diff --git a/.github/workflows/build_test_release_eudsl.yml b/.github/workflows/build_test_release_eudsl.yml
index ce31af07..bb2a3f1f 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build_test_release_eudsl.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build_test_release_eudsl.yml
@@ -108,7 +108,6 @@ jobs:
             echo "LLVM_DIR=/host/$PWD/llvm-install/lib/cmake/llvm" >> $GITHUB_ENV
             echo "MLIR_DIR=/host/$PWD/llvm-install/lib/cmake/mlir" >> $GITHUB_ENV
             echo "Clang_DIR=/host/$PWD/llvm-install/lib/cmake/clang" >> $GITHUB_ENV
-            echo "CCACHE_DIR=/host/$CCACHE_DIR" >> $GITHUB_ENV
             echo "PIP_FIND_LINKS=/host/$PWD/wheelhouse" >> $GITHUB_ENV
           else
             echo "LLVM_DIR=$PWD/llvm-install/lib/cmake/llvm" >> $GITHUB_ENV
@@ -131,27 +130,47 @@ jobs:
             echo MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET=13.7 >> $GITHUB_ENV
           fi
           
+          # prevent OOM on free GHA
+          echo "EUDSLPY_DISABLE_COMPILE_OPT=${{ inputs.eudslpy_disable_compile_opt == 'true' && 'ON' || 'OFF' }}" >> $GITHUB_ENV
+          
           pip install cibuildwheel
 
       - name: "Build eudsl-tblgen"
         run: |
           
+          if [[ "${{ matrix.os }}" == "ubuntu" ]]; then
+            export CCACHE_DIR=/host/$CCACHE_DIR
+          fi
           $python3_command -m cibuildwheel "$PWD/projects/eudsl-tblgen" --output-dir wheelhouse
 
       - name: "Build eudsl-nbgen"
-        if: ${{ ! startsWith(matrix.os, 'windows') }}
         run: |
           
+          if [[ "${{ matrix.os }}" == "ubuntu" ]]; then
+            export CCACHE_DIR=/host/$CCACHE_DIR
+          fi
           $python3_command -m cibuildwheel "$PWD/projects/eudsl-nbgen" --output-dir wheelhouse
 
       - name: "Build eudsl-py"
         if: ${{ ! startsWith(matrix.os, 'windows') }}
         run: |
           
-          # prevent OOM on free GHA
-          export EUDSLPY_DISABLE_COMPILE_OPT="${{ inputs.eudslpy_disable_compile_opt == 'true' && 'ON' || 'OFF' }}"
+          if [[ "${{ matrix.os }}" == "ubuntu" ]]; then
+            export CCACHE_DIR=/host/$CCACHE_DIR
+          fi
           $python3_command -m cibuildwheel "$PWD/projects/eudsl-py" --output-dir wheelhouse
 
+      # just to/make sure total build continues to work
+      - name: "Build all of eudsl"
+        run: |
+          
+          pip install -r requirements.txt
+          cmake -B $PWD/eudsl-build -S $PWD \
+            -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=$PWD/llvm-install \
+            -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release \
+            -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=$PWD/eudsl-install
+          cmake --build "$PWD/eudsl-build" --target install
+
       - name: "Save cache"
         uses: actions/cache/save@v3
         if: ${{ !cancelled() && github.event_name == 'push' && github.ref_name == 'main' }}
diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..4f423581
--- /dev/null
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
+# Part of the LLVM Project, under the Apache License v2.0 with LLVM Exceptions.
+# See https://llvm.org/LICENSE.txt for license information.
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0 WITH LLVM-exception
+# Copyright (c) 2024.
+
+cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.29)
+set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 17)
+set(CMAKE_EXPORT_COMPILE_COMMANDS ON)
+
+set(LLVM_SUBPROJECT_TITLE "EUDSL")
+set(EUDSL_BINARY_DIR ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR})
+
+if (CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR STREQUAL CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR)
+  message("Building ${LLVM_SUBPROJECT_TITLE} as a standalone project.")
+  project(${LLVM_SUBPROJECT_TITLE} CXX C)
+  set(EUDSL_STANDALONE_BUILD ON)
+else()
+  enable_language(CXX C)
+  set(EUDSL_STANDALONE_BUILD OFF)
+endif()
+
+if(EUDSL_STANDALONE_BUILD)
+  find_package(LLVM REQUIRED CONFIG)
+  find_package(MLIR REQUIRED CONFIG)
+  find_package(Clang REQUIRED CONFIG PATHS "${LLVM_BINARY_DIR}" NO_DEFAULT_PATH NO_CMAKE_FIND_ROOT_PATH)
+
+  message(STATUS "Using LLVMConfig.cmake in: ${LLVM_DIR}")
+  message(STATUS "Using MLIRConfig.cmake in: ${MLIR_DIR}")
+  message(STATUS "Using ClangConfig.cmake in: ${Clang_DIR}")
+
+  set(LLVM_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_INTDIR ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/bin)
+  set(LLVM_LIBRARY_OUTPUT_INTDIR ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/lib)
+  set(MLIR_BINARY_DIR ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR})
+
+  list(APPEND CMAKE_MODULE_PATH "${MLIR_CMAKE_DIR}")
+  list(APPEND CMAKE_MODULE_PATH "${LLVM_CMAKE_DIR}")
+  list(APPEND CMAKE_MODULE_PATH "${CLANG_CMAKE_DIR}")
+
+  include(TableGen)
+  include(AddLLVM)
+  include(AddMLIR)
+  include(AddClang)
+
+  set(MLIR_INCLUDE_DIR ${MLIR_INCLUDE_DIRS})
+else()
+  # turning LLVM -DLLVM_OPTIMIZED_TABLEGEN=ON builds some stuff in the NATIVE dir
+  # but not everything so LLVM_BINARY_DIR isn't correct
+  string(REPLACE "NATIVE" "" LLVM_BINARY_DIR "${LLVM_BINARY_DIR}")
+  # Build via external projects mechanism
+  set(LLVM_INCLUDE_DIR ${LLVM_MAIN_SRC_DIR}/include)
+  set(LLVM_GENERATED_INCLUDE_DIR ${LLVM_BINARY_DIR}/include)
+  set(LLVM_INCLUDE_DIRS "${LLVM_INCLUDE_DIR};${LLVM_GENERATED_INCLUDE_DIR}")
+
+  set(MLIR_MAIN_SRC_DIR ${LLVM_MAIN_SRC_DIR}/../mlir)
+  set(MLIR_INCLUDE_DIR ${MLIR_MAIN_SRC_DIR}/include)
+  set(MLIR_GENERATED_INCLUDE_DIR ${LLVM_BINARY_DIR}/tools/mlir/include)
+  set(MLIR_INCLUDE_DIRS "${MLIR_INCLUDE_DIR};${MLIR_GENERATED_INCLUDE_DIR}")
+
+  set(CLANG_MAIN_SRC_DIR ${LLVM_MAIN_SRC_DIR}/../clang)
+  set(CLANG_INCLUDE_DIR ${CLANG_MAIN_SRC_DIR}/include)
+  set(CLANG_GENERATED_INCLUDE_DIR ${LLVM_BINARY_DIR}/tools/clang/include)
+  set(CLANG_INCLUDE_DIRS "${CLANG_INCLUDE_DIR};${CLANG_GENERATED_INCLUDE_DIR}")
+endif()
+
+include_directories(${LLVM_INCLUDE_DIRS})
+include_directories(${MLIR_INCLUDE_DIRS})
+include_directories(${CLANG_INCLUDE_DIRS})
+link_directories(${LLVM_BUILD_LIBRARY_DIR})
+add_definitions(${LLVM_DEFINITIONS})
+
+if(NOT TARGET LLVMSupport)
+  message(FATAL_ERROR "LLVMSupport not found")
+endif()
+
+add_subdirectory(projects)
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 1208cabe..773d3c51 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -7,6 +7,68 @@
 This repository contains the source code for `EUDSL`, a toolkit for the construction of 
 embedded DSLs, in arbitrary languages, for targeting [MLIR](https://mlir.llvm.org).
 
