diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 39ec68f86..fcee70af1 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -231,9 +231,13 @@ torch_spline_conv = [
 requires      = ["setuptools>=61.0.0", "wheel"]
 build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
 
+[tool.setuptools]
+# Ensure MANIFEST.in is used during build
+include-package-data = true
+
 [tool.setuptools.packages.find]
 where = ["python"]  # list of folders that contain the packages
-include = ["gigl*", "snapchat*"]  # Include only packages that match the specified patterns
+include = ["gigl*", "snapchat*", "examples*"]  # Include only packages that match the specified patterns
 
 [project.urls]
 Homepage = "https://github.com/snapchat/gigl"
@@ -242,6 +246,8 @@ Homepage = "https://github.com/snapchat/gigl"
 gigl-post-install = "gigl.scripts.post_install:main"
 
 [tool.setuptools.package-data]
+# Include dep_vars.env from the root directory
+"gigl" = ["dep_vars.env"]
 "gigl.scripts" = ["*.sh"]
 
 
diff --git a/python/gigl/dep_vars.env b/python/gigl/dep_vars.env
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..784ed142f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/python/gigl/dep_vars.env
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+# Note this file only supports static key value pairs so it can be loaded by make, bash, python, and sbt without any additional parsing.
+DOCKER_LATEST_BASE_CUDA_IMAGE_NAME_WITH_TAG=us-central1-docker.pkg.dev/external-snap-ci-github-gigl/public-gigl/gigl-cuda-base:51af343c1c298ab465a96ecffd4e50ea6dffacb7.88.1
+DOCKER_LATEST_BASE_CPU_IMAGE_NAME_WITH_TAG=us-central1-docker.pkg.dev/external-snap-ci-github-gigl/public-gigl/gigl-cpu-base:51af343c1c298ab465a96ecffd4e50ea6dffacb7.88.1
+DOCKER_LATEST_BASE_DATAFLOW_IMAGE_NAME_WITH_TAG=us-central1-docker.pkg.dev/external-snap-ci-github-gigl/public-gigl/gigl-dataflow-base:51af343c1c298ab465a96ecffd4e50ea6dffacb7.88.1
+
+DEFAULT_GIGL_RELEASE_SRC_IMAGE_CUDA=us-central1-docker.pkg.dev/external-snap-ci-github-gigl/public-gigl/src-cuda:0.0.11
+DEFAULT_GIGL_RELEASE_SRC_IMAGE_CPU=us-central1-docker.pkg.dev/external-snap-ci-github-gigl/public-gigl/src-cpu:0.0.11
+DEFAULT_GIGL_RELEASE_SRC_IMAGE_DATAFLOW_CPU=us-central1-docker.pkg.dev/external-snap-ci-github-gigl/public-gigl/src-cpu-dataflow:0.0.11
+DEFAULT_GIGL_RELEASE_DEV_WORKBENCH_IMAGE=us-central1-docker.pkg.dev/external-snap-ci-github-gigl/public-gigl/gigl-dev-workbench:0.0.11
+DEFAULT_GIGL_RELEASE_KFP_PIPELINE_PATH=gs://public-gigl/releases/pipelines/gigl-pipeline-0.0.11.yaml
+
+SPARK_31_TFRECORD_JAR_GCS_PATH=gs://public-gigl/tools/scala/spark_packages/spark-custom-tfrecord_2.12-0.5.0.jar
+SPARK_35_TFRECORD_JAR_GCS_PATH=gs://public-gigl/tools/scala/spark_packages/spark_3.5.0-custom-tfrecord_2.12-0.6.1.jar
+
+# WARNING: Ensure the local paths match with the paths in fossa-deps.yml ================================
+SPARK_31_TFRECORD_JAR_LOCAL_PATH=tools/scala/spark_packages/spark-custom-tfrecord_2.12-0.5.0.jar
+SPARK_35_TFRECORD_JAR_LOCAL_PATH=tools/scala/spark_packages/spark_3.5.0-custom-tfrecord_2.12-0.6.1.jar
+# WARNING ====================================================================================================