diff --git a/.github/workflows/build.yml b/.github/workflows/build.yml
index c131ef2..233e672 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build.yml
@@ -40,6 +40,9 @@ jobs:
             exodusii==2022.10.* \
             fmt=11.* \
             yaml-cpp==0.8.0 \
+            pybind11 \
+            pytest \
+            flake8 \
             lcov
 
       - name: Configure
@@ -47,6 +50,7 @@ jobs:
           cmake -S . -B ${{ github.workspace }}/build \
             -DGCOV_PATH=`which x86_64-conda-linux-gnu-gcov` \
             -DEXODUSIICPP_LIBRARY_TYPE=SHARED \
+            -DEXODUSIICPP_WITH_PYTHON=ON \
             -DEXODUSIICPP_BUILD_TESTS=YES \
             -DEXODUSIICPP_CODE_COVERAGE=YES
 
diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index b0151e4..9db7f06 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.16)
+cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.26)
 
 project(exodusIIcpp
     VERSION 3.0.0
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ set_property(CACHE EXODUSIICPP_LIBRARY_TYPE PROPERTY STRINGS ${LibraryTypeValues
 option(EXODUSIICPP_BUILD_TESTS "Build tests" NO)
 option(EXODUSIICPP_BUILD_TOOLS "Build tools" YES)
 option(EXODUSIICPP_INSTALL "Install the library" ON)
+option(EXODUSIICPP_WITH_PYTHON "Build python wrapper" NO)
 mark_as_advanced(FORCE EXODUSIICPP_INSTALL)
 
 find_package(fmt 11 REQUIRED)
@@ -59,6 +60,10 @@ if (EXODUSIICPP_BUILD_TOOLS)
     add_subdirectory(tools)
 endif()
 