+FYI: this project is currently "alpha" quality.
+
+Currently there are three components:
+
+1. [eudsl-tblgen](./projects/eudsl-tblgen): Python bindings to [MLIR's TableGen library](https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/tree/main/mlir/lib/TableGen);
+2. [eudsl-nbgen](./projects/eudsl-nbgen): A source-to-source translator that translates MLIR headers[^1] into direct `nanobind` bindings;
+3. [eudsl-py](./projects/eudsl-py): Direct Python bindings to MLIR, generated using `eudsl-nbgen`;
+   * Currently only TableGen outputs (various `*.h.inc` files generated by `mlir-tblgen`) are automatically translated but the `eudsl-nbgen` tool can be manually run to translate any MLIR header (to varying degrees of success);
+   * See [projects/eudsl-py/tests](./projects/eudsl-py/tests) for a few examples of what these bindings look like.
+
 ## Getting started
 
-Coming soon...
+Python wheels of all the tools are available at the [`latest` release page](https://github.com/llvm/eudsl/releases/tag/latest).
+They are also `pip install`-able with .e.g
+
+```shell
+$ cd <EUDSL_CHECKOUT_DIR>
+$ pip install eudsl-py -f https://github.com/llvm/eudsl/releases/expanded_assets/latest
+```
+
+`eudsl-py` has a slowly growing set of tests @ [projects/eudsl-py/tests](./projects/eudsl-py/tests).
+
+If you don't want to install locally, here is a [colab notebook minimal working example](https://colab.research.google.com/drive/1l-6rVnsUM3ypn7rKcaF_V6XVdopEM4Df?usp=sharing).
+
+## Developing/building
+
+**Strong recommendation**: check the CI scripts @ [.github/workflows](.github/workflows) - they do a fresh checkout and build on every commit and are written to be read by a non-CI expert.
+
+Firstly, you need a distribution of LLVM. You can build LLVM from source using our submodule by doing (on Mac/Linux or mingw):
+
+```shell
+$ cd <EUDSL_CHECKOUT_DIR>
+$ ./build_tools/build_llvm.sh
+```
+
+Alternatively you can download a distribution for your platform from the [`llvm` release page](https://github.com/llvm/eudsl/releases/tag/llvm).
+
+Then each of the above tools can both be built as a conventional, standalone, CMake project and as a Python wheel.
+The wheel build looks something like:
+
+```shell
+$ cd <EUDSL_CHECKOUT_DIR>
+$ export CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=$PWD/llvm-install 
+$ pip wheel projects/eudsl-nbgen -w wheelhouse -v
+$ pip wheel projects/eudsl-py -w wheelhouse -v --find-links $PWD/wheelhouse
+```
+
+Note, the trailing `--find-links $PWD/wheelhouse` on `pip wheel projects/eudsl-py` is because `eudsl-nbgen` is a dependency of `eudsl-py` (that can be satisfied using the `eudsl-nbgen` wheel).
+
+If you want to build an individual tool via CMake you can do something like:
+
+```shell
+$ cd <EUDSL_CHECKOUT_DIR>
+$ pip install -r requirements.txt
+$ export CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=$PWD/llvm-install 
+$ cmake -B $PWD/eudsl-nbgen-build -S $PWD/projects/eudsl-nbgen -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=$PWD/eudsl-nbgen-install
+$ cmake --build "$PWD/eudsl-build" --target install
+```
+
+If you want to build all the tools at once using CMake you can use the root [`CMakeLists.txt`](./CMakeLists.txt).
+Note, in this case, `eudsl-nbgen` will automatically be built prior to `eudsl-py`.
+
+## Footnotes
+
+[^1]: Yes C++ headers...
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/projects/CMakeLists.txt b/projects/CMakeLists.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e3b16175
--- /dev/null
+++ b/projects/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+# Part of the LLVM Project, under the Apache License v2.0 with LLVM Exceptions.
+# See https://llvm.org/LICENSE.txt for license information.
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0 WITH LLVM-exception
+# Copyright (c) 2024.
+
+if(NOT WIN32)
+  add_subdirectory(eudsl-py)
+endif()
+add_subdirectory(eudsl-nbgen)
+add_subdirectory(eudsl-tblgen)
diff --git a/projects/eudsl-nbgen/CMakeLists.txt b/projects/eudsl-nbgen/CMakeLists.txt
index b5faa3f3..a63b9287 100644
--- a/projects/eudsl-nbgen/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/projects/eudsl-nbgen/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -30,25 +30,7 @@ if(EUDSL_NBGEN_STANDALONE_BUILD)
   include(TableGen)
   include(AddLLVM)
   include(AddClang)
-  # TODO(max): probably don't need this anymore after landing the nanobind fix?
-  # technically we need this on windows too but our LLVM is compiled without exception handling
-  # and that breaks windows
-  if(NOT WIN32)
-    include(HandleLLVMOptions)
-  endif()
-else()
-  # turning LLVM -DLLVM_OPTIMIZED_TABLEGEN=ON builds some stuff in the NATIVE dir
-  # but not everything so LLVM_BINARY_DIR isn't correct
-  string(REPLACE "NATIVE" "" LLVM_BINARY_DIR "${LLVM_BINARY_DIR}")
-  # Build via external projects mechanism
-  set(LLVM_INCLUDE_DIR ${LLVM_MAIN_SRC_DIR}/include)
-  set(LLVM_GENERATED_INCLUDE_DIR ${LLVM_BINARY_DIR}/include)
-  set(LLVM_INCLUDE_DIRS "${LLVM_INCLUDE_DIR};${LLVM_GENERATED_INCLUDE_DIR}")
-
-  set(CLANG_MAIN_SRC_DIR ${LLVM_MAIN_SRC_DIR}/../clang)
-  set(CLANG_INCLUDE_DIR ${CLANG_MAIN_SRC_DIR}/include)
-  set(CLANG_GENERATED_INCLUDE_DIR ${LLVM_BINARY_DIR}/tools/clang/include)
-  set(CLANG_INCLUDE_DIRS "${CLANG_INCLUDE_DIR};${CLANG_GENERATED_INCLUDE_DIR}")
+  include(HandleLLVMOptions)
 endif()
 
 include_directories(${LLVM_INCLUDE_DIRS})
@@ -72,13 +54,25 @@ target_link_libraries(eudsl-nbgen
 )
 
