diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 78b28d35..0e5632f5 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ optional-dependencies.dev = [
 [build-system]
 build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
 requires = [
-    "setuptools",
+    "setuptools[core]",
     "cython>=3.1.0a1 ; python_version >= '3.13'",   # Cython3.1 needed for free-threaded python
     "cython<3        ; python_version  < '3.8'",    # Cython3.1 dropped support for python<3.8
     "cython          ; python_version >= '3.8' and python_version < '3.13'", # no particular requirements