diff --git a/.github/workflows/build-wheel-wrapper.yml b/.github/workflows/build-wheel-wrapper.yml
index bea8ed8c3..fb8ccbe8c 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build-wheel-wrapper.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build-wheel-wrapper.yml
@@ -21,5 +21,5 @@ on:
 jobs:
   python-wrapper-wheel:
     name: Python Wrapper Wheel
-    uses: ecmwf-actions/reusable-workflows/.github/workflows/python-wrapper-wheel.yml@main
+    uses: ecmwf/reusable-workflows/.github/workflows/python-wrapper-wheel.yml@main
     secrets: inherit
diff --git a/python_wrapper/buildconfig b/python_wrapper/buildconfig
index 76ccc66d1..9d8e36839 100644
--- a/python_wrapper/buildconfig
+++ b/python_wrapper/buildconfig
@@ -11,6 +11,6 @@
 # TODO we duplicate information -- pyproject.toml's `name` and `packages` are derivable from $NAME and must stay consistent
 
 NAME="eckit"
-CMAKE_PARAMS="-DENABLE_MPI=0  -DENABLE_ECKIT_GEO=1 -DENABLE_BUILD_TOOLS=OFF -DENABLE_AEC=0"
+CMAKE_PARAMS="-DENABLE_MPI=0 -DENABLE_ECKIT_GEO=1 -DENABLE_BUILD_TOOLS=OFF -DENABLE_AEC=0 -DLZ4_INCLUDE_DIR=/tmp/lz4/usr/local/include/ -DLZ4_LIBRARY=/tmp/lz4/usr/local/lib/ -DENABLE_LZ4=1"
 PYPROJECT_DIR="python_wrapper"
 DEPENDENCIES='[]'
diff --git a/python_wrapper/post-build.sh b/python_wrapper/post-build.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..f6d89c5a2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/python_wrapper/post-build.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# NOTE in case of problems like we had with eccodes, replace with noop here
+if [ "$(uname)" != "Darwin" ] ; then
+    auditwheel repair -w /tmp/eckit/auditwheel /tmp/eckit/build/wheel/*whl
+    rm /tmp/eckit/build/wheel/*
+    mv /tmp/eckit/auditwheel/* /tmp/eckit/build/wheel
+fi
+
+# NOTE on macos we delocate with impunity, because the findlibs recursive depload
+# is disabled anyway
+if [ "$(uname)" = "Darwin" ] ; then
+    delocate-wheel /tmp/eccodes/build/wheel/*whl
+fi
diff --git a/python_wrapper/pre-compile.sh b/python_wrapper/pre-compile.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..a23df52dc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/python_wrapper/pre-compile.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# the procedure for adding a new ext dependency to be bundled in here:
+# - add git checkout, compile, etc
+# - ensure the version ends up in python_wrapper/src/versions.txt
+# - ensure the licence ends up in python_wrapper/src/copying/, and fname is referenced in copying/list.json
+# - ensure the .so ends up in target/lib64/ with the expected libname
+# - validate that the resulting wheel contains all the above
+# additionally, make sure this script is aligned with /buildscripts/compile.sh and /buildscripts/wheel-linux.sh,
+# in particular when it comes to install targets and package data, etc
+
+# note also that for macos, we assume that the agent has the libraries already installed, as we can't run this in docker
+# we thus only prepare the license files
+
+set -euo pipefail
+
+mkdir -p python_wrapper/src/copying
+mkdir -p /tmp/eckit/target/eckit/lib64/
+
+if [ "$(uname)" != "Darwin" ] ; then
+    echo "installing deps for platform $(uname)"
+
+    ## lz4
+    git clone https://github.com/lz4/lz4 /src/lz4 && cd /src/lz4
+    make -j10 && make install DESTDIR=/tmp/lz4
+    cd -
+else
+    # TODO check macos agent has lz4
+    echo "no deps installation for platform $(uname)"
+fi
+
+
+wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/lz4/lz4/dev/LICENSE -O python_wrapper/src/copying/liblz4.txt
+echo '{"liblz4": {"path": "copying/liblz4.txt", "home": "https://github.com/lz4/lz4"}}' > python_wrapper/src/copying/list.json