 string(TOLOWER ${LLVM_SUBPROJECT_TITLE} EUDSL_NBGEN_INSTALL_DATADIR)
-# https://github.com/scikit-build/scikit-build-core/blob/a887a9b6c057b4ce9d3cfd53ae24e73caf1395a2/docs/build.md?plain=1#L139-L148
-# actually installs to venv/bin
-install(TARGETS eudsl-nbgen RUNTIME DESTINATION "${EUDSL_NBGEN_INSTALL_DATADIR}.data/scripts")
-# this actually installs into venv/lib
-install(IMPORTED_RUNTIME_ARTIFACTS LLVM LIBRARY DESTINATION "${EUDSL_NBGEN_INSTALL_DATADIR}.data/data/lib")
+if (NOT "$ENV{PIP_BUILD_TRACKER}" STREQUAL "")
+  # pip install
+  # actually installs to venv/bin
+  # https://github.com/scikit-build/scikit-build-core/blob/a887a9b6c057b4ce9d3cfd53ae24e73caf1395a2/docs/build.md?plain=1#L139-L148
+  install(TARGETS eudsl-nbgen RUNTIME DESTINATION "${EUDSL_NBGEN_INSTALL_DATADIR}.data/scripts")
+  if (NOT WIN32)
+    # this actually installs into venv/lib
+    install(IMPORTED_RUNTIME_ARTIFACTS LLVM LIBRARY DESTINATION "${EUDSL_NBGEN_INSTALL_DATADIR}.data/data/lib")
+  endif()
+else()
+  # pip cmake install
+  install(TARGETS eudsl-nbgen RUNTIME DESTINATION "${EUDSL_NBGEN_INSTALL_DATADIR}/bin")
+  if (NOT WIN32)
+    install(IMPORTED_RUNTIME_ARTIFACTS LLVM LIBRARY DESTINATION "${EUDSL_NBGEN_INSTALL_DATADIR}/lib")
+  endif()
+endif()
 
 install(
+  # the slash is load-bearing...
   DIRECTORY src/
   DESTINATION "${EUDSL_NBGEN_INSTALL_DATADIR}"
   FILES_MATCHING PATTERN "*\.py"
diff --git a/projects/eudsl-nbgen/cmake/eudsl_nbgen-config.cmake b/projects/eudsl-nbgen/cmake/eudsl_nbgen-config.cmake
index 235e8706..2548f4e5 100644
--- a/projects/eudsl-nbgen/cmake/eudsl_nbgen-config.cmake
+++ b/projects/eudsl-nbgen/cmake/eudsl_nbgen-config.cmake
@@ -5,25 +5,25 @@
 
 # copy-pasta from AddMLIR.cmake/AddLLVM.cmake/TableGen.cmake
 
-function(eudslpygen target input_file)
-  set(EUDSLPYGEN_TARGET_DEFINITIONS ${input_file})
-  cmake_parse_arguments(ARG "" "" "DEPENDS;EXTRA_INCLUDES;NAMESPACES" ${ARGN})
-  if (IS_ABSOLUTE ${EUDSLPYGEN_TARGET_DEFINITIONS})
-    set(EUDSLPYGEN_TARGET_DEFINITIONS_ABSOLUTE ${input_file})
+function(eudsl_nbgen target input_file)
+  set(EUDSL_NBGEN_TARGET_DEFINITIONS ${input_file})
+  cmake_parse_arguments(ARG "" "" "LINK_LIBS;EXTRA_INCLUDES;NAMESPACES" ${ARGN})
+  if (IS_ABSOLUTE ${EUDSL_NBGEN_TARGET_DEFINITIONS})
+    set(EUDSL_NBGEN_TARGET_DEFINITIONS_ABSOLUTE ${input_file})
   else()
-    set(EUDSLPYGEN_TARGET_DEFINITIONS_ABSOLUTE ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/${input_file})
+    set(EUDSL_NBGEN_TARGET_DEFINITIONS_ABSOLUTE ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/${input_file})
   endif()
 
-  if(NOT EXISTS "${EUDSLPYGEN_TARGET_DEFINITIONS_ABSOLUTE}")
+  if (NOT EXISTS "${EUDSL_NBGEN_TARGET_DEFINITIONS_ABSOLUTE}")
     message(FATAL_ERROR "${input_file} does not exist")
   endif()
 
-  get_directory_property(eudslpygen_includes INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES)
+  get_directory_property(eudsl_nbgen_includes INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES)
   list(TRANSFORM ARG_EXTRA_INCLUDES PREPEND -I)
-  list(APPEND eudslpygen_includes ${CMAKE_CXX_IMPLICIT_INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES})
-  list(REMOVE_ITEM eudslpygen_includes "")
-  list(TRANSFORM eudslpygen_includes PREPEND -I)
-  list(APPEND eudslpygen_includes ${ARG_EXTRA_INCLUDES})
+  list(APPEND eudsl_nbgen_includes ${CMAKE_CXX_IMPLICIT_INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES})
+  list(REMOVE_ITEM eudsl_nbgen_includes "")
+  list(TRANSFORM eudsl_nbgen_includes PREPEND -I)
+  list(APPEND eudsl_nbgen_includes ${ARG_EXTRA_INCLUDES})
 
   set(_gen_target_dir "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/generated/${target}")
   file(MAKE_DIRECTORY ${_gen_target_dir})
@@ -33,61 +33,107 @@ function(eudslpygen target input_file)
   # hack but most of the time we're loading headers that are downstream of tds anyway
   # this could be smarter by asking people to list td targets or something but that's too onerous
   file(GLOB_RECURSE global_tds "${MLIR_INCLUDE_DIR}/mlir/*.td")
-  # use cc -MM  to collect all transitive headers
-  set(clang_command ${CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER}
-    # -v
-    -xc++ "-std=c++${CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD}"
-    -MM ${EUDSLPYGEN_TARGET_DEFINITIONS_ABSOLUTE}
-    -MT ${_full_gen_file}
-    ${eudslpygen_includes}
-    -o ${_depfile}
-  )
-  execute_process(COMMAND ${clang_command} RESULT_VARIABLE _had_error_depfile
-    # COMMAND_ECHO STDOUT
-  )
+  if (NOT EXISTS ${_depfile})
+    # use cc -MM  to collect all transitive headers
+    set(clang_command ${CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER}
+      # -v
+      -xc++ "-std=c++${CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD}"
+      -MM ${EUDSL_NBGEN_TARGET_DEFINITIONS_ABSOLUTE}
+      -MT ${_full_gen_file}
+      ${eudsl_nbgen_includes}
+      -o ${_depfile}
+    )
+    execute_process(COMMAND ${clang_command} RESULT_VARIABLE _had_error_depfile
+      # COMMAND_ECHO STDOUT
+    )
+  endif()
 
-  if (IS_ABSOLUTE ${EUDSLPYGEN_TARGET_DEFINITIONS})
-    set(EUDSLPYGEN_TARGET_DEFINITIONS_ABSOLUTE ${EUDSLPYGEN_TARGET_DEFINITIONS})
+  if (IS_ABSOLUTE ${EUDSL_NBGEN_TARGET_DEFINITIONS})
+    set(EUDSL_NBGEN_TARGET_DEFINITIONS_ABSOLUTE ${EUDSL_NBGEN_TARGET_DEFINITIONS})
   else()
-    set(EUDSLPYGEN_TARGET_DEFINITIONS_ABSOLUTE
-      ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/${EUDSLPYGEN_TARGET_DEFINITIONS})
+    set(EUDSL_NBGEN_TARGET_DEFINITIONS_ABSOLUTE
+      ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/${EUDSL_NBGEN_TARGET_DEFINITIONS})
   endif()
 
