diff --git a/.github/workflows/test_matrix.yml b/.github/workflows/test_matrix.yml
index 34f0331..fa4c06f 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/test_matrix.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test_matrix.yml
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ jobs:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
         platform: [windows-latest, macos-latest, ubuntu-latest]
-        python-version: ["3.7", "3.8", "3.9", "3.10", "3.11"]
+        python-version: ["3.8", "3.9", "3.10", "3.11", "3.12"]
 
     runs-on: ${{ matrix.platform }}
 
diff --git a/.github/workflows/tests.yml b/.github/workflows/tests.yml
index ff1d6ca..3de22e5 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/tests.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/tests.yml
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ jobs:
     - name: Set up Python
       uses: actions/setup-python@v4
       with:
-        python-version: 3.7
+        python-version: 3.8
     - name: Install dependencies
       run: |
         python -m pip install --upgrade pip
diff --git a/.github/workflows/wheels.yml b/.github/workflows/wheels.yml
index f35a7b9..fbb7ab6 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/wheels.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/wheels.yml
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ jobs:
       run: python -m cibuildwheel --output-dir wheelhouse
       env:
         CIBW_ENVIRONMENT: MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET=10.13
-        CIBW_BUILD: 'cp37-* cp38-* cp39-* cp310-* cp311-*'
+        CIBW_BUILD: 'cp38-* cp39-* cp310-* cp311-* cp312-*'
         CIBW_TEST_EXTRAS: test
         CIBW_TEST_COMMAND: pytest {project}/tests/phik_python/test_phik.py
         CIBW_ARCHS: "auto64"
diff --git a/CHANGES.rst b/CHANGES.rst
index 1b9cb49..a23e7d6 100644
--- a/CHANGES.rst
+++ b/CHANGES.rst
@@ -2,6 +2,12 @@
 Release notes
 =============
 
+Version 0.12.4, Dec 2023
+------------------------
+
+- Drop support for Python 3.7, reached end of life.
+- Add support for Python 3.12
+
 Version 0.12.3, Dec 2022
 ------------------------
 
diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index 5a394c3..196295e 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 Phi_K Correlation Analyzer Library
 ==================================
 
-* Version: 0.12.3. Released: Dec 2022
+* Version: 0.12.4. Released: Dec 2023
 * Release notes: https://github.com/KaveIO/PhiK/blob/master/CHANGES.rst
 * Repository: https://github.com/kaveio/phik
 * Documentation: https://phik.readthedocs.io
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ calculate the Phi_K correlation matrix for a spark dataframe.
 Check it out
 ============
 
-The Phi_K library requires Python >= 3.7 and is pip friendly. To get started, simply do:
+The Phi_K library requires Python >= 3.8 and is pip friendly. To get started, simply do:
 
 .. code-block:: bash
 
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 9f4a2bd..8eb5faa 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [build-system]
 requires = [
-    "setuptools>=42",
+    "setuptools>=68",
     "wheel",
     "scikit-build>=0.14.1",
     "ninja; platform_system!='Windows'",
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 3a54f48..7cfc4b7 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@
 
 MAJOR = 0
 REVISION = 12
-PATCH = 3
+PATCH = 4
 DEV = False
 
 # note: also update README.rst, CHANGES.rst
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@
     'pandas>=0.25.1',
     'matplotlib>=2.2.3',
     'joblib>=0.14.1',
+    'setuptools>=68',
 ]
 
 EXTRA_REQUIREMENTS = {
@@ -98,7 +99,7 @@ def write_version_py(filename: str = 'phik/version.py') -> None:
     'description': "Phi_K correlation analyzer library",
     'long_description': long_description,
     'long_description_content_type': "text/x-rst",
-    'python_requires': '>=3.7',
+    'python_requires': '>=3.8',
     'packages': find_packages(exclude=EXCLUDE_PACKAGES),
     # Setuptools requires that package data are located inside the package.
     # This is a feature and not a bug, see