}/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}>`_!",
-    "description": "{{cookiecutter.project_description}}",
-    "url": "https://github.com/{{cookiecutter.github_account}}/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}"
-}
diff --git a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/setup.py b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/setup.py
index e2175fd..5d86117 100644
--- a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/setup.py
+++ b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/setup.py
@@ -3,17 +3,12 @@
 from os.path import join
 from os.path import abspath
 from os.path import dirname
-import json
 
 from setuptools import find_packages
 from setuptools import setup
 
 ROOT = abspath(dirname(__file__))
 
-# please put setup keywords in the setup.json to keep this file clean
-with open(join(ROOT, "setup.json"), "r") as f:
-    SETUP = json.load(f)
-
 # see 4 > https://packaging.python.org/guides/single-sourcing-package-version/
 with open(join(ROOT, "{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}", "VERSION"), "r") as f:
     VERSION = f.read().strip()
@@ -21,15 +16,53 @@
 setup(
     # single source package version
     version=VERSION,
-
     # in combination with recursive-includes in MANIFEST.in, non-python files
     # within the {{cookiecutter.project_slug}} will be copied into the
     # site-packages and wheels installation directories
     include_package_data=True,
-
     # return a list all Python packages found within the ROOT directory
     packages=find_packages(),
-
-    # pass parameters loaded from setup.json including author and version
-    **SETUP
-    )
+    # package-specific parameters
+    classifiers=[
+        "Intended Audience :: Developers",
+        "Intended Audience :: Science/Research",
+        "License :: OSI Approved :: MIT License",
+        "Natural Language :: English",
+        "Operating System :: Unix",
+        "Operating System :: POSIX",
+        "Programming Language :: Python :: 3 :: Only",
+        "Topic :: Utilities",
+    ],
+    entry_points={
+        "console_scripts": [
+            "{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}={{cookiecutter.project_slug}}.cli:main"
+        ]
+    },
+    setup_requires=["pytest-runner>=5.3.1"],
+    install_requires=[{% if cookiecutter.cli_type == 'toil' %}"toil_container>=2.0.0"{% else %}"click>=7.0"{% endif %}],
+    extras_require={
+        "test": [
+            "coverage>=5.5.0",
+            "pydocstyle>=6.1.1",
+            "pytest-cov>=2.12.1",
+            "pytest>=6.2.5",
+            "pytest-env>=0.6.2",
+            "pytest-sugar>=0.9.1",
+            "pylint>=1.8.1",
+            "requests>=2.18.4",
+            "tox>=2.9.1",
+        ]
+    },
+    author="{{cookiecutter.full_name}}",
+    keywords=[],
+    license="BSD",
+    name="{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}",
+    test_suite="tests",
+    description="{{cookiecutter.project_description}}",
+    long_description=(
+        "📘 learn more of this project on [GitHub]"
+        "(https://github.com/{{cookiecutter.github_account}}/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}})!"
+    ),
+    long_description_content_type="text/markdown",
+    url="https://github.com/{{cookiecutter.github_account}}/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}",
+)