-  string(REPLACE " " ";" eudslpygen_defines "${LLVM_DEFINITIONS}")
+  string(REPLACE " " ";" eudsl_nbgen_defines "${LLVM_DEFINITIONS}")
   list(JOIN ARG_NAMESPACES "," namespaces)
 
-  find_program(EUDSLPY_EUDSLPYGEN_EXE "eudsl-nbgen" REQUIRED)
-  execute_process(
-    COMMAND ${EUDSLPY_EUDSLPYGEN_EXE} ${EUDSLPYGEN_TARGET_DEFINITIONS_ABSOLUTE}
-      -I${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}
-      -namespaces=${namespaces}
-      ${eudslpygen_includes}
-      ${eudslpygen_defines}
-      -o "${_full_gen_file}"
-    WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}
-    RESULT_VARIABLE _had_error_gen_cpp
-    # COMMAND_ECHO STDOUT
+  set(eudsl_nbgen_generate_cmd
+    ${EUDSL_NBGEN_TARGET_DEFINITIONS_ABSOLUTE}
+    -I${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR} -namespaces=${namespaces}
+    ${eudsl_nbgen_includes} ${eudsl_nbgen_defines}
+    -o "${_full_gen_file}"
   )
-  if((_had_error_gen_cpp AND NOT _had_error_gen_cpp EQUAL 0) OR NOT EXISTS "${_full_gen_file}")
-    message(FATAL_ERROR "failed to create ${_full_gen_file}: ${_had_error_gen_cpp}")
-  endif()
-  # this is the specific thing connected the dependencies...
-  set_property(DIRECTORY APPEND PROPERTY CMAKE_CONFIGURE_DEPENDS ${_full_gen_file})
-  execute_process(
-    COMMAND ${EUDSLPY_EUDSLPYGEN_EXE} -shardify ${_full_gen_file}
-      # ARG_EXTRA_INCLUDES has already had -I prepended
-      -shard-target ${target} ${ARG_EXTRA_INCLUDES} -I ${EUDSLPYGEN_TARGET_DEFINITIONS_ABSOLUTE}
-    WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}
-    RESULT_VARIABLE _had_error_gen_sharded
-    # COMMAND_ECHO STDOUT
+  set(eudsl_nbgen_shardify_cmd
+    -shardify ${_full_gen_file}
+    # ARG_EXTRA_INCLUDES has already had -I prepended
+    -shard-target ${target} ${ARG_EXTRA_INCLUDES} -I ${EUDSL_NBGEN_TARGET_DEFINITIONS_ABSOLUTE}
   )
-  if((_had_error_gen_sharded AND NOT _had_error_gen_sharded EQUAL 0) OR NOT EXISTS "${_full_gen_file}.sharded.cpp")
-    message(FATAL_ERROR "failed to create ${_full_gen_file}.sharded.cpp: ${_had_error_gen_sharded}")
-  endif()
-  set_property(DIRECTORY APPEND PROPERTY CMAKE_CONFIGURE_DEPENDS "${_full_gen_file}.sharded.cpp")
-  file(GLOB _shards CONFIGURE_DEPENDS "${_gen_target_dir}/*shard*cpp")
-  if(NOT _shards)
-    message(FATAL_ERROR "no shards created")
+
+  find_program(EUDSL_NBGEN_EXE "eudsl-nbgen")
+  if (EUDSL_NBGEN_EXE STREQUAL "EUDSL_NBGEN_EXE-NOTFOUND")
+    ##################################
+    # not standalone build
+    ##################################
+    if (WIN32)
+      set(EUDSL_NBGEN_EXE "eudsl-nbgen.exe")
+    else()
+      set(EUDSL_NBGEN_EXE "eudsl-nbgen")
+    endif()
+
+    string(REPLACE " " ";" eudsl_nbgen_defines "${LLVM_DEFINITIONS}")
+    list(JOIN ARG_NAMESPACES "," namespaces)
+
+    add_custom_command(OUTPUT ${_full_gen_file}
+      COMMAND ${EUDSL_NBGEN_EXE} ${eudsl_nbgen_generate_cmd}
+      WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}
+      DEPENDS ${EUDSL_NBGEN_EXE} ${global_tds}
+      DEPFILE ${_depfile}
+      COMMENT "eudsl-nbgen: Generating ${_full_gen_file}..."
+    )
+    # epic hack to specify all shards that will be generated even though we don't know them before hand
+    set(_shards)
+    # lol spirv has 260 ops
+    set(_max_num_shards 30)
+    # note this count [0, 30] <- inclusive
+    foreach(i RANGE ${_max_num_shards})
+      list(APPEND _shards "${_full_gen_file}.shard.${i}.cpp")
+    endforeach()
+
+    add_custom_command(OUTPUT "${_full_gen_file}.sharded.cpp"
+      COMMAND ${EUDSL_NBGEN_EXE} ${eudsl_nbgen_shardify_cmd}
+      -max-number-shards ${_max_num_shards}
+      BYPRODUCTS ${_shards}
+      WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}
+      DEPENDS ${_full_gen_file} ${EUDSL_NBGEN_EXE}
+      COMMENT "eudsl-nbgen: Generating ${_full_gen_file}.sharded.cpp..."
+    )
+  else()
+    ##################################
+    # standalone build
+    ##################################
+    execute_process(
+      COMMAND ${EUDSL_NBGEN_EXE} ${eudsl_nbgen_generate_cmd}
+      WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}
+      RESULT_VARIABLE _had_error_gen_cpp
+      # COMMAND_ECHO STDOUT
+    )
+    if ((_had_error_gen_cpp AND NOT _had_error_gen_cpp EQUAL 0) OR NOT EXISTS "${_full_gen_file}")
+      message(FATAL_ERROR "failed to create ${_full_gen_file}: ${_had_error_gen_cpp}")
+    endif()
+    execute_process(
+      COMMAND ${EUDSL_NBGEN_EXE} ${eudsl_nbgen_shardify_cmd}
+      WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}
+      RESULT_VARIABLE _had_error_gen_sharded
+      # COMMAND_ECHO STDOUT
+    )
+    if ((_had_error_gen_sharded AND NOT _had_error_gen_sharded EQUAL 0) OR NOT EXISTS "${_full_gen_file}.sharded.cpp")
+      message(FATAL_ERROR "failed to create ${_full_gen_file}.sharded.cpp: ${_had_error_gen_sharded}")
+    endif()
+    file(GLOB _shards CONFIGURE_DEPENDS "${_gen_target_dir}/*shard*cpp")
+    if (NOT _shards)
+      message(FATAL_ERROR "no shards created")
+    endif()
   endif()
 
   add_library(${target} STATIC "${_full_gen_file}.sharded.cpp" ${_shards})
@@ -96,32 +142,42 @@ function(eudslpygen target input_file)
     OUTPUT_STRIP_TRAILING_WHITESPACE OUTPUT_VARIABLE nanobind_include_dir
     RESULT_VARIABLE _has_err_find_nanobind
   )
-  if((_has_err_find_nanobind AND NOT _has_err_find_nanobind EQUAL 0) OR NOT EXISTS "${nanobind_include_dir}")
+  if ((_has_err_find_nanobind AND NOT _has_err_find_nanobind EQUAL 0) OR NOT EXISTS "${nanobind_include_dir}")
     message(FATAL_ERROR "couldn't find nanobind include dir: ${_has_err_find_nanobind}")
   endif()
   target_include_directories(${target} PRIVATE
-    ${eudslpygen_includes}
+    ${eudsl_nbgen_includes}
     ${Python_INCLUDE_DIRS}
     ${nanobind_include_dir}
   )
-  target_compile_options(${target} PRIVATE -Wno-cast-qual)
+  # not sure why unix needs this buy not apple (and really only in root-cmake build...)
+  if(UNIX AND NOT APPLE)
+    set_property(TARGET ${target} PROPERTY POSITION_INDEPENDENT_CODE ON)
+  endif()
+  set(_link_libs ${ARG_LINK_LIBS})
+  if (NOT ARG_LINK_LIBS)
+    set(_link_libs MLIR LLVM)
+  endif()
+  target_link_libraries(${target} PUBLIC ${_link_libs})
+  target_compile_options(${target} PUBLIC -Wno-cast-qual)
 
