diff --git a/.github/workflows/testcext.yml b/.github/workflows/testcext.yml
index 1a0fbabae..78a5117d3 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/testcext.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/testcext.yml
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ jobs:
     - name: Install dependencies
       run: |
         python -m pip install --upgrade pip
-        python -m pip install wheel pytest pyparsing fonttools numpy
+        python -m pip install setuptools wheel pytest pyparsing fonttools numpy
     - name: Install with C-extensions
       run: |
         python setup.py install
diff --git a/.github/workflows/testing.yml b/.github/workflows/testing.yml
index d519d0e91..5cd81a487 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/testing.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/testing.yml
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ jobs:
       run: |
         python -m pip install --upgrade pip
         # Excluding Cython to test the pure Python version.
-        python -m pip install wheel pytest pyparsing fonttools numpy
+        python -m pip install setuptools wheel pytest pyparsing fonttools numpy
     - name: Install without C-extensions
       run: |
         python setup.py install
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 1983a0a7d..e29db15cc 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+setuptools
 pyparsing>=2.0.1
 typing_extensions
 numpy