diff --git a/lib/capture/meson.build b/lib/capture/meson.build
index fa75fedf..7af1973b 100644
--- a/lib/capture/meson.build
+++ b/lib/capture/meson.build
@@ -16,5 +16,7 @@ capture_sources = [
 libsysprof_headers += files(capture_headers)
 libsysprof_sources += files(capture_sources)
 
+libsysprof_capture_sources += files(capture_sources)
+
 install_headers(capture_headers,
   subdir: join_paths(libsysprof_header_subdir, 'capture'))
diff --git a/lib/meson.build b/lib/meson.build
index 2cff01b9..d02d9f3a 100644
--- a/lib/meson.build
+++ b/lib/meson.build
@@ -24,22 +24,27 @@ configure_file(
 
 libsysprof_base_headers = [
   'sysprof.h',
+  'sysprof-capture.h',
   'sp-address.h',
   'sp-clock.h',
   'sp-error.h',
 ]
 
-libsysprof_headers = libsysprof_base_headers
-libsysprof_sources = [
+libsysprof_base_sources = [
   'sp-address.c',
   'sp-clock.c',
   'sp-error.c',
 ]
 
+libsysprof_headers = libsysprof_base_headers
+libsysprof_sources = libsysprof_base_sources
+
 libsysprof_ui_base_headers = ['sysprof-ui.h']
 libsysprof_ui_headers = libsysprof_ui_base_headers
 libsysprof_ui_sources = []
 
+libsysprof_capture_sources = libsysprof_base_sources
+
 subdir('callgraph')
 subdir('capture')
 subdir('profiler')
@@ -51,6 +56,10 @@ subdir('widgets')
 
 cxx = meson.get_compiler('cpp')
 
+libsysprof_capture_deps = [
+  dependency('gobject-2.0'),
+]
+
 libsysprof_deps = [
   cxx.find_library('stdc++'),
   dependency('gio-unix-2.0'),
@@ -64,6 +73,13 @@ if get_option('with_sysprofd') != 'none'
   libsysprof_c_args += '-DENABLE_POLKIT'
 endif
 
+libsysprof_capture = static_library('sysprof-capture-' + libsysprof_api_version,
+  libsysprof_capture_sources,
+  dependencies: libsysprof_capture_deps,
+        c_args: libsysprof_c_args,
+       install: true,
+)
+
 libsysprof = shared_library('sysprof-' + libsysprof_api_version,
   libsysprof_sources,
   dependencies: libsysprof_deps,
@@ -79,6 +95,12 @@ libsysprof_dep = declare_dependency(
   dependencies: libsysprof_deps,
 )
 
+libsysprof_capture_dep = declare_dependency(
+  include_directories: include_directories('.'),
+     link_with: libsysprof_capture,
+  dependencies: libsysprof_capture_deps,
+)
+
 install_headers(libsysprof_base_headers, subdir: libsysprof_header_subdir)
 
 if get_option('enable_gtk')
diff --git a/lib/sysprof-capture.h b/lib/sysprof-capture.h
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..859f96bd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/sysprof-capture.h
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+/* sysprof-capture.h
+ *
+ * Copyright © 2018 Christian Hergert <chergert@redhat.com>
+ *
+ * This file is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
+ * the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License as published by the Free
+ * Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option)
+ * any later version.
+ *
+ * This file is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
+ * ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
+ * FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU Lesser General Public
+ * License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
+ * with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+ */
+
+#ifndef SYSPROF_CAPTURE_H
+#define SYSPROF_CAPTURE_H
+
+#include <glib-object.h>
+
+G_BEGIN_DECLS
+
+#define SYSPROF_INSIDE
+
+# include "sp-address.h"
+# include "sp-clock.h"
+# include "sp-error.h"
+# include "sysprof-version.h"
+
+# include "capture/sp-capture-condition.h"
+# include "capture/sp-capture-cursor.h"
+# include "capture/sp-capture-reader.h"
+# include "capture/sp-capture-writer.h"
+
+#undef SYSPROF_INSIDE
+
+G_END_DECLS
+
+#endif /* SYSPROF_CAPTURE_H */
diff --git a/tests/meson.build b/tests/meson.build
index 398d8c75..3b874186 100644
--- a/tests/meson.build
+++ b/tests/meson.build
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ test_env = [
 
 test_capture = executable('test-capture',
   'test-capture.c',
-  dependencies: libsysprof_dep,
+  dependencies: libsysprof_capture_dep,
 )
 test('test-capture', test_capture, env: test_env)
 
diff --git a/tools/meson.build b/tools/meson.build
index f7900461..b0b17b5e 100644
--- a/tools/meson.build
+++ b/tools/meson.build
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ sysprof_cli = executable('sysprof-cli',
 
 sysprof_dump = executable('sysprof-dump',
   'sysprof-dump.c',
-  dependencies: libsysprof_dep,
+  dependencies: libsysprof_capture_dep,
   c_args: exe_c_args,
   link_args: exe_link_args,
 )
diff --git a/tools/sysprof-dump.c b/tools/sysprof-dump.c
index cf110a2f..2fdb4351 100644
--- a/tools/sysprof-dump.c
+++ b/tools/sysprof-dump.c
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
 
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
-#include <sysprof.h>
+#include <sysprof-capture.h>
 
 #define NSEC_PER_SEC G_GINT64_CONSTANT(1000000000)