diff --git a/ci/deploy.sh b/ci/deploy.sh
index 3f5e41983..1a94450c6 100755
--- a/ci/deploy.sh
+++ b/ci/deploy.sh
@@ -20,15 +20,17 @@ fi
 
 export encrypted_080f214a372c_key= encrypted_080f214a372c_iv=
 
-./bin/nur format-manifest
+nix-build release.nix
+
+result/bin/nur format-manifest
 if [ -n "$(git diff --exit-code repos.json)" ]; then
   echo "repos.json was not formatted before committing repos.json:" >&2
   git diff --exit-code repos.json
-  echo "Please run ./nur/format-manifest.py and updates repos.json accordingly!" >&2
+  echo "Please run ./bin/nur/format-manifest.py and updates repos.json accordingly!" >&2
   exit 1
 fi
 
-./bin/nur update
+result/bin/nur update
 nix-build
 
 # Pull requests and commits to other branches shouldn't try to deploy, just build to verify
@@ -44,7 +46,7 @@ git config --global commit.gpgsign true
 
 git clone git@github.com:nix-community/nur-channel
 
-./bin/nur build-channel nur-channel
+result/bin/nur build-channel nur-channel
 
 if [[ -z "$(git diff --exit-code)" ]]; then
   echo "No changes to the output on this push; exiting."
diff --git a/nur/path.py b/nur/path.py
index f8fb911a4..260f0d795 100644
--- a/nur/path.py
+++ b/nur/path.py
@@ -1,7 +1,34 @@
+import os
 import subprocess
 from pathlib import Path
 
-ROOT = Path(__file__).parent.parent.resolve()
+from .error import NurError
+
+
+def _is_repo(path: Path) -> bool:
+    return path.joinpath("lib/evalRepo.nix").exists()
+
+
+def _find_root() -> Path:
+    source_root = Path(__file__).parent.parent.resolve()
+    if _is_repo(source_root):
+        # if it was not build with release.nix
+        return source_root
+    else:
+        root = Path(os.getcwd()).resolve()
+
+        while True:
+            if _is_repo(root):
+                return root
+            new_root = root.parent.resolve()
+            if new_root == root:
+                if _is_repo(new_root):
+                    return new_root
+                else:
+                    raise NurError("NUR repository not found in current directory")
+
+
+ROOT = _find_root()
 LOCK_PATH = ROOT.joinpath("repos.json.lock")
 MANIFEST_PATH = ROOT.joinpath("repos.json")
 EVALREPO_PATH = ROOT.joinpath("lib/evalRepo.nix")
diff --git a/release.nix b/release.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4f987843c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/release.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+{ nixpkgs ? import <nixpkgs> }:
+
+with import <nixpkgs> {};
+
+python3Packages.buildPythonApplication {
+  name = "nur";
+  src = ./.;
+
+  makeWrapperArgs = [
+    "--prefix" "PATH" ":" "${stdenv.lib.makeBinPath [ nix-prefetch-git git nix ]}"
+  ];
+}
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4332d5454
--- /dev/null
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python
+from setuptools import setup, find_packages
+import sys
+
+assert sys.version_info >= (3, 6, 0), "nur requires Python 3.6+"
+
+setup(
+    name="nur",
+    version="0.0.1",
+    description="Tooling to maintain NUR",
+    author="Jörg Thalheim",
+    author_email="joerg@thalheim.io",
+    url="https://github.com/nix-community/nur",
+    license="MIT",
+    packages=find_packages(),
+    entry_points={"console_scripts": ["nur = nur:main"]},
+    extras_require={"dev": ["mypy", "flake8>=3.5,<3.6", "black"]},
+    classifiers=[
+        "Development Status :: 5 - Production/Stable",
+        "Environment :: Console",
+        "Topic :: Utilities",
+        "Intended Audience :: Developers",
+        "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.6",
+    ],
+)