diff --git a/.githooks/post-checkout b/.githooks/post-checkout
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..8e5f7089
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.githooks/post-checkout
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+if [ "$3" = "1" ]; then
+    echo "Updating submodules..."
+    git submodule update --init --recursive
+fi
+
diff --git a/.github/workflows/on_external_dispatch.yml b/.github/workflows/on_external_dispatch.yml
index 46252f0d..33a807db 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/on_external_dispatch.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/on_external_dispatch.yml
@@ -53,5 +53,5 @@ jobs:
           DUCKDB_SHA="${{ inputs.duckdb-sha }}"
           aws s3 cp \
             artifacts \
-            s3://duckdb-staging/${DUCKDB_SHA:0:7}/${{ github.repository }}/ \
+            s3://duckdb-staging/${DUCKDB_SHA:0:10}/${{ github.repository }}/ \
             --recursive
diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
index 2f4bbe0e..d4c01492 100644
--- a/.gitmodules
+++ b/.gitmodules
@@ -2,3 +2,5 @@
 	path = external/duckdb
 	url = https://github.com/duckdb/duckdb.git
 	branch = main
+[submodule]
+	recurse = true
diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index c927920e..7c6c5332 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -17,12 +17,6 @@ setup_compiler_launcher_if_available()
 # ────────────────────────────────────────────
 # Create compile_commands.json for IntelliSense and clang-tidy
 set(CMAKE_EXPORT_COMPILE_COMMANDS ON)
-# If we're not building through scikit-build-core then we have to set a different dest dir
-include(GNUInstallDirs)
-set(_DUCKDB_PY_INSTALL_DIR "${SKBUILD_PLATLIB_DIR}")
-if(NOT _DUCKDB_PY_INSTALL_DIR)
-  set(_DUCKDB_PY_INSTALL_DIR "${CMAKE_INSTALL_LIBDIR}")
-endif()
 
 # ────────────────────────────────────────────
 # Policy hygiene
@@ -87,4 +81,16 @@ target_link_libraries(_duckdb PRIVATE _duckdb_dependencies)
 # ────────────────────────────────────────────
 # Put the object file in the correct place
 # ────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+# If we're not building through scikit-build-core then we have to set a different dest dir
+include(GNUInstallDirs)
+if(DEFINED SKBUILD_PLATLIB_DIR)
+  set(_DUCKDB_PY_INSTALL_DIR "${SKBUILD_PLATLIB_DIR}")
+elseif(DEFINED Python_SITEARCH)
+  set(_DUCKDB_PY_INSTALL_DIR "${Python_SITEARCH}")
+else()
+  message(WARNING "Could not determine Python install dir. Falling back to CMAKE_INSTALL_LIBDIR.")
+  set(_DUCKDB_PY_INSTALL_DIR "${CMAKE_INSTALL