   # `make clean' must remove all those generated files:
   # TODO(max): clean up dep files
   set_property(DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}
-    APPEND PROPERTY ADDITIONAL_MAKE_CLEAN_FILES ${_shards})
+    APPEND PROPERTY ADDITIONAL_MAKE_CLEAN_FILES ${_shards} ${_depfile})
   set_source_files_properties(${_shards} PROPERTIES GENERATED 1)
 endfunction()
 
 function(patch_mlir_llvm_rpath target)
+  cmake_parse_arguments(ARG "STANDALONE" "" "" ${ARGN})
   # hack so we can move libMLIR and libLLVM into the wheel
   # see AddLLVM.cmake#llvm_setup_rpath
-  if(APPLE OR UNIX)
+  if (APPLE OR UNIX)
     set(_origin_prefix "\$ORIGIN")
-    if(APPLE)
+    if (APPLE)
       set(_origin_prefix "@loader_path")
     endif()
-    if (EUDSLPY_STANDALONE_BUILD)
+    if (STANDALONE)
       get_target_property(_mlir_loc MLIR LOCATION)
       get_target_property(_llvm_loc LLVM LOCATION)
     else()
@@ -129,7 +185,7 @@ function(patch_mlir_llvm_rpath target)
       set(_llvm_loc "$<TARGET_FILE:LLVM>")
     endif()
     set(_old_rpath "${_origin_prefix}/../lib${LLVM_LIBDIR_SUFFIX}")
-    if(APPLE)
+    if (APPLE)
       if (EXISTS ${_mlir_loc})
         execute_process(COMMAND install_name_tool -rpath "${_old_rpath}" ${_origin_prefix} "${_mlir_loc}" ERROR_VARIABLE rpath_err)
       endif()
diff --git a/projects/eudsl-nbgen/src/eudsl-nbgen.cpp b/projects/eudsl-nbgen/src/eudsl-nbgen.cpp
index 6db162f1..de053aac 100644
--- a/projects/eudsl-nbgen/src/eudsl-nbgen.cpp
+++ b/projects/eudsl-nbgen/src/eudsl-nbgen.cpp
@@ -16,8 +16,10 @@
 #include "llvm/Support/ToolOutputFile.h"
 
 #include <fstream>
+#include <iostream>
 #include <regex>
 #include <sstream>
+#include <string>
 
 static llvm::cl::OptionCategory EUDSLPYGenCat("Options for eudslpy-gen");
 static llvm::cl::opt<std::string> InputFilename(llvm::cl::Positional,
@@ -737,6 +739,14 @@ static int generate() {
   return 0;
 }
 
+// cannot fathom why but std::to_string is return ascii characters
+template <typename T>
+static std::string numberToString(T number) {
+  std::ostringstream ss;
+  ss << number;
+  return ss.str();
+}
+
 static int makeSourceShards() {
   // Ensure the filename ends with ".cpp.gen"
   if (InputFilename.substr(InputFilename.size() - 8) != ".cpp.gen") {
@@ -769,10 +779,9 @@ static int makeSourceShards() {
           : ShardTarget;
 
   // Generate shard files
-
   for (size_t i = 0; i < shards.size(); ++i) {
     std::ofstream shardFile(InputFilename.getValue() + ".shard." +
-                            std::to_string(i) + ".cpp");
+                            numberToString(i) + ".cpp");
     if (!shardFile.is_open()) {
       llvm::errs() << "Failed to create shard file";
       return -1;
@@ -803,16 +812,19 @@ void populate)" << finalTarget << i << R"(Module(nb::module_ &m) {
 
   // Handle max number of shards
   if (MaxNumShards != -1 && shards.size() > static_cast<size_t>(MaxNumShards)) {
-    llvm::errs() << "expected less than " + std::to_string(MaxNumShards) +
-                        " shards";
+    llvm::errs() << "expected less than " +
+                        numberToString(MaxNumShards.getValue()) + " shards";
     return -1;
   }
   if (MaxNumShards == -1)
     MaxNumShards = shards.size();
+  else
+    // _max_num_shards in cmake counts +1
+    MaxNumShards.getValue() += 1;
 
   for (size_t i = shards.size(); i < static_cast<size_t>(MaxNumShards); ++i) {
     std::ofstream dummyShardFile(InputFilename.getValue() + ".shard." +
-                                 std::to_string(i) + ".cpp");
+                                 numberToString(i) + ".cpp");
     if (!dummyShardFile.is_open()) {
       llvm::errs() << "Failed to create dummy shard file";
       return -1;
diff --git a/projects/eudsl-py/CMakeLists.txt b/projects/eudsl-py/CMakeLists.txt
index 7cabdb46..bad1d4cf 100644
--- a/projects/eudsl-py/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/projects/eudsl-py/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -53,24 +53,6 @@ if(EUDSLPY_STANDALONE_BUILD)
   # for out-of-tree MLIR_INCLUDE_DIR points to the build dir by default
   # and MLIR_INCLUDE_DIRS points to the correct place
   set(MLIR_INCLUDE_DIR ${MLIR_INCLUDE_DIRS})
-else()
-  # turning LLVM -DLLVM_OPTIMIZED_TABLEGEN=ON builds some stuff in the NATIVE dir
-  # but not everything so LLVM_BINARY_DIR isn't correct
-  string(REPLACE "NATIVE" "" LLVM_BINARY_DIR "${LLVM_BINARY_DIR}")
-  # Build via external projects mechanism
-  set(LLVM_INCLUDE_DIR ${LLVM_MAIN_SRC_DIR}/include)
-  set(LLVM_GENERATED_INCLUDE_DIR ${LLVM_BINARY_DIR}/include)
-  set(LLVM_INCLUDE_DIRS "${LLVM_INCLUDE_DIR};${LLVM_GENERATED_INCLUDE_DIR}")
-
-  set(MLIR_MAIN_SRC_DIR ${LLVM_MAIN_SRC_DIR}/../mlir)
-  set(MLIR_INCLUDE_DIR ${MLIR_MAIN_SRC_DIR}/include)
-  set(MLIR_GENERATED_INCLUDE_DIR ${LLVM_BINARY_DIR}/tools/mlir/include)
-  set(MLIR_INCLUDE_DIRS "${MLIR_INCLUDE_DIR};${MLIR_GENERATED_INCLUDE_DIR}")
-
-  set(CLANG_MAIN_SRC_DIR ${LLVM_MAIN_SRC_DIR}/../clang)
-  set(CLANG_INCLUDE_DIR ${CLANG_MAIN_SRC_DIR}/include)
-  set(CLANG_GENERATED_INCLUDE_DIR ${LLVM_BINARY_DIR}/tools/clang/include)
-  set(CLANG_INCLUDE_DIRS "${CLANG_INCLUDE_DIR};${CLANG_GENERATED_INCLUDE_DIR}")
 endif()
 
