diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
index 005334d4b..7ba32fba6 100644
--- a/.gitmodules
+++ b/.gitmodules
@@ -36,3 +36,6 @@
 [submodule "external/oxen-logging"]
 	path = external/oxen-logging
 	url = https://github.com/oxen-io/oxen-logging.git
+[submodule "gui"]
+	path = gui
+	url = https://github.com/oxen-io/lokinet-gui.git
diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index eca295599..85efb29a1 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -299,6 +299,8 @@ endif()
 
 add_subdirectory(docs)
 
+include(cmake/gui.cmake)
+
 # uninstall target
 if(NOT TARGET uninstall)
   configure_file(
diff --git a/cmake/gui.cmake b/cmake/gui.cmake
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3d13c32b0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmake/gui.cmake
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+
+set(default_build_gui OFF)
+set(default_gui_target pack)
+if(APPLE)
+  set(default_build_gui ON)
+  set(default_gui_target macos:raw)
+elseif(WIN32)
+  set(default_build_gui ON)
+  set(default_gui_target win32)
+endif()
+
+option(BUILD_GUI "build electron gui from 'gui' submodule source" ${default_build_gui})
+set(GUI_YARN_TARGET "${default_gui_target}" CACHE STRING "yarn target for building the GUI")
+set(GUI_YARN_EXTRA_OPTS "" CACHE STRING "extra options to pass into the yarn build command")
+
+if (BUILD_GUI)
+  message(STATUS "Building lokinet-gui")
+
+  find_program(YARN NAMES yarn yarnpkg REQUIRED)
+  message(STATUS "Building lokinet-gui with yarn ${YARN}, target ${GUI_YARN_TARGET}")
+  add_custom_target(lokinet-gui
+    COMMAND ${YARN} install --frozen-lockfile &&
+      WINEDEBUG=-all "WINEPREFIX=${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/wineprefix" ${YARN} ${GUI_YARN_EXTRA_OPTS} ${GUI_YARN_TARGET}
+    WORKING_DIRECTORY "${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/gui")
+
+  if(APPLE)
+    add_custom_target(copy_gui ALL
+      DEPENDS lokinet lokinet-extension lokinet-gui
+      # FIXME: we really shouldn't be building inside the source directory but this is npm...
+      COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E copy_directory
+        ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/lokinet-gui/release/mac/lokinet-gui.app
+        $<TARGET_BUNDLE_DIR:lokinet>
+    )
+    add_dependencies(assemble copy_gui)
+  elseif(WIN32)
+    file(MAKE_DIRECTORY "${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/gui")
+    add_custom_target(copy_gui ALL
+      DEPENDS lokinet lokinet-gui
+      # FIXME: we really shouldn't be building inside the source directory but this is npm...
+      COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E copy_if_different
+        "${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/gui/release/Lokinet-GUI_portable.exe"
+        "${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/gui/lokinet-gui.exe"
+    )
+  else()
+    message(FATAL_ERROR "Building/bundling the GUI from this repository is not supported on this platform")
+  endif()
+
+else()
+  message(STATUS "Not building lokinet-gui")
+endif()
diff --git a/cmake/win32_installer_deps.cmake b/cmake/win32_installer_deps.cmake
index 825eda90f..f20034212 100644
--- a/cmake/win32_installer_deps.cmake
+++ b/cmake/win32_installer_deps.cmake
@@ -1,8 +1,3 @@
-if(NOT GUI_ZIP_URL)
-  set(GUI_ZIP_URL "https://oxen.rocks/oxen-io/lokinet-gui/dev/lokinet-windows-x64-20220331T180338Z-569f90ad8.zip")
-  set(GUI_ZIP_HASH_OPTS EXPECTED_HASH SHA256=316f10489f5907bfa9c74b21f8ef2fdd7b7c7e6a0f5bcedaed2ee5f4004eab52)
-endif()
-
 set(TUNTAP_URL "https://build.openvpn.net/downloads/releases/latest/tap-windows-latest-stable.exe")
 set(TUNTAP_EXE "${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/tuntap-install.exe")
 set(BOOTSTRAP_FILE "${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/contrib/bootstrap/mainnet.signed")
@@ -11,13 +6,25 @@ file(DOWNLOAD
     ${TUNTAP_URL}
     ${TUNTAP_EXE})
 
-file(DOWNLOAD
+if(NOT BUILD_GUI)
+  if(NOT GUI_ZIP_URL)
+    set(GUI_ZIP_URL "https://oxen.rocks/oxen-io/lokinet-gui/dev/lokinet-windows-x64-20220331T180338Z-569f90ad8.zip")
+    set(GUI_ZIP_HASH_OPTS EXPECTED_HASH SHA256=316f10489f5907bfa9c74b21f8ef2fdd7b7c7e6a0f5bcedaed2ee5f4004eab52)
+  endif()
+
+  file(DOWNLOAD
     ${GUI_ZIP_URL}
     ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/lokinet-gui.zip
     ${GUI_ZIP_HASH_OPTS})
 
