diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 233a1ff86..2c7e31f0f 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ include_directories(
 
 add_subdirectory(src)
 add_subdirectory(plugins)
+add_subdirectory(python)
 
 if (BUILD_EXAMPLES)
 	add_subdirectory(examples)
diff --git a/python/CMakeLists.txt b/python/CMakeLists.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3532426f9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/python/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+file(GLOB_RECURSE sources *.c)
+
+# core runtime headers
+file(GLOB_RECURSE headers *.h)
+
+add_library(vaccel-python SHARED ${headers} ${sources})
+target_compile_options(vaccel-python PUBLIC -Wall -Wextra -Werror -pthread)
+target_include_directories(vaccel-python PRIVATE ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/src)
+target_include_directories(vaccel-python PRIVATE ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/src/include)
+set_property(TARGET vaccel-python PROPERTY LINK_FLAGS "-pthread")
+set_property(TARGET vaccel-python PROPERTY C_STANDARD 11)
+target_link_libraries(vaccel-python)
+
+# Setup make install
+install(TARGETS vaccel-python DESTINATION ${CMAKE_INSTALL_LIBDIR})
+#install(DIRECTORY include/ DESTINATION ${CMAKE_INSTALL_INCLUDEDIR})
+
+# Create the pkg-config file
+set(DEST_DIR "${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}")
+CONFIGURE_FILE("vaccel-python.pc.in" "vaccel-python.pc" @ONLY)
+
+# Install the vaccel.pc file
+install(FILES ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/vaccel-python.pc DESTINATION ${CMAKE_INSTALL_DATAROOTDIR})
diff --git a/python/helper.c b/python/helper.c
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2f3da8025
--- /dev/null
+++ b/python/helper.c
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <dlfcn.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <vaccel.h>
+#include <plugin.h>
+#include <assert.h>
+
+__attribute__((constructor))
+void load_vaccel(void)
+{
+	printf("Loading libvaccel\n");
+	void *dl = dlopen("libvaccel.so", RTLD_LAZY | RTLD_GLOBAL);
+	if (!dl) {
+		fprintf(stderr, "Could not open libvaccel\n");
+		exit(1);
+	}
+
+	char *pname = getenv("PYTHON_VACCEL_PLUGIN");
+	printf("Loading plugin %s\n", pname);
+	void *plugin = dlopen(pname, RTLD_NOW);
+	if (!plugin) {
+		fprintf(stderr, "Failed to load plugin: %s\n", dlerror());
+		exit(1);
+	}
+
+	struct vaccel_plugin **p;
+
+	int (*register_plugin)(struct vaccel_plugin *) =
+		dlsym(dl, "register_plugin");
+	assert(register_plugin);
+
+	p = dlsym(plugin, "vaccel_plugin");
+	if (p == NULL) {
+		fprintf(stderr, "Cannot find vaccel_plugin symbol\n");
+		return;
+	}
+	assert(p);
+
+	int ret = register_plugin(*p);
+	assert(!ret);
+	if (ret) {
+		fprintf(stderr, "Failed to register plugin\n");
+		return;
+	}
+		
+	ret = (*p)->info->init();
+	assert(!ret);
+	if (ret) {
+		fprintf(stderr, "Failed to initialize plugin\n");
+		return;
+	}
+}
diff --git a/python/vaccel-python.pc.in b/python/vaccel-python.pc.in
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1e1661a3d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/python/vaccel-python.pc.in
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+prefix=@DEST_DIR@
+exec_prefix=${prefix}
+libdir=${prefix}/lib
+includedir=${prefix}/include
+
+Name: libvaccel-python
+Description: Transparent acceleration for edge and cloud computing hack
+Version: 0.4.0
+
+Libs: -L${libdir} -lvaccel-python
+Cflags: -I${includedir}