diff --git a/PythonAPI/pyproject.toml b/PythonAPI/pyproject.toml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..8e32a1a2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/PythonAPI/pyproject.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+[build-system]
+# Required at build time so wheels can be built in an isolated environment.
+# numpy and cython are needed at build-time because the project builds C/Cython extensions.
+requires = [
+  "setuptools>=61.0",
+  "wheel",
+  "cython>=0.27.3",
+  "numpy>=1.16"
+]
+build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
+
+[project]
+name = "pycocotools"
+version = "2.0+nv0.8.1"
+description = "Python API for the Microsoft COCO dataset (NVIDIA fork)."
+readme = "README.md"
+requires-python = ">=3.7"
+authors = [
+  { name = "NVIDIA" }
+]
+keywords = ["coco", "computer-vision", "annotation", "dataset"]
+classifiers = [
+  "Programming Language :: Python :: 3",
+  "License :: OSI Approved :: Apache Software License",
+  "Operating System :: OS Independent"
+]
+
+dependencies = [
+  "matplotlib>=2.1.0"
+]
+
+[tool.setuptools]
+packages = ["pycocotools"]
+package-dir = { "pycocotools" = "pycocotools" }
diff --git a/PythonAPI/setup.py b/PythonAPI/setup.py
index 5a0c7acd..9e6c0234 100644
--- a/PythonAPI/setup.py
+++ b/PythonAPI/setup.py
@@ -1,40 +1,56 @@
-from os.path import abspath, join, exists
+from os.path import join, exists
 from setuptools import setup, Extension
 from sys import version_info
-import numpy as np
 
-# To compile and install locally run "python setup.py build_ext --inplace"
-# To install library to Python site-packages run "python setup.py build_ext install"
+# Provide cythonize fallback: if Cython is available build from .pyx,
+# otherwise use the checked-in .c/.cpp files.
+try:
+    from Cython.Build import cythonize
+    USE_CYTHON = True
+except Exception:
+    cythonize = None
+    USE_CYTHON = False
+
+# Ensure numpy is available at build time (pyproject.toml should include numpy in build-system.requires)
+import numpy as np
 
+# Workaround for Python 3.12 on this repo (keeps compatibility with existing behavior)
 if (version_info.major, version_info.minor) >= (3, 12) and not exists("pycocotools/_mask.c"):
     open("pycocotools/_mask.c", "w").close()
 
+mask_source = 'pycocotools/_mask.pyx' if USE_CYTHON else 'pycocotools/_mask.c'
+ext_source_maskapi = join('..', 'common', 'maskApi.c')
+
 ext_modules = [
     Extension(
         name='pycocotools._mask',
-        sources=['../common/maskApi.c', 'pycocotools/_mask.pyx'],
+        sources=[ext_source_maskapi, mask_source],
         extra_compile_args=['-Wno-cpp', '-Wno-unused-function', '-std=c99'],
-        include_dirs=[np.get_include(), '../common'],
+        include_dirs=[np.get_include(), join('..', 'common')],
     ),
     Extension(
         name='ext',
         sources=['pycocotools/ext.cpp', 'pycocotools/simdjson.cpp'],
         extra_compile_args=['-O3', '-Wall', '-shared', '-fopenmp', '-std=c++17', '-fPIC'],
         include_dirs=[np.get_include(), 'pycocotools'],
-        library_dirs=[abspath(join(np.get_include(), '..', 'lib'))],
-        libraries=['npymath', 'gomp']
+        library_dirs=[join(np.get_include(), '..', 'lib')],
+        libraries=['npymath', 'gomp'],
+        language='c++',
     )
 ]
 
+# If Cython is present, cythonize the extensions so .pyx is compiled
+if USE_CYTHON:
+    ext_modules = cythonize(ext_modules, language_level=3)
+
 setup(
     name='pycocotools',
     packages=['pycocotools'],
     package_dir={'pycocotools': 'pycocotools'},
     install_requires=[
         'setuptools>=18.0',
-        'cython>=0.27.3',
         'matplotlib>=2.1.0',
     ],
     version='2.0+nv0.8.1',
-    ext_modules=ext_modules
+    ext_modules=ext_modules,
 )