diff --git a/MANIFEST.in b/MANIFEST.in
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..dc607f2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/MANIFEST.in
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+global-exclude *.dylib
+global-exclude *.py[cod]
+global-exclude *.so
+global-exclude __pycache__
+
+# This is required for source distributions
+include setup.json
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index e19d355..7700f63 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 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
diff --git a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/MANIFEST.in b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/MANIFEST.in
index 5a9d12c..6cb4894 100644
--- a/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/MANIFEST.in
+++ b/{{cookiecutter.project_slug}}/MANIFEST.in
@@ -4,3 +4,6 @@ global-exclude *.so
 global-exclude __pycache__
 include VERSION
 recursive-include {{cookiecutter.project_slug}} *
+
+# This is required for source distributions
+include setup.json