+if (EXODUSIICPP_WITH_PYTHON)
+    add_subdirectory(python)
+endif()
+
 # Tests
 
 if (EXODUSIICPP_BUILD_TESTS)
diff --git a/python/CMakeLists.txt b/python/CMakeLists.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..da5c9f9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/python/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+find_package(Python3 REQUIRED COMPONENTS Interpreter Development)
+
+configure_file(pyproject.toml.in pyproject.toml)
+install(CODE "execute_process(COMMAND ${Python3_EXECUTABLE} -m pip install ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR})")
+
+add_subdirectory(src)
+
+if (EXODUSIICPP_BUILD_TESTS)
+    find_program(PYTEST "pytest" REQUIRED)
+    enable_testing()
+    add_test(
+        NAME python-tests
+        COMMAND ${PYTEST} ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}
+    )
+endif()
diff --git a/python/pyproject.toml.in b/python/pyproject.toml.in
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e490938
--- /dev/null
+++ b/python/pyproject.toml.in
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+[build-system]
+requires = ["setuptools", "wheel"]
+build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
+
+[project]
+name = "exodusIIcpp"
+version = "${PROJECT_VERSION}"
+
+[tool.setuptools.packages.find]
+where = ["src"]
diff --git a/python/src/CMakeLists.txt b/python/src/CMakeLists.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8042bf2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/python/src/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+project(pyexodusIIcpp LANGUAGES C CXX)
+
+find_package(pybind11 2.9 REQUIRED)
+
+pybind11_add_module(pyexodusIIcpp exodusIIcpp.cpp)
+
+set_target_properties(pyexodusIIcpp PROPERTIES OUTPUT_NAME exodusIIcpp)
+
+target_include_directories(
+    pyexodusIIcpp
+    PRIVATE
+        ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}
+        ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/include
+        ${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}
+)
+
+target_link_libraries(
+    pyexodusIIcpp
+    PUBLIC
+        exodusIIcpp
+)
+
+configure_file(version.h.in version.h)
+
+set(PYTHON_SITE lib/python${Python3_VERSION_MAJOR}.${Python3_VERSION_MINOR}/site-packages)
+
+install(
+    TARGETS pyexodusIIcpp
+    COMPONENT python
+    LIBRARY DESTINATION ${PYTHON_SITE}/exodusIIcpp
+)
+
+install(
+    FILES
+        ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/exodusIIcpp/__init__.py
+    DESTINATION ${PYTHON_SITE}/exodusIIcpp
+    COMPONENT python
+)
diff --git a/python/src/exodusIIcpp.cpp b/python/src/exodusIIcpp.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e3cafb9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/python/src/exodusIIcpp.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,96 @@
+// SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2025 David Andrs <andrsd@gmail.com>
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
+
+#include <pybind11/pybind11.h>
+#include <pybind11/stl.h>
+#include "exodusIIcpp/exodusIIcpp.h"
+#include "version.h"
+
+using namespace exodusIIcpp;
+
+namespace py = pybind11;
+
+PYBIND11_MODULE(exodusIIcpp, m)
+{
+    m.doc() = "pybind11 plugin for exodusIIcpp";
+    py::setattr(m, "version", py::str(EXODUSIICPP_VERSION));
+
+    py::class_<exodusIIcpp::File>(m, "File")
+        .def(py::init())
+        .def("open", &File::open)
+        .def("create", &File::create)
+        .def("is_opened", &File::is_opened)
+        .def("init", static_cast<void (File::*)()>(&File::init))
+        .def("init",
+             static_cast<void (File::*)(const char *, int, int, int, int, int, int)>(&File::init))
+        //
+        .def("get_title", &File::get_title)
+        .def("get_dim", &File::get_dim)
+        .def("get_num_nodes", &File::get_num_nodes)
+        .def("get_num_elements", &File::get_num_elements)
+        .def("get_num_element_blocks", &File::get_num_element_blocks)
+        .def("get_num_node_sets", &File::get_num_node_sets)
+        .def("get_num_side_sets", &File::get_num_side_sets)
+        .def("get_x_coords", &File::get_x_coords)
+        .def("get_y_coords", &File::get_y_coords)
+        .def("get_z_coords", &File::get_z_coords)
+        .def("get_coord_names", &File::get_coord_names)
+        .def("get_element_block", &File::get_element_block)
+        .def("get_side_sets", &File::get_side_sets)
+        .def("get_side_set_node_list", &File::get_side_set_node_list)
+        .def("get_node_sets", &File::get_node_sets)
+        .def("get_num_times", &File::get_num_times)
+        .def("get_times", &File::get_times)
+        .def("get_nodal_variable_names", &File::get_nodal_variable_names)
+        .def("get_elemental_variable_names", &File::get_elemental_variable_names)
+        .def("get_global_variable_names", &File::get_global_variable_names)
+        .def("get_nodal_variable_values", &File::get_nodal_variable_values)
+        .def("get_elemental_variable_values", &File::get_elemental_variable_values)
+        .def("get_global_variable_values",
+             static_cast<std::vector<double> (File::*)(int) const>(
+                 &File::get_global_variable_values))
+        // read
+        .def("read", &File::read)
+        .def("read_coords", &File::read_coords)
+        .def("read_coord_names", &File::read_coord_names)
+        .def("read_elem_map", &File::read_elem_map)
+        .def("read_blocks", &File::read_blocks)
+        .def("read_block_names", &File::read_block_names)
+        .def("read_node_sets", &File::read_node_sets)
+        .def("read_node_set_names", &File::read_node_set_names)
+        .def("read_side_sets", &File::read_side_sets)
+        .def("read_side_set_names", &File::read_side_set_names)
+        .def("read_times", &File::read_times)
+        // write
+        .def("write_coords",
+             static_cast<void (File::*)(const std::vector<double> &)>(&File::write_coords))
+        .def("write_coords",
+             static_cast<void (File::*)(const std::vector<double> &, const std::vector<double> &)>(
+                 &File::write_coords))
+        .def("write_coords",
+             static_cast<void (File::*)(const std::vector<double> &,
+                                        const std::vector<double> &,
+                                        const std::vector<double> &)>(&File::write_coords))
+        .def("write_coord_names", static_cast<void (File::*)()>(&File::write_coord_names))
+        .def(
+            "write_coord_names",
+            static_cast<void (File::*)(const std::vector<std::string> &)>(&File::write_coord_names))
+        .def("write_info", &File::write_info)
+        .def("write_time", &File::write_time)
+        .def("write_node_set_names", &File::write_node_set_names)
+        .def("write_node_set", &File::write_node_set)
+        .def("write_side_set_names", &File::write_side_set_names)
+        .def("write_side_set", &File::write_side_set)
+        .def("write_block_names", &File::write_block_names)
+        .def("write_block", &File::write_block)
+        .def("write_nodal_var_names", &File::write_nodal_var_names)
+        .def("write_elem_var_names", &File::write_elem_var_names)
+        .def("write_global_var_names", &File::write_global_var_names)
+        .def("write_nodal_var", &File::write_nodal_var)
+        .def("write_partial_nodal_var", &File::write_partial_nodal_var)
+        .def("write_partial_elem_var", &File::write_partial_elem_var)
+        .def("write_global_var", &File::write_global_var)
+        //
+        .def("update", &File::update)
+        .def("close", &File::close);
+}
diff --git a/python/src/exodusIIcpp/__init__.py b/python/src/exodusIIcpp/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c0e33a2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/python/src/exodusIIcpp/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+from .exodusIIcpp import *
+
+__all__ = [
+    File
+]
diff --git a/python/src/version.h.in b/python/src/version.h.in
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e58c556
--- /dev/null
+++ b/python/src/version.h.in
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+#pragma once
+
+#define EXODUSIICPP_VERSION "@CMAKE_PROJECT_VERSION_MAJOR@.@CMAKE_PROJECT_VERSION_MINOR@.0"