diff --git a/include/libcamera/meson.build b/include/libcamera/meson.build
index f47c583cbbc0..88edf620f69e 100644
--- a/include/libcamera/meson.build
+++ b/include/libcamera/meson.build
@@ -44,6 +44,8 @@ foreach header : control_source_files
                                      install_dir : join_paths('include', include_dir))
 endforeach
 
+libcamera_api += control_headers
+
 gen_header = files('gen-header.sh')
 
 libcamera_h = custom_target('gen-header',
diff --git a/src/libcamera/meson.build b/src/libcamera/meson.build
index 88658ac563f7..cd95fa11534a 100644
--- a/src/libcamera/meson.build
+++ b/src/libcamera/meson.build
@@ -97,6 +97,7 @@ libcamera_deps = [
     cc.find_library('dl'),
     libudev,
     dependency('threads'),
+    declare_dependency(sources : [control_headers])
 ]
 
 libcamera_link_with = []