diff --git a/hpy/devel/rust/.gitignore b/hpy/devel/rust/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..2c96eb1b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hpy/devel/rust/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+target/
+Cargo.lock
diff --git a/hpy/devel/rust/hpy-sys/Cargo.toml b/hpy/devel/rust/hpy-sys/Cargo.toml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..08324faa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hpy/devel/rust/hpy-sys/Cargo.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+[package]
+name = "hpy-sys"
+version = "0.0.0"
+edition = "2021"
+
+# See more keys and their definitions at https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/manifest.html
+
+[dependencies]
+
+[build-dependencies]
+bindgen = "0.69.1"
+cc = "1.0.78"
+
+[features]
+default = ["abi-universal"]
+abi-cpython = []
+abi-universal = []
+abi-hybrid = []
diff --git a/hpy/devel/rust/hpy-sys/build.rs b/hpy/devel/rust/hpy-sys/build.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..4b9545cf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hpy/devel/rust/hpy-sys/build.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,147 @@
+use std::env;
+use std::fs;
+use std::io::Write;
+use std::path::{Path, PathBuf};
+use std::process::{Command, Stdio};
+
+fn main() {
+    println!("cargo:rerun-if-changed=include/");
+    println!("cargo:rerun-if-changed=src/runtime/");
+
+    let mut builder = bindgen::Builder::default()
+        .header("include/hpy.h")
+        .parse_callbacks(Box::new(bindgen::CargoCallbacks::new()))
+        .clang_arg("-Iinclude/")
+        .allowlist_type("HPy.*")
+        .allowlist_type("_HPy.*")
+        .allowlist_type("Py.*")
+        .allowlist_type("_Py.*")
+        .allowlist_function("HPy.*")
+        .allowlist_function("_HPy.*")
+        .allowlist_function("Py.*")
+        .allowlist_function("_Py.*")
+        .allowlist_var("HPy.*")
+        .allowlist_var("_HPy.*")
+        .allowlist_var("Py.*")
+        .allowlist_var("_Py.*");
+
+    if cfg!(feature = "abi-cpython") {
+        builder = builder.clang_arg("-DHPY_ABI_CPYTHON".to_string());
+    }
+    if cfg!(feature = "abi-universal") {
+        builder = builder.clang_arg("-DHPY_ABI_UNIVERSAL".to_string());
+    }
+    if cfg!(feature = "abi-hybrid") {
+        builder = builder.clang_arg("-DHPY_ABI_HYBRID".to_string());
+    }
+
+    let python = env::var("HPY_PYTHON").unwrap_or_else(|_| "python3".to_string());
+    let python_include = run_python_script(
+        python,
+        "import sysconfig; print(sysconfig.get_path('include'), end='')",
+    )
+    .unwrap();
+    if cfg!(any(feature = "abi-cpython", feature = "abi-hybrid")) {
+        builder = builder.clang_arg(format!("-I{}", python_include));
+    }
+
+    let bindings = builder
+        .generate()
+        // Unwrap the Result and panic on failure.
+        .expect("Unable to generate bindings");
+
+    // Write the bindings to the $OUT_DIR/bindings.rs file.
+    let out_path = PathBuf::from(env::var("OUT_DIR").unwrap());
+    bindings
+        .write_to_file(out_path.join("bindings.rs"))
+        .expect("Couldn't write bindings!");
+
+    build_hpy(&python_include);
+}
+
+fn build_hpy(python_include: &str) {
+    let version = format!(
+        r#"
+// automatically generated build.rs
+#define HPY_VERSION "{}"
+#define HPY_GIT_REVISION "unknown"
+        "#,
+        env!("CARGO_PKG_VERSION"),
+    );
+    fs::write("include/hpy/version.h", version).unwrap();
+
+    let extra_sources = [
+        "src/runtime/argparse.c",
+        "src/runtime/buildvalue.c",
+        "src/runtime/helpers.c",
+    ];
+    let ctx_sources = [
+        "src/runtime/ctx_bytes.c",
+        "src/runtime/ctx_call.c",
+        "src/runtime/ctx_capsule.c",
+        "src/runtime/ctx_err.c",
+        "src/runtime/ctx_module.c",
+        "src/runtime/ctx_object.c",
+        "src/runtime/ctx_type.c",
+        "src/runtime/ctx_tracker.c",
+        "src/runtime/ctx_listbuilder.c",
+        "src/runtime/ctx_tuple.c",
+        "src/runtime/ctx_tuplebuilder.c",
+    ];
+
+    let mut build = cc::Build::new();
+    build.includes([python_include, "include"]);
+    if cfg!(feature = "abi-cpython") {
+        build
+            .files(extra_sources)
+            .files(ctx_sources)
+            .define("HPY_ABI_CPYTHON", None)
+            .compile("hpy-cpython");
+    }
+    if cfg!(feature = "abi-universal") {
+        build
+            .files(extra_sources)
+            .define("HPY_ABI_UNIVERSAL", None)
+            .compile("hpy-universal");
+    }
+    if cfg!(feature = "abi-hybrid") {
+        build
+            .files(extra_sources)
+            .define("HPY_ABI_HYBRID", None)
+            .compile("hpy-hybrid");
+    }
+}
+
+/// Run a python script using the specified interpreter binary.
+fn run_python_script(interpreter: impl AsRef<Path>, script: &str) -> Result<String, String> {
+    let interpreter = interpreter.as_ref();
+    let out = Command::new(interpreter)
+        .env("PYTHONIOENCODING", "utf-8")
+        .stdin(Stdio::piped())
+        .stdout(Stdio::piped())
+        .stderr(Stdio::inherit())
+        .spawn()
+        .and_then(|mut child| {
+            child
+                .stdin
+                .as_mut()
+                .expect("piped stdin")
+                .write_all(script.as_bytes())?;
+            child.wait_with_output()
+        });
+
+    match out {
+        Err(err) => Err(format!(
+            "failed to run the Python interpreter at {}: {}",
+            interpreter.display(),
+            err
+        )),
+        Ok(ok) if !ok.status.success() => Err(format!(
+            "Python script failed: {}",
+            String::from_utf8(ok.stderr).expect("failed to parse Python script stderr as utf-8")
+        )),
+        Ok(ok) => Ok(
+            String::from_utf8(ok.stdout).expect("failed to parse Python script stdout as utf-8")
+        ),
+    }
+}
diff --git a/hpy/devel/rust/hpy-sys/include b/hpy/devel/rust/hpy-sys/include
new file mode 120000
index 00000000..fcffffbe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hpy/devel/rust/hpy-sys/include
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+../../include
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/hpy/devel/rust/hpy-sys/src/lib.rs b/hpy/devel/rust/hpy-sys/src/lib.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..784f5794
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hpy/devel/rust/hpy-sys/src/lib.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+#![allow(non_upper_case_globals)]
+#![allow(non_camel_case_types)]
+#![allow(non_snake_case)]
+#![allow(clippy::useless_transmute)]
+
+include!(concat!(env!("OUT_DIR"), "/bindings.rs"));
diff --git a/hpy/devel/rust/hpy-sys/src/runtime b/hpy/devel/rust/hpy-sys/src/runtime
new file mode 120000
index 00000000..ddcb9345
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hpy/devel/rust/hpy-sys/src/runtime
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+../../../src/runtime/
\ No newline at end of file