diff --git a/nphash/_build_utils/_ffi_builders.py b/nphash/_build_utils/_ffi_builders.py
index 5c1b068b..664a4c3b 100644
--- a/nphash/_build_utils/_ffi_builders.py
+++ b/nphash/_build_utils/_ffi_builders.py
@@ -1,17 +1,17 @@
 """Compiler utilities for building CFFI extensions for the nphash library.
 
 This module provides specialised CFFI (C Foreign Function Interface) setup
-functions and a custom distutils build_ext command. These components are
+functions and a custom setuptools build_ext command. These components are
 designed to correctly compile C and C++ sources, including those requiring
 specific compiler flags for features like OpenMP and C++11, particularly
 for the BLAKE3 TBB (Threading Building Blocks) integration.
 """
 
-from distutils.command.build_ext import build_ext as _build_ext
 from pathlib import Path
 from typing import Any
 
 from cffi import FFI
+from setuptools.command.build_ext import build_ext as _build_ext
 
 from nphash._build_utils._blake3_builder import (
     _compile_blake3_simd_objects,
diff --git a/nphash/build.py b/nphash/build.py
index 7d863f70..c95061bd 100644
--- a/nphash/build.py
+++ b/nphash/build.py
@@ -10,11 +10,13 @@
 This will generate the _bytesearchffi, _npblake2bffi, _npblake3ffi and _npsha256ffi extension modules, which can be imported from Python code.
 """
 
-import distutils.command.build_ext
 import os
 import tempfile
-from distutils.dist import Distribution
 from pathlib import Path
+from typing import Callable, cast
+
+import setuptools.command.build_ext
+from setuptools.dist import Distribution
 
 from nphash._build_utils._config_builder import _get_build_config
 from nphash._build_utils._ffi_builders import (
@@ -52,37 +54,38 @@ def main() -> None:
         ffibuilder_sha256 = _get_npsha256_ffi(config, build_dir)
 
         if config.tbb_enabled:
-            # Patch distutils' build_ext to ensure -std=c++11 is added only for .cpp files during CFFI builds.
+            # Patch setuptools' build_ext to ensure -std=c++11 is added only for .cpp files during CFFI builds.
             # This is required for BLAKE3/TBB on macOS, and avoids breaking C builds.
             # Using setattr avoids mypy errors and keeps the patch local to this build process.
-            setattr(distutils.command.build_ext, "build_ext", _build_ext_with_cpp11)
+            setattr(setuptools.command.build_ext, "build_ext", _build_ext_with_cpp11)
 
         # Compile FFI Modules with target and temp dir
         print("Compiling CFFI extensions...")
 
         dist = Distribution()
-        build_ext_cmd = distutils.command.build_ext.build_ext(dist)
+        build_ext_cmd = setuptools.command.build_ext.build_ext(dist)
         build_ext_cmd.initialize_options()
+        get_ext_filename = cast(Callable[[str], str], build_ext_cmd.get_ext_filename)
 
         # Compile the CFFI extensions
         ffibuilder_bytesearch.compile(
             tmpdir=str(build_dir),
-            target=str(nphash_dir / build_ext_cmd.get_ext_filename("_bytesearchffi")),
+            target=str(nphash_dir / get_ext_filename("_bytesearchffi")),
             verbose=True,
         )
         ffibuilder_blake2b.compile(
             tmpdir=str(build_dir),
-            target=str(nphash_dir / build_ext_cmd.get_ext_filename("_npblake2bffi")),
+            target=str(nphash_dir / get_ext_filename("_npblake2bffi")),
             verbose=True,
         )
         ffibuilder_npblake3.compile(
             tmpdir=str(build_dir),
-            target=str(nphash_dir / build_ext_cmd.get_ext_filename("_npblake3ffi")),
+            target=str(nphash_dir / get_ext_filename("_npblake3ffi")),
             verbose=True,
         )
         ffibuilder_sha256.compile(
             tmpdir=str(build_dir),
-            target=str(nphash_dir / build_ext_cmd.get_ext_filename("_npsha256ffi")),
+            target=str(nphash_dir / get_ext_filename("_npsha256ffi")),
             verbose=True,
         )
 
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 7f939ea4..46f98509 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ dev = [
     "sphinx>=8.1",
     "sphinx-autodoc-typehints>=3.0",
     "sphinx_rtd_theme>=3.0",
+    "types-setuptools>=80.9"
 ]
 numpy = [
     "numpy>=2.2"
@@ -35,7 +36,7 @@ cffi = [
 vernamveil = "vernamveil._cli:main"
 
 [build-system]
-requires = ["setuptools>=68.1", "wheel"]
+requires = ["setuptools", "wheel"]
 build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
 
 [tool.black]