diff --git a/MANIFEST.in b/MANIFEST.in
index 0eec8242f..a4adca7d1 100644
--- a/MANIFEST.in
+++ b/MANIFEST.in
@@ -26,3 +26,4 @@ include *.py
 include *.release
 include *.sh
 include LICENSE
+include _build/*.py
diff --git a/_build/backend.py b/_build/backend.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..bd05c2b3e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/_build/backend.py
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+import logging
+import os
+from setuptools.build_meta import *
+import subprocess
+
+
+fmt = logging.Formatter("\n=== NETCDF4 BUILD DEBUG: %(message)s\n")
+hdlr = logging.StreamHandler()
+hdlr.setFormatter(fmt)
+log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+log.setLevel(logging.DEBUG)
+log.addHandler(hdlr)
+
+
+def netcdf_has_parallel_support():
+    netcdf4_dir = os.environ.get("NETCDF4_DIR")
+    ncconfig = (
+        os.path.join(netcdf4_dir, "bin", "nc-config") if netcdf4_dir else "nc-config"
+    )
+    log.debug(f"{ncconfig = }")
+    process = subprocess.run([ncconfig, "--has-parallel4"], capture_output=True)
+    out = process.stdout.decode("utf-8").rstrip()
+    return out == "yes"
+
+
+def get_requires_for_build_editable(config_settings=None):
+    return ["mpi4py>=3.1"] if netcdf_has_parallel_support() else []
+
+
+def get_requires_for_build_wheel(config_settings=None):
+    return ["mpi4py>=3.1"] if netcdf_has_parallel_support() else []
+
+
+def get_requires_for_build_sdist(config_settings=None):
+    return ["mpi4py>=3.1"] if netcdf_has_parallel_support() else []
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 3ec2da2de..4d34cdcd6 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -3,9 +3,12 @@ requires = [
     "Cython>=0.29",
     "oldest-supported-numpy ; python_version < '3.9'",
     "numpy>=2.0.0rc1 ; python_version >= '3.9'",
-    "setuptools>=61", "setuptools_scm[toml]>=3.4"
+    "setuptools>=61",
+    "setuptools_scm[toml]>=3.4",
+    "wheel"
 ]
-build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
+build-backend = "backend"
+backend-path = ["_build"]
 
 [project]
 name = "netCDF4"