 include_directories(${LLVM_INCLUDE_DIRS})
@@ -107,15 +89,18 @@ include_directories(${EUDSLPY_SRC_DIR})
 execute_process(
   COMMAND "${Python_EXECUTABLE}" -m eudsl_nbgen --cmake_dir
   OUTPUT_STRIP_TRAILING_WHITESPACE OUTPUT_VARIABLE eudsl_nbgen_DIR)
-find_package(eudsl_nbgen CONFIG REQUIRED)
+find_package(eudsl_nbgen CONFIG)
+if(NOT eudsl_nbgen__FOUND)
+  include("${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/../eudsl-nbgen/cmake/eudsl_nbgen-config.cmake")
+endif()
 
 # too big
-# eudslpygen(EUDSLGen_acc
+# eudsl_nbgen(EUDSLGen_acc
 #   ${MLIR_INCLUDE_DIR}/mlir/InitAllDialects.h
 #   NAMESPACES mlir::acc mlir::acc::detail
 # )
 
-eudslpygen(EUDSLGen_affine
+eudsl_nbgen(EUDSLGen_affine
   ${MLIR_INCLUDE_DIR}/mlir/InitAllDialects.h
   NAMESPACES mlir::affine mlir::affine::detail
   EXTRA_INCLUDES
@@ -123,50 +108,50 @@ eudslpygen(EUDSLGen_affine
     mlir/Dialect/Affine/IR/AffineValueMap.h
 )
 
-eudslpygen(EUDSLGen_amdgpu
+eudsl_nbgen(EUDSLGen_amdgpu
   ${MLIR_INCLUDE_DIR}/mlir/InitAllDialects.h
   NAMESPACES mlir::amdgpu mlir::amdgpu::detail
 )
 
-#eudslpygen(EUDSLGen_amx
+#eudsl_nbgen(EUDSLGen_amx
 #  ${MLIR_INCLUDE_DIR}/mlir/InitAllDialects.h
 #  NAMESPACES mlir::amx mlir::amx::detail
 #)
 
-eudslpygen(EUDSLGen_arith
+eudsl_nbgen(EUDSLGen_arith
   ${MLIR_INCLUDE_DIR}/mlir/InitAllDialects.h
   NAMESPACES mlir::arith mlir::arith::detail
 )
 
-#eudslpygen(EUDSLGen_arm_neon
+#eudsl_nbgen(EUDSLGen_arm_neon
 #  ${MLIR_INCLUDE_DIR}/mlir/InitAllDialects.h
 #  NAMESPACES mlir::arm_neon mlir::arm_neon::detail
 #)
 
 # too big
-# eudslpygen(EUDSLGen_arm_sme
+# eudsl_nbgen(EUDSLGen_arm_sme
 #   ${MLIR_INCLUDE_DIR}/mlir/InitAllDialects.h
 #   NAMESPACES mlir::arm_sme mlir::arm_sme::detail
 # )
 
-#eudslpygen(EUDSLGen_arm_sve
+#eudsl_nbgen(EUDSLGen_arm_sve
 #  ${MLIR_INCLUDE_DIR}/mlir/InitAllDialects.h
 #  NAMESPACES mlir::arm_sve mlir::arm_sve::detail
 #)
 
-eudslpygen(EUDSLGen_async
+eudsl_nbgen(EUDSLGen_async
   ${MLIR_INCLUDE_DIR}/mlir/InitAllDialects.h
   NAMESPACES mlir::async mlir::async::detail
 )
 
-eudslpygen(EUDSLGen_bufferization
+eudsl_nbgen(EUDSLGen_bufferization
   ${MLIR_INCLUDE_DIR}/mlir/InitAllDialects.h
   NAMESPACES mlir::bufferization mlir::bufferization::detail
   EXTRA_INCLUDES
     mlir/Dialect/Bufferization/Transforms/Bufferize.h
 )
 
-eudslpygen(EUDSLGen_cf
+eudsl_nbgen(EUDSLGen_cf
   ${MLIR_INCLUDE_DIR}/mlir/Dialect/ControlFlow/IR/ControlFlowOps.h
   NAMESPACES mlir::cf mlir::cf::detail
   EXTRA_INCLUDES
@@ -174,27 +159,27 @@ eudslpygen(EUDSLGen_cf
     mlir/IR/PatternMatch.h
 )
 
-eudslpygen(EUDSLGen_complex
+eudsl_nbgen(EUDSLGen_complex
   ${MLIR_INCLUDE_DIR}/mlir/InitAllDialects.h
   NAMESPACES mlir::complex mlir::complex::detail
 )
 
-#eudslpygen(EUDSLGen_DLTIDialect
+#eudsl_nbgen(EUDSLGen_DLTIDialect
 #  ${MLIR_INCLUDE_DIR}/mlir/InitAllDialects.h
 #  NAMESPACES mlir::DLTIDialect mlir::DLTIDialect::detail
 #)
 
-eudslpygen(EUDSLGen_emitc
+eudsl_nbgen(EUDSLGen_emitc
   ${MLIR_INCLUDE_DIR}/mlir/InitAllDialects.h
   NAMESPACES mlir::emitc mlir::emitc::detail
 )
 
-eudslpygen(EUDSLGen_func
+eudsl_nbgen(EUDSLGen_func
   ${MLIR_INCLUDE_DIR}/mlir/InitAllDialects.h
   NAMESPACES mlir::func mlir::func::detail
 )
 
-eudslpygen(EUDSLGen_gpu
+eudsl_nbgen(EUDSLGen_gpu
   ${MLIR_INCLUDE_DIR}/mlir/InitAllDialects.h
   NAMESPACES mlir::gpu mlir::gpu::detail
   EXTRA_INCLUDES
@@ -202,7 +187,7 @@ eudslpygen(EUDSLGen_gpu
     llvm/IR/IRBuilder.h
 )
 
-eudslpygen(EUDSLGen_index
+eudsl_nbgen(EUDSLGen_index
   ${MLIR_INCLUDE_DIR}/mlir/Dialect/Index/IR/IndexOps.h
   NAMESPACES mlir::index mlir::index::detail
   EXTRA_INCLUDES
@@ -210,76 +195,76 @@ eudslpygen(EUDSLGen_index
     mlir/IR/PatternMatch.h
 )
 
-#eudslpygen(EUDSLGen_irdl
+#eudsl_nbgen(EUDSLGen_irdl
 #  ${MLIR_INCLUDE_DIR}/mlir/InitAllDialects.h
 #  NAMESPACES mlir::irdl mlir::irdl::detail
 #)
 
-eudslpygen(EUDSLGen_linalg
+eudsl_nbgen(EUDSLGen_linalg
   ${MLIR_INCLUDE_DIR}/mlir/InitAllDialects.h
   NAMESPACES mlir::linalg mlir::linalg::detail
 )
 
