diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
index 73f0a7935..60d221105 100644
--- a/.gitmodules
+++ b/.gitmodules
@@ -35,3 +35,6 @@
 [submodule "external/span-lite"]
 	path = external/span-lite
 	url = https://github.com/martinmoene/span-lite.git
+[submodule "external/oxen-encoding"]
+	path = external/oxen-encoding
+	url = https://github.com/oxen-io/oxen-encoding.git
diff --git a/external/CMakeLists.txt b/external/CMakeLists.txt
index 2b09d0ee5..f901be4c3 100644
--- a/external/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/external/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -26,7 +26,9 @@ if(SUBMODULE_CHECK)
     message(STATUS "Checking submodules")
     check_submodule(CLI11)
     check_submodule(cpr)
+    check_submodule(ghc-filesystem)
     check_submodule(nlohmann)
+    check_submodule(oxen-encoding)
     check_submodule(oxen-libquic)
     check_submodule(oxen-mq)
     check_submodule(pybind11)
@@ -58,6 +60,7 @@ macro(system_or_submodule BIGNAME smallname pkgconf subdir)
   endif()
 endmacro()
 
+system_or_submodule(OXENC oxenc liboxenc>=1.0.10 oxen-encoding)
 system_or_submodule(OXENMQ oxenmq liboxenmq>=1.2.14 oxen-mq)
 
 set(JSON_BuildTests OFF CACHE INTERNAL "")
diff --git a/external/oxen-encoding b/external/oxen-encoding
new file mode 160000
index 000000000..a7de63756
--- /dev/null
+++ b/external/oxen-encoding
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Subproject commit a7de63756dcc5c31cb899a4b810e6434b1a7c01c