diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index ed665676db8..25c5238466d 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -358,8 +358,6 @@ endif()
 
 # Handle installation of targets, version, config and pkgconfig
 if(VW_INSTALL)
-  configure_file(libvw.pc.in libvw.pc @ONLY)
-
   # only do this if the file exists. Some packages dont have this file and its only needed in a very specific use case
   if(EXISTS nuget/vowpalwabbit.nuspec.in)
     configure_file(nuget/vowpalwabbit.nuspec.in nuget/vowpalwabbit.nuspec @ONLY)
@@ -367,7 +365,7 @@ if(VW_INSTALL)
 
   configure_file(libvw_c_wrapper.pc.in libvw_c_wrapper.pc @ONLY)
   install(
-    FILES ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/libvw.pc ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/libvw_c_wrapper.pc
+    FILES ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/libvw_c_wrapper.pc
     DESTINATION ${CMAKE_INSTALL_LIBDIR}/pkgconfig)
 
   install(EXPORT VowpalWabbitConfig
diff --git a/cmake/VowpalWabbitConfig.cmake.in b/cmake/VowpalWabbitConfig.cmake.in
index 31bb650c6c3..ce5e4625aa1 100644
--- a/cmake/VowpalWabbitConfig.cmake.in
+++ b/cmake/VowpalWabbitConfig.cmake.in
@@ -3,5 +3,10 @@
 include(CMakeFindDependencyMacro)
 find_dependency(ZLIB REQUIRED)
 find_dependency(Threads REQUIRED)
+find_dependency(spdlog REQUIRED)
+find_dependency(fmt REQUIRED)
+find_dependency(RapidJSON REQUIRED)
 
-include("${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/VowpalWabbitTargets.cmake")
\ No newline at end of file
+include("${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/VowpalWabbitTargets.cmake")
+
+check_required_components(VowpalWabbit)
diff --git a/libvw.pc.in b/libvw.pc.in
deleted file mode 100644
index 8f1c4d5d868..00000000000
--- a/libvw.pc.in
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,12 +0,0 @@
-prefix=@CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX@
-exec_prefix=@CMAKE_INSTALL_FULL_BINDIR@
-libdir=@CMAKE_INSTALL_FULL_LIBDIR@
-includedir=@CMAKE_INSTALL_FULL_INCLUDEDIR@
-
-Name: Vowpal Wabbit
-Description: @VW_PROJECT_DESCRIPTION@
-URL: @VW_PROJECT_URL@
-Version: @PACKAGE_VERSION@
-Requires: zlib
-Libs: -L${libdir} -lvw -lallreduce @CMAKE_THREAD_LIBS_INIT@ @BOOST_LINK_LIBRARIES@
-Cflags: -I${includedir}
diff --git a/libvw_c_wrapper.pc.in b/libvw_c_wrapper.pc.in
index cf6125e2ca7..24dfd2ace2a 100644
--- a/libvw_c_wrapper.pc.in
+++ b/libvw_c_wrapper.pc.in
@@ -7,6 +7,5 @@ Name: Vowpal Wabbit (C wrapper)
 Description: @VW_PROJECT_DESCRIPTION@ (C wrapper)
 URL: @VW_PROJECT_URL@
 Version: @PACKAGE_VERSION@
-Requires: libvw
 Libs: -L${libdir} -lvw_c_wrapper
 Cflags: -I${includedir}