diff --git a/manage b/manage
index 0f19375793..2fe2c52e19 100755
--- a/manage
+++ b/manage
@@ -377,9 +377,8 @@ pyenv.install() {
 
 pyenv.uninstall() {
     build_msg PYENV "[pyenv.uninstall] uninstall packages: ${PYOBJECTS}"
-    pyenv.cmd python setup.py develop --uninstall 2>&1 \
+    pyenv.cmd python -m pip uninstall -y searx 2>&1 \
         | prefix_stdout "${_Blue}PYENV     ${_creset}[pyenv.uninstall] "
-
 }
 
 pypi.upload() {
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0d4a1498e5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+[build-system]
+requires = ["setuptools>=80", "wheel"]
+build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 2f9519a630..ef0359e813 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 Brotli~=1.1
 babel~=2.15
-certifi~=2025.1.31
+certifi~=2025.6.15
 flask-babel~=4.0
 flask~=3.0
 jinja2~=3.1
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 61227d1991..49468a2917 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -1,14 +1,33 @@
 # -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 """Installer for Searx package."""
 
-from setuptools import setup
-from setuptools import find_packages
-
 import os
 import sys
 
-from searx.version import VERSION_STRING
-from searx import brand
+from setuptools import find_packages, setup
+
+
+version_ns = {}
+with open(os.path.join('searx', 'version.py')) as f:
+    exec(f.read(), version_ns)
+VERSION_STRING = version_ns.get('VERSION_STRING', '')
+
+brand = {}
+with open(os.path.join('utils', 'brand.env')) as f:
+    for line in f:
+        line = line.strip()
+
+        if not line or line.startswith('#'):
+            continue
+
+        if line.startswith('export '):
+            line = line[len('export '):]
+
+        if '=' in line:
+            key, val = line.split('=', 1)
+            key = key.strip()
+            val = val.strip().strip("'").strip('"')
+            brand[key] = val
 
 with open('README.rst', encoding='utf-8') as f:
     long_description = f.read()
@@ -24,10 +43,10 @@
     version=VERSION_STRING,
     description="A privacy-respecting, hackable metasearch engine",
     long_description=long_description,
-    url=brand.DOCS_URL,
+    url=brand.get("DOCS_URL", ""),
     project_urls={
-        "Code": brand.GIT_URL,
-        "Issue tracker": brand.ISSUE_URL
+        "Code": brand.get("GIT_URL", ""),
+        "Issue tracker": brand.get("ISSUE_URL", ""),
     },
     classifiers=[
         "Development Status :: 4 - Beta",
diff --git a/utils/lib.sh b/utils/lib.sh
index a511e3796c..a479a87961 100755
--- a/utils/lib.sh
+++ b/utils/lib.sh
@@ -690,10 +690,10 @@ pyenv.uninstall() {
     build_msg PYENV "[uninstall] ${PYOBJECTS}"
 
     if [ "." = "${PYOBJECTS}" ]; then
-	pyenv.cmd python setup.py develop --uninstall 2>&1 \
+        pyenv.cmd python -m pip uninstall --yes . 2>&1 \
             | prefix_stdout "${_Blue}PYENV     ${_creset}[pyenv.uninstall] "
     else
-	pyenv.cmd python -m pip uninstall --yes ${PYOBJECTS} 2>&1 \
+        pyenv.cmd python -m pip uninstall --yes ${PYOBJECTS} 2>&1 \
             | prefix_stdout "${_Blue}PYENV     ${_creset}[pyenv.uninstall] "
     fi
 }