diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index f62ca4d..43ca720 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -39,5 +39,8 @@ dev = [
 requires = ["hatchling"]
 build-backend = "hatchling.build"
 
+[tool.hatch.metadata]
+allow-direct-references = true   # the api extra pulls openrouter_wrapper straight from git
+
 [tool.hatch.build.targets.wheel]
 packages = ["src/tinymfv"]