diff --git a/setup.cfg b/setup.cfg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b3e6c0b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/setup.cfg
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+[wheel]
+universal = 1
+
+[flake8]
+max-line-length = 120
+max-complexity = 17
+exclude =
+  .git,
+  .tox,
+  __pycache__,
+  build/,
+  dist/,
+  docs/source/conf.py
+  versioneer.py
+per-file-ignores =
+  src/pynwb/tests/test_example_usage.py:T001
+
+
+[metadata]
+description-file = README.md
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e58d9b2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+
+import os
+
+from setuptools import setup, find_packages
+from shutil import copy2
+
+# load README.md/README.rst file
+try:
+    if os.path.exists('README.md'):
+        with open('README.md', 'r') as fp:
+            readme = fp.read()
+            readme_type = 'text/markdown; charset=UTF-8'
+    elif os.path.exists('README.rst'):
+        with open('README.rst', 'r') as fp:
+            readme = fp.read()
+            readme_type = 'text/x-rst; charset=UTF-8'
+    else:
+        readme = ""
+except Exception:
+    readme = ""
+
+setup_args = {
+    'name': 'ndx-hed',
+    'version': '0.1.0',
+    'description': 'NWB extension for storing HED annotations in VectorData format.',
+    'long_description': readme,
+    'long_description_content_type': readme_type,
+    'author': 'Ryan Ly, Kay Robbins',
+    'author_email': 'rly@lbl.gov, Kay.Robbins@utsa.edu',
+    'url': 'https://github.com/hed-standard/ndx-hed',
+    'license': 'BSD 3-Clause',
+    'install_requires': [
+        'pynwb>=1.1.2'
+    ],
+    'packages': find_packages('src/pynwb'),
+    'package_dir': {'': 'src/pynwb'},
+    'package_data': {'ndx_hed': [
+        'spec/ndx-hed.namespace.yaml',
+        'spec/ndx-hed.extensions.yaml',
+    ]},
+    'classifiers': [
+        "Intended Audience :: Developers",
+        "Intended Audience :: Science/Research",
+    ],
+    'zip_safe': False
+}
+
+
+def _copy_spec_files(project_dir):
+    ns_path = os.path.join(project_dir, 'spec', 'ndx-hed.namespace.yaml')
+    ext_path = os.path.join(project_dir, 'spec', 'ndx-hed.extensions.yaml')
+
+    dst_dir = os.path.join(project_dir, 'src', 'pynwb', 'ndx_hed', 'spec')
+    if not os.path.exists(dst_dir):
+        os.mkdir(dst_dir)
+
+    copy2(ns_path, dst_dir)
+    copy2(ext_path, dst_dir)
+
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    _copy_spec_files(os.path.dirname(__file__))
+    setup(**setup_args)
diff --git a/src/pynwb/tests/test_hed_tags.py b/src/pynwb/tests/test_hed_tags.py
index 1c38c30..1dd7505 100644
--- a/src/pynwb/tests/test_hed_tags.py
+++ b/src/pynwb/tests/test_hed_tags.py
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 from pynwb import NWBHDF5IO, get_manager, NWBFile
 from pynwb.testing.mock.file import mock_NWBFile
 from pynwb.testing import TestCase, remove_test_file, NWBH5IOFlexMixin
-from src.pynwb.ndx_hed import HedVersion, HedTags
+from ndx_hed import HedVersion, HedTags
 
 
 class TestHedTagsConstructor(TestCase):
diff --git a/src/pynwb/tests/test_hed_version.py b/src/pynwb/tests/test_hed_version.py
index 2f750ef..35e3391 100644
--- a/src/pynwb/tests/test_hed_version.py
+++ b/src/pynwb/tests/test_hed_version.py
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 from pynwb import NWBHDF5IO, get_manager, NWBFile
 from pynwb.testing.mock.file import mock_NWBFile
 from pynwb.testing import TestCase, remove_test_file, NWBH5IOFlexMixin
-from src.pynwb.ndx_hed import HedVersion
+from ndx_hed import HedVersion
 from hed.schema import HedSchema, HedSchemaGroup, load_schema_version
 from hed.errors import HedFileError
 
diff --git a/src/pynwb/tests/test_hed_version_attr.py b/src/pynwb/tests/test_hed_version_attr.py
index 7fa7c54..d8c045c 100644
--- a/src/pynwb/tests/test_hed_version_attr.py
+++ b/src/pynwb/tests/test_hed_version_attr.py
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 from pynwb import NWBHDF5IO, get_manager, NWBFile
 from pynwb.testing.mock.file import mock_NWBFile
 from pynwb.testing import TestCase, remove_test_file, NWBH5IOFlexMixin
-from src.pynwb.ndx_hed import HedVersionAttr
+from ndx_hed import HedVersionAttr
 from hed.schema import HedSchema, HedSchemaGroup