diff --git a/.github/workflows/build-edlib.yml b/.github/workflows/build-edlib.yml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2b6c4c0bb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/build-edlib.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,110 @@
+# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2026 The RISE Project
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
+---
+# Based on the `python_edlib`/`wheels` targets of
+# https://github.com/Martinsos/edlib/blob/1.3.9.post1/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
+# and https://github.com/Martinsos/edlib/blob/1.3.9.post1/bindings/python/Makefile
+name: Build edlib wheels (riscv64)
+
+on:
+  workflow_dispatch:
+    inputs:
+      version:
+        description: 'edlib version to build (git tag, e.g. 1.3.9.post1)'
+        required: true
+        default: '1.3.9.post1'
+  pull_request:
+    paths:
+      - '.github/workflows/build-edlib.yml'
+      - 'patches/edlib/**'
+
+concurrency:
+  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ inputs.version || '1.3.9.post1' }}-${{ github.head_ref || github.run_id }}
+  cancel-in-progress: true
+
+permissions:
+  contents: read  # to fetch code (actions/checkout)
+
+env:
+  EDLIB_VERSION: ${{ inputs.version || '1.3.9.post1' }}
+  MANYLINUX_RISCV64_IMAGE: quay.io/pypa/manylinux_2_39_riscv64
+  MUSLLINUX_RISCV64_IMAGE: quay.io/pypa/musllinux_1_2_riscv64
+
+jobs:
+  setup:
+    uses: $/.github/workflows/_setup.yml
+
+  build_wheels:
+    needs: [setup]
+    name: Build edlib ${{ inputs.version || '1.3.9.post1' }} ${{ matrix.python }}-${{ matrix.libc }}_riscv64
+    runs-on: ubuntu-24.04-riscv
+    timeout-minutes: 60
+    strategy:
+      fail-fast: false
+      matrix:
+        python: ["cp312", "cp313", "cp314", "cp314t"]
+        libc: [manylinux, musllinux]
+
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout edlib ${{ env.EDLIB_VERSION }}
+        uses: actions/checkout@3d3c42e5aac5ba805825da76410c181273ba90b1  # v7.0.1
+        with:
+          repository: Martinsos/edlib
+          ref: ${{ env.EDLIB_VERSION }}
+          persist-credentials: false
+
+      - name: Checkout python-wheels
+        uses: actions/checkout@3d3c42e5aac5ba805825da76410c181273ba90b1  # v7.0.1
+        with:
+          path: python-wheels
+          persist-credentials: false
+
+      - name: Patch edlib source
+        run: git apply python-wheels/patches/edlib/${{ env.EDLIB_VERSION }}/00*.patch
+
+      # setup.py's Extension() sources/include_dirs are relative to itself and
+      # expect a local edlib/ subdir (edlib/src/edlib.cpp, edlib/include/edlib.h)
+      # -- exactly what bindings/python/Makefile's own `edlib` target populates by
+      # copying the top-level C++ core in before invoking cibuildwheel.
+      - name: Copy the edlib C++ core and LICENSE into the Python binding dir
+        run: |
+          cp -r edlib bindings/python/edlib
+          cp LICENSE bindings/python/LICENSE
+
+      - name: Build wheels
+        uses: pypa/cibuildwheel@1828c10ab37f080699c7b81cea34097c684a7074  # v4.2.0
+        with:
+          package-dir: bindings/python
+          output-dir: wheelhouse/
+        env:
+          CIBW_ARCHS: riscv64
+          CIBW_BUILD: ${{ matrix.python }}-${{ matrix.libc }}_riscv64
+          CIBW_MANYLINUX_RISCV64_IMAGE: ${{ env.MANYLINUX_RISCV64_IMAGE }}
+          CIBW_MUSLLINUX_RISCV64_IMAGE: ${{ env.MUSLLINUX_RISCV64_IMAGE }}
+          # setup.py builds from the pre-generated edlib.bycython.cpp, which
+          # isn't checked in (upstream's own Makefile regenerates it before
+          # every build too); no pyproject.toml means no long_description
+          # source either (README.rst is cog-generated, requires a built wheel).
+          # {package}, not a bare filename: before-build's cwd is {project}
+          # (the whole checkout), not {package} (gotcha 5).
+          CIBW_BEFORE_BUILD: >-
+            pip install cython &&
+            cython --cplus {package}/edlib.pyx -o {package}/edlib.bycython.cpp
+          CIBW_ENVIRONMENT: EDLIB_OMIT_README_RST=1
+          CIBW_TEST_COMMAND: python3 {package}/test.py
+
+      - uses: actions/upload-artifact@043fb46d1a93c77aae656e7c1c64a875d1fc6a0a  # v7.0.1
+        with:
+          name: edlib-${{ env.EDLIB_VERSION }}-${{ matrix.python }}-${{ matrix.libc }}_riscv64
+          path: wheelhouse/*.whl
+          if-no-files-found: error
+
+  publish:
+    name: Publish edlib ${{ inputs.version || '1.3.9.post1' }}
+    needs: [setup, build_wheels]
+    permissions:
+      contents: write
+      pull-requests: write
+    uses: $/.github/workflows/_publish-wheel.yml
+    with:
+      artifact-pattern: edlib-${{ inputs.version || '1.3.9.post1' }}-*riscv64
diff --git a/patches/edlib/1.3.9.post1/0001-ship-the-MIT-LICENSE-in-the-wheel-s-dist-info.patch b/patches/edlib/1.3.9.post1/0001-ship-the-MIT-LICENSE-in-the-wheel-s-dist-info.patch
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9a47719d8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/patches/edlib/1.3.9.post1/0001-ship-the-MIT-LICENSE-in-the-wheel-s-dist-info.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+From 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
+From: Ludovic Henry <git@ludovic.dev>
+Date: Mon, 7 Sep 2026 06:43:09 +0200
+Subject: [PATCH] ship the MIT LICENSE in the wheel's dist-info
+
+setup.py declares `license = "MIT"` but never lists a `license_files`
+glob, and there is no pyproject.toml for setuptools' PEP 639
+auto-detection to fall back to. As a result every wheel upstream
+publishes (verified against the real
+edlib-1.3.9.post1-cp312-cp312-manylinux_2_17_x86_64.manylinux2014_x86_64.whl
+from PyPI) carries no LICENSE file at all.
+
+Declaring `license_files = ["LICENSE"]` makes setuptools copy the
+repository's root LICENSE into dist-info/licenses/LICENSE. The build
+also copies that file into bindings/python/ first (see
+build-edlib.yml), since setup.py's own directory is the wheel-build
+context and the license otherwise lives two directories up.
+
+Upstream-Status: To upstream [not yet submitted; no fork of Martinsos/edlib to push from]
+---
+ bindings/python/setup.py | 1 +
+ 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+)
+
+diff --git a/bindings/python/setup.py b/bindings/python/setup.py
+index 136fd8f..86d31bb 100644
+--- a/bindings/python/setup.py
++++ b/bindings/python/setup.py
+@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ setup(
+     author = "Martin Sosic",
+     author_email = "sosic.martin@gmail.com",
+     license = "MIT",
++    license_files = ["LICENSE"],
+     keywords = "edit distance levenshtein align sequence bioinformatics",
+     # Build instructions
+     ext_modules = [Extension("edlib",
+--
+2.50.1