-execute_process(COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E tar xf ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/lokinet-gui.zip
-  WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR})
+  # We expect the produced .zip file above to extract to ./gui/lokinet-gui.exe
+  execute_process(COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E tar xf ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/lokinet-gui.zip
+    WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR})
+
+  if(NOT EXISTS ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/gui/lokinet-gui.exe)
+    message(FATAL_ERROR "Downloaded gui archive from ${GUI_ZIP_URL} does not contain gui/lokinet-gui.exe!")
+  endif()
+endif()
 
 install(DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/gui DESTINATION share COMPONENT gui)
 install(PROGRAMS ${TUNTAP_EXE} DESTINATION bin COMPONENT tuntap)
diff --git a/daemon/CMakeLists.txt b/daemon/CMakeLists.txt
index 07841ff81..0025afbc8 100644
--- a/daemon/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/daemon/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -67,36 +67,6 @@ foreach(exe ${exetargets})
   endif()
 endforeach()
 
-set(default_with_gui OFF)
-if(APPLE)
-  set(default_with_gui ON)
-endif()
-
-option(WITH_GUI "build electron gui from source" ${default_with_gui})
-
-if (WITH_GUI)
-  find_program(YARN yarn REQUIRED)
-  message(STATUS "Found yarn: ${YARN}")
-  if(NOT GUI_GIT_REPO)
-    set(GUI_GIT_REPO "https://github.com/oxen-io/lokinet-gui")
-  endif()
-  if(NOT GUI_GIT_BRANCH)
-    set(GUI_GIT_BRANCH "stable")
-  endif()
-  if(NOT YARN_TARGET)
-    set(YARN_TARGET pack:raw)
-    if(APPLE)
-      set(YARN_TARGET macos:raw)
-    endif()
-  endif()
-  message(STATUS "will build gui: ${GUI_GIT_REPO} (branch: ${GUI_GIT_BRANCH}) using ${YARN} ${YARN_TARGET}")
-  add_custom_target(lokinet-gui
-    COMMAND rm -rf "${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/lokinet-gui" && git clone "${GUI_GIT_REPO}" -b ${GUI_GIT_BRANCH} "${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/lokinet-gui" && cd "${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/lokinet-gui" && ${YARN} install --frozen-lockfile && ${YARN} ${YARN_TARGET})
-else()
-  message(STATUS "not building gui")
-  add_custom_target(lokinet-gui COMMAND "true")
-endif()
-
 if(APPLE)
   option(MACOS_SYSTEM_EXTENSION
     "Build the network extension as a system extension rather than a plugin.  This must be ON for non-app store release builds, and must be OFF for dev builds and Mac App Store distribution builds"
@@ -197,20 +167,24 @@ if(APPLE)
     MACOSX_BUNDLE_COPYRIGHT "© 2022, The Oxen Project"
     RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY "${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}"
   )
-  set(copy_gui)
-  if(BUILD_GUI)
-    set(copy_gui COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E copy_directory ${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/lokinet-gui/release/mac/lokinet-gui.app $<TARGET_BUNDLE_DIR:lokinet>)
-  endif()
 
   add_custom_target(assemble
-    DEPENDS lokinet lokinet-extension lokinet-gui
-    ${copy_gui}
+    DEPENDS lokinet lokinet-extension
     COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E copy_if_different ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/contrib/bootstrap/mainnet.signed
       $<TARGET_BUNDLE_DIR:lokinet-extension>/Contents/Resources/bootstrap.signed
     COMMAND mkdir -p $<TARGET_BUNDLE_DIR:lokinet>/${lokinet_ext_dir}
     COMMAND cp -a $<TARGET_BUNDLE_DIR:lokinet-extension> $<TARGET_BUNDLE_DIR:lokinet>/${lokinet_ext_dir}
     ${post_build_pp})
 
+  if(TARGET lokinet-gui)
+    add_custom_target(copy_gui
+      DEPENDS lokinet lokinet-extension lokinet-gui
+      # FIXME: we really shouldn't be building inside the source directory but this is npm...
+      COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E copy_directory ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/lokinet-gui/release/mac/lokinet-gui.app $<TARGET_BUNDLE_DIR:lokinet>
+    )
+    add_dependencies(assemble copy_gui)
+  endif()
+
   if(NOT CODESIGN)
     message(STATUS "codesigning disabled")
     add_custom_target(
diff --git a/gui b/gui
new file mode 160000
index 000000000..4861da59c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/gui
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Subproject commit 4861da59c3f1251a002199e185cc8a638845e692