-eudslpygen(EUDSLGen_LLVM
+eudsl_nbgen(EUDSLGen_LLVM
   ${MLIR_INCLUDE_DIR}/mlir/InitAllDialects.h
   NAMESPACES mlir::LLVM mlir::LLVM::detail
 )
 
-eudslpygen(EUDSLGen_math
+eudsl_nbgen(EUDSLGen_math
   ${MLIR_INCLUDE_DIR}/mlir/InitAllDialects.h
   NAMESPACES mlir::math mlir::math::detail
 )
 
-eudslpygen(EUDSLGen_memref
+eudsl_nbgen(EUDSLGen_memref
   ${MLIR_INCLUDE_DIR}/mlir/InitAllDialects.h
   NAMESPACES mlir::memref mlir::memref::detail
 )
 
-#eudslpygen(EUDSLGen_mesh
+#eudsl_nbgen(EUDSLGen_mesh
 #  ${MLIR_INCLUDE_DIR}/mlir/Dialect/Mesh/IR/MeshOps.h
 #  NAMESPACES mlir::mesh mlir::mesh::detail
 #  EXTRA_INCLUDES
 #    mlir/Dialect/Mesh/IR/MeshOps.h
 #)
 
-#eudslpygen(EUDSLGen_ml_program
+#eudsl_nbgen(EUDSLGen_ml_program
 #  ${MLIR_INCLUDE_DIR}/mlir/InitAllDialects.h
 #  NAMESPACES mlir::ml_program mlir::ml_program::detail
 #)
 
-#eudslpygen(EUDSLGen_mpi
+#eudsl_nbgen(EUDSLGen_mpi
 #  ${MLIR_INCLUDE_DIR}/mlir/InitAllDialects.h
 #  NAMESPACES mlir::mpi mlir::mpi::detail
 #)
 
-eudslpygen(EUDSLGen_nvgpu
+eudsl_nbgen(EUDSLGen_nvgpu
   ${MLIR_INCLUDE_DIR}/mlir/InitAllDialects.h
   NAMESPACES mlir::nvgpu mlir::nvgpu::detail
 )
 
-eudslpygen(EUDSLGen_NVVM
+eudsl_nbgen(EUDSLGen_NVVM
   ${MLIR_INCLUDE_DIR}/mlir/InitAllDialects.h
   NAMESPACES mlir::NVVM mlir::NVVM::detail
 )
 
-#eudslpygen(EUDSLGen_omp
+#eudsl_nbgen(EUDSLGen_omp
 #  ${MLIR_INCLUDE_DIR}/mlir/InitAllDialects.h
 #  NAMESPACES mlir::omp mlir::omp::detail
 #)
 
-eudslpygen(EUDSLGen_pdl
+eudsl_nbgen(EUDSLGen_pdl
   ${MLIR_INCLUDE_DIR}/mlir/Dialect/PDL/IR/PDLOps.h
   NAMESPACES mlir::pdl mlir::pdl::detail
   EXTRA_INCLUDES
     mlir/Dialect/PDL/IR/PDLOps.h
 )
 
-eudslpygen(EUDSLGen_pdl_interp
+eudsl_nbgen(EUDSLGen_pdl_interp
   ${MLIR_INCLUDE_DIR}/mlir/InitAllDialects.h
   NAMESPACES mlir::pdl_interp mlir::pdl_interp::detail
 )
 
-eudslpygen(EUDSLGen_polynomial
+eudsl_nbgen(EUDSLGen_polynomial
   ${MLIR_INCLUDE_DIR}/mlir/Dialect/Polynomial/IR/PolynomialOps.h
   NAMESPACES mlir::polynomial mlir::polynomial::detail
   EXTRA_INCLUDES
@@ -287,7 +272,7 @@ eudslpygen(EUDSLGen_polynomial
     mlir/IR/PatternMatch.h
 )
 
-#eudslpygen(EUDSLGen_ptr
+#eudsl_nbgen(EUDSLGen_ptr
 #  ${MLIR_INCLUDE_DIR}/mlir/Dialect/Ptr/IR/PtrOps.h
 #  NAMESPACES mlir::ptr mlir::ptr::detail
 #  EXTRA_INCLUDES
@@ -295,35 +280,35 @@ eudslpygen(EUDSLGen_polynomial
 #    mlir/IR/DialectImplementation.h
 #)
 
-#eudslpygen(EUDSLGen_quant
+#eudsl_nbgen(EUDSLGen_quant
 #  ${MLIR_INCLUDE_DIR}/mlir/InitAllDialects.h
 #  NAMESPACES mlir::quant mlir::quant::detail
 #  EXTRA_INCLUDES
 #    mlir/Dialect/Quant/IR/QuantTypes.h
 #)
 
-eudslpygen(EUDSLGen_ROCDL
+eudsl_nbgen(EUDSLGen_ROCDL
   ${MLIR_INCLUDE_DIR}/mlir/InitAllDialects.h
   NAMESPACES mlir::ROCDL mlir::ROCDL::detail
 )
 
-eudslpygen(EUDSLGen_scf
+eudsl_nbgen(EUDSLGen_scf
   ${MLIR_INCLUDE_DIR}/mlir/InitAllDialects.h
   NAMESPACES mlir::scf mlir::scf::detail
 )
 
-eudslpygen(EUDSLGen_shape
+eudsl_nbgen(EUDSLGen_shape
   ${MLIR_INCLUDE_DIR}/mlir/InitAllDialects.h
   NAMESPACES mlir::shape mlir::shape::detail
 )
 
-#eudslpygen(EUDSLGen_sparse_tensor
+#eudsl_nbgen(EUDSLGen_sparse_tensor
 #  ${MLIR_INCLUDE_DIR}/mlir/InitAllDialects.h
 #  NAMESPACES mlir::sparse_tensor mlir::sparse_tensor::detail
 #)
 
 # nb::detail::nb_func_new("get_vce_triple_attr_name"): mismatched static/instance method flags in function overloads!
-# eudslpygen(EUDSLGen_spirv
+# eudsl_nbgen(EUDSLGen_spirv
 #   ${MLIR_INCLUDE_DIR}/mlir/Dialect/SPIRV/IR/SPIRVOps.h
 #   NAMESPACES mlir::spirv mlir::spirv::detail
 #   EXTRA_INCLUDES
@@ -331,37 +316,37 @@ eudslpygen(EUDSLGen_shape
 #     mlir/IR/PatternMatch.h
 # )
 
-eudslpygen(EUDSLGen_tensor
+eudsl_nbgen(EUDSLGen_tensor
   ${MLIR_INCLUDE_DIR}/mlir/InitAllDialects.h
   NAMESPACES mlir::tensor mlir::tensor::detail
 )
 
-eudslpygen(EUDSLGen_tosa
+eudsl_nbgen(EUDSLGen_tosa
   ${MLIR_INCLUDE_DIR}/mlir/InitAllDialects.h
   NAMESPACES mlir::tosa mlir::tosa::detail
 )
 
-#eudslpygen(EUDSLGen_transform
+#eudsl_nbgen(EUDSLGen_transform
 #  ${MLIR_INCLUDE_DIR}/mlir/InitAllDialects.h
 #  NAMESPACES mlir::transform mlir::transform::detail
 #)
 
