diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
deleted file mode 100644
index 4f8ea2e..0000000
--- a/.gitmodules
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,8 +0,0 @@
-[submodule "external/pybind11"]
-	path = external/pybind11
-	url = https://github.com/pybind/pybind11
-	branch = stable
-[submodule "external/oxen-mq"]
-	path = external/oxen-mq
-	url = https://github.com/oxen-io/oxen-mq
-	branch = dev
diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index c86cedc..0000000
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,52 +0,0 @@
-cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.10)  # bionic's cmake version
-
-
-find_program(CCACHE_PROGRAM ccache)
-if(CCACHE_PROGRAM)
-  set_property(GLOBAL PROPERTY RULE_LAUNCH_COMPILE "${CCACHE_PROGRAM}")
-endif()
-
-project(pyoxenmq
-    VERSION 1.0.0
-    DESCRIPTION "python interface to OxenMQ"
-    LANGUAGES CXX)
-
-set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 17)
-set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD_REQUIRED ON)
-set(CMAKE_CXX_EXTENSIONS OFF)
-
-option(SUBMODULE_CHECK "Enables checking that vendored library submodules are up to date" ON)
-if(SUBMODULE_CHECK)
-  find_package(Git)
-  if(GIT_FOUND)
-    function(check_submodule relative_path)
-      execute_process(COMMAND git rev-parse "HEAD" WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/${relative_path} OUTPUT_VARIABLE localHead)
-      execute_process(COMMAND git rev-parse "HEAD:${relative_path}" WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR} OUTPUT_VARIABLE checkedHead)
-      string(COMPARE EQUAL "${localHead}" "${checkedHead}" upToDate)
-      if (upToDate)
-        message(STATUS "Submodule '${relative_path}' is up-to-date")
-      else()
-        message(FATAL_ERROR "Submodule '${relative_path}' is not up-to-date. Please update with\ngit submodule update --init --recursive\nor run cmake with -DSUBMODULE_CHECK=OFF")
-      endif()
-    endfunction ()
-    
-    check_submodule(external/pybind11)
-    check_submodule(external/oxen-mq)
-  endif()
-endif()
-
-add_subdirectory(external/pybind11)
-
-pybind11_add_module(oxenmq MODULE
-    src/bencode.cpp
-    src/oxenmq.cpp
-    src/module.cpp
-)
-
-if(TARGET oxenmq::oxenmq)
-    target_link_libraries(pyoxenmq PRIVATE oxenmq::oxenmq)
-else()
-    include(FindPkgConfig)
-    pkg_check_modules(oxenmq REQUIRED IMPORTED_TARGET liboxenmq>=1.2.8)
-    target_link_libraries(oxenmq PRIVATE PkgConfig::oxenmq)
-endif()
diff --git a/external/oxen-mq b/external/oxen-mq
deleted file mode 160000
index dccbd1e..0000000
--- a/external/oxen-mq
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Subproject commit dccbd1e8cdb9f57206077facdf973c8e86fc6bec
diff --git a/external/pybind11 b/external/pybind11
deleted file mode 160000
index 97976c1..0000000
--- a/external/pybind11
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Subproject commit 97976c16fb7652f7faf02d76756666ef87adbe7d
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index ab05f30..89ae1ed 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 requires = [
     "setuptools>=42",
     "wheel",
-    "pybind11>=2.4.0",
+    "pybind11>=2.6.0",
 ]
 
 build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index c6373f1..7e7d60b 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -26,6 +26,5 @@ setup(
     description="Python wrapper for oxen-mq message passing library",
     long_description="",
     ext_modules=ext_modules,
-    cmdclass={"build_ext": build_ext},
     zip_safe=False,
 )