diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index cc409e0c..16386e96 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -256,3 +256,4 @@ janet_binscripts = [
   'auxbin/jpm'
 ]
 install_data(sources : janet_binscripts, install_dir : 'bin')
+install_data(sources : ['tools/.keep'], install_dir : 'lib/janet')
diff --git a/tools/.keep b/tools/.keep
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e69de29b