-#eudslpygen(EUDSLGen_ub
+#eudsl_nbgen(EUDSLGen_ub
 #  ${MLIR_INCLUDE_DIR}/mlir/InitAllDialects.h
 #  NAMESPACES mlir::ub mlir::ub::detail
 #)
 
-#eudslpygen(EUDSLGen_vector
+#eudsl_nbgen(EUDSLGen_vector
 #  ${MLIR_INCLUDE_DIR}/mlir/InitAllDialects.h
 #  NAMESPACES mlir::vector mlir::vector::detail
 #)
 
-#eudslpygen(EUDSLGen_x86vector
+#eudsl_nbgen(EUDSLGen_x86vector
 #  ${MLIR_INCLUDE_DIR}/mlir/InitAllDialects.h
 #  NAMESPACES mlir::x86vector mlir::x86vector::detail
 #)
 
-#eudslpygen(EUDSLGen_xegpu
+#eudsl_nbgen(EUDSLGen_xegpu
 #  ${MLIR_INCLUDE_DIR}/mlir/InitAllDialects.h
 #  NAMESPACES mlir::xegpu mlir::xegpu::detail
 #)
@@ -425,14 +410,17 @@ set_target_properties(eudslpy_ext
   PROPERTIES
   LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY "${EUDSLPY_SRC_DIR}/eudsl"
 )
-target_link_libraries(eudslpy_ext PRIVATE MLIR)
 # hack - on GHA, linux, the build OOMs
 set(EUDSLPY_DISABLE_COMPILE_OPT ON CACHE BOOL "")
 if (EUDSLPY_DISABLE_COMPILE_OPT)
   target_compile_options(eudslpy_ext PRIVATE -O0)
 endif()
 
-patch_mlir_llvm_rpath(eudslpy_ext)
+set(STANDALONE)
+if(EUDSLPY_STANDALONE_BUILD OR EUDSL_STANDALONE_BUILD)
+  set(STANDALONE STANDALONE)
+endif()
+patch_mlir_llvm_rpath(eudslpy_ext ${STANDALONE})
 # copy libMLIR into the ext dir for wheels
 install(IMPORTED_RUNTIME_ARTIFACTS MLIR LLVM LIBRARY DESTINATION eudsl)
 
diff --git a/projects/eudsl-tblgen/CMakeLists.txt b/projects/eudsl-tblgen/CMakeLists.txt
index d8ff2530..0396b6ea 100644
--- a/projects/eudsl-tblgen/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/projects/eudsl-tblgen/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -4,17 +4,40 @@
 # Copyright (c) 2024.
 
 cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.29)
-project(eudsl_tblgen CXX C)
 set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 17)
+set(CMAKE_EXPORT_COMPILE_COMMANDS ON)
+
+set(LLVM_SUBPROJECT_TITLE "EUDSL_TBLGEN")
+set(EUDSL_TBLGEN_BINARY_DIR ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR})
+
+if (CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR STREQUAL CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR)
+  message("Building ${LLVM_SUBPROJECT_TITLE} as a standalone project.")
+  project(${LLVM_SUBPROJECT_TITLE} CXX C)
+  find_package(LLVM REQUIRED CONFIG)
+
+  message(STATUS "Using LLVMConfig.cmake in: ${LLVM_DIR}")
+
+  set(LLVM_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_INTDIR ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/bin)
+  set(LLVM_LIBRARY_OUTPUT_INTDIR ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/lib)
+
+  list(APPEND CMAKE_MODULE_PATH "${LLVM_CMAKE_DIR}")
+
+  include(TableGen)
+  include(AddLLVM)
+  # TODO(max): probably don't need this anymore after landing the nanobind fix?
+  # technically we need this on windows too but our LLVM is compiled without exception handling
+  # and that breaks windows
+  if(NOT WIN32)
+    include(HandleLLVMOptions)
+  endif()
+endif()
 
-find_package(LLVM REQUIRED CONFIG)
-message(STATUS "Using LLVMConfig.cmake in: ${LLVM_DIR}")
 include_directories(${LLVM_INCLUDE_DIRS})
+link_directories(${LLVM_BUILD_LIBRARY_DIR})
+add_definitions(${LLVM_DEFINITIONS})
 
-# technically we need this but our LLVM is compiled without exception handling
-# and that breaks windows
-if(NOT WIN32)
-  include(HandleLLVMOptions)
+if(NOT TARGET LLVMSupport)
+  message(FATAL_ERROR "LLVMSupport not found")
 endif()
 
 find_package(Python 3.8
@@ -26,7 +49,7 @@ execute_process(
   OUTPUT_STRIP_TRAILING_WHITESPACE OUTPUT_VARIABLE nanobind_DIR)
 find_package(nanobind CONFIG REQUIRED)
 
-set(CMAKE_LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/eudsl_tblgen)
+set(CMAKE_LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/eudsl_tblgen)
 set(CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/bin)
 
 nanobind_add_module(eudsl_tblgen_ext NB_STATIC STABLE_ABI
@@ -37,6 +60,7 @@ nanobind_add_module(eudsl_tblgen_ext NB_STATIC STABLE_ABI
 target_link_libraries(eudsl_tblgen_ext PRIVATE LLVMTableGenCommon LLVMTableGen)
 target_compile_options(eudsl_tblgen_ext
   PUBLIC
+  -Wno-cast-qual
   $<$<PLATFORM_ID:Linux>:-fexceptions -frtti>
   $<$<PLATFORM_ID:Darwin>:-fexceptions -frtti>
   $<$<PLATFORM_ID:Windows>:/EHsc /GR>)
@@ -44,21 +68,21 @@ target_compile_options(eudsl_tblgen_ext
 nanobind_add_stub(
   eudsl_tblgen_ext_stub
   MODULE eudsl_tblgen_ext
-  OUTPUT ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/eudsl_tblgen/eudsl_tblgen_ext.pyi
+  OUTPUT ${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/eudsl_tblgen/eudsl_tblgen_ext.pyi
   PYTHON_PATH $<TARGET_FILE_DIR:eudsl_tblgen_ext>
   DEPENDS eudsl_tblgen_ext
 )
 nanobind_add_stub(
   eudsl_tblgen_stub
   MODULE eudsl_tblgen
-  OUTPUT ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/eudsl_tblgen/__init__.pyi
-  PYTHON_PATH ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}
+  OUTPUT ${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/eudsl_tblgen/__init__.pyi
+  PYTHON_PATH ${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}
   DEPENDS eudsl_tblgen_ext
 )
 
 install(TARGETS eudsl_tblgen_ext LIBRARY DESTINATION eudsl_tblgen)
 install(
-  DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/eudsl_tblgen
+  DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/eudsl_tblgen
   DESTINATION ${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}
   PATTERN "*.so" EXCLUDE
   PATTERN "*.a" EXCLUDE
diff --git a/projects/eudsl-tblgen/requirements.txt b/projects/eudsl-tblgen/requirements.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index 1f942f7e..00000000
--- a/projects/eudsl-tblgen/requirements.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
-click==8.1.7
-pytest==8.3.3
-nanobind==2.2.0
diff --git a/projects/eudsl-py/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
similarity index 67%
rename from projects/eudsl-py/requirements.txt
rename to requirements.txt
index 003b5eee..53635869 100644
--- a/projects/eudsl-py/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -1,3 +1,2 @@
-pytest==8.3.3
 nanobind==2.4.0
 numpy==2.0.2