diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ccc0adf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitmodules
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+[submodule "protobuf"]
+	path = protobuf
+	url = https://github.com/google/protobuf.git
diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 908eff4..d0f5368 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -2,4 +2,5 @@ cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.5)
 
 set(CMAKE_EXPORT_COMPILE_COMMANDS ON)
 
+add_subdirectory(protobuf/cmake)
 add_subdirectory(source)
diff --git a/protobuf b/protobuf
new file mode 160000
index 0000000..5913329
--- /dev/null
+++ b/protobuf
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Subproject commit 59133296a6e5d5017074e036557ebb658e49d435