diff --git a/tools/aconfig/.gitignore b/tools/aconfig/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1b72444
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/aconfig/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+/Cargo.lock
+/target
diff --git a/tools/aconfig/Cargo.toml b/tools/aconfig/Cargo.toml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1e86f89
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/aconfig/Cargo.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+[package]
+name = "aconfig"
+version = "0.1.0"
+edition = "2021"
+build = "build.rs"
+
+[features]
+default = ["cargo"]
+cargo = []
+
+[dependencies]
+protobuf = "3.2.0"
+
+[build-dependencies]
+protobuf-codegen = "3.2.0"
diff --git a/tools/aconfig/build.rs b/tools/aconfig/build.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5ef5b60
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/aconfig/build.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+use protobuf_codegen::Codegen;
+
+fn main() {
+    let proto_files = vec!["protos/aconfig.proto"];
+
+    // tell cargo to only re-run the build script if any of the proto files has changed
+    for path in &proto_files {
+        println!("cargo:rerun-if-changed={}", path);
+    }
+
+    Codegen::new()
+        .pure()
+        .include("protos")
+        .inputs(proto_files)
+        .cargo_out_dir("aconfig_proto")
+        .run_from_script();
+}
diff --git a/tools/aconfig/src/main.rs b/tools/aconfig/src/main.rs
index 2f7255e..5414f0e 100644
--- a/tools/aconfig/src/main.rs
+++ b/tools/aconfig/src/main.rs
@@ -16,9 +16,11 @@
 
 //! `aconfig` is a build time tool to manage build time configurations, such as feature flags.
 
-use aconfig_protos::aconfig::Placeholder;
 use protobuf::text_format::{parse_from_str, ParseError};
 
+mod protos;
+use protos::Placeholder;
+
 fn foo() -> Result<String, ParseError> {
     let placeholder = parse_from_str::<Placeholder>(r#"name: "aconfig""#)?;
     Ok(placeholder.name)
diff --git a/tools/aconfig/src/protos.rs b/tools/aconfig/src/protos.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..99d584a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/aconfig/src/protos.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2023 The Android Open Source Project
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+// When building with the Android tool-chain
+//
+//   - an external crate `aconfig_protos` will be generated
+//   - the feature "cargo" will be disabled
+//
+// When building with cargo
+//
+//   - a local sub-module will be generated in OUT_DIR and included in this file
+//   - the feature "cargo" will be enabled
+//
+// This module hides these differences from the rest of aconfig.
+
+// When building with the Android tool-chain:
+#[cfg(not(feature = "cargo"))]
+pub use aconfig_protos::aconfig::Placeholder;
+
+// When building with cargo:
+#[cfg(feature = "cargo")]
+include!(concat!(env!("OUT_DIR"), "/aconfig_proto/mod.rs"));
+
+#[cfg(feature = "cargo")]
+pub use aconfig::Placeholder;