diff --git a/cython/CMakeLists.txt b/cython/CMakeLists.txt
index e53c0b73e..317fb7e2d 100644
--- a/cython/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/cython/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ if (GTSAM_INSTALL_CYTHON_TOOLBOX)
   # Install the custom-generated __init__.py
   # This is to make the build/cython/gtsam folder a python package, so gtsam can be found while wrapping gtsam_unstable
   configure_file(${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/cython/gtsam/__init__.py.in ${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/cython/gtsam/__init__.py)
+  configure_file(${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/cython/setup.py.in ${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/cython/setup.py)
   install_cython_files("${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/cython/gtsam/__init__.py" "${GTSAM_CYTHON_INSTALL_PATH}/gtsam")
   # install scripts and tests
   install_cython_scripts("${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/cython/gtsam" "${GTSAM_CYTHON_INSTALL_PATH}" "*.py")
diff --git a/cython/README.md b/cython/README.md
index 8ba824f8d..78fc7e594 100644
--- a/cython/README.md
+++ b/cython/README.md
@@ -17,10 +17,12 @@ named **gtsam_eigency**, to interface between C++'s Eigen and Python's numpy.
 The wrapped module will be installed to `GTSAM_CYTHON_INSTALL_PATH`, which is
 by default: `<your CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX>/cython`
 
-- Modify your `PYTHONPATH` to include the `GTSAM_CYTHON_INSTALL_PATH`:
+- To use the library without installing system-wide: modify your `PYTHONPATH` to include the `GTSAM_CYTHON_INSTALL_PATH`:
 ```bash
 export PYTHONPATH=$PYTHONPATH:<GTSAM_CYTHON_INSTALL_PATH>
 ```
+- To install system-wide: navigate to `GTSAM_CYTHON_INSTALL_PATH` and run `python setup.py install`
+    - (the same command can be used to install into a virtual environment if it is active)
 
 UNIT TESTS
 ==========
diff --git a/cython/setup.py.in b/cython/setup.py.in
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..6a2009913
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cython/setup.py.in
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+try:
+    from setuptools import setup
+except ImportError:
+    from distutils.core import setup
+
+setup(
+    name='gtsam',
+
+    description='Georgia Tech Smoothing And Mapping library',
+    url='https://bitbucket.org/gtborg/gtsam',
+    version='${GTSAM_VERSION_STRING}',  # https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0440/
+    license='Simplified BSD license',
+    keywords='slam sam',
+    long_description=open('${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/README.md', 'r').read(),
+    # https://pypi.org/pypi?%3Aaction=list_classifiers
+    classifiers=[
+        'Development Status :: 5 - Production/Stable',
+        'Intended Audience :: Education',
+        'Intended Audience :: Developers',
+        'Intended Audience :: Science/Research',
+        'License :: OSI Approved :: BSD License',
+        'Programming Language :: Python :: 2',
+        'Programming Language :: Python :: 3',
+    ],
+
+    packages=['gtsam', 'gtsam_eigency'],
+    install_requires=open('${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/cython/requirements.txt', 'r').read().splitlines()
+)