diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
index f61e8946a..053a51af8 100644
--- a/.gitmodules
+++ b/.gitmodules
@@ -11,3 +11,6 @@
 	path = extern/Microphysics
 	url = https://github.com/psharda/Microphysics
 	branch = development
+[submodule "extern/yaml-cpp"]
+	path = extern/yaml-cpp
+	url = https://github.com/jbeder/yaml-cpp.git
diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index d80199989..7bc69218f 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -58,6 +58,7 @@ endif()
 
 add_subdirectory(${QuokkaCode_SOURCE_DIR}/extern/amrex ${QuokkaCode_BINARY_DIR}/amrex)
 add_subdirectory(${QuokkaCode_SOURCE_DIR}/extern/fmt ${QuokkaCode_BINARY_DIR}/fmt)
+add_subdirectory(${QuokkaCode_SOURCE_DIR}/extern/yaml-cpp ${QuokkaCode_BINARY_DIR}/yaml-cpp)
 
 #add compiler definitions again because
 #they do not carry forward from Microphysics
diff --git a/extern/yaml-cpp b/extern/yaml-cpp
new file mode 160000
index 000000000..fcbb8193b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/extern/yaml-cpp
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Subproject commit fcbb8193b94921e058be7b563aea053531e5b2d9
diff --git a/src/CMakeLists.txt b/src/CMakeLists.txt
index 46988ab38..9bd14bee6 100644
--- a/src/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -91,6 +91,7 @@ include_directories(${gamma_law_dirs} ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR} "includes/exte
 link_libraries(AMReX::amrex)
 link_libraries(fmt::fmt)
 link_libraries(hdf5::hdf5)
+link_libraries(yaml-cpp::yaml-cpp)
 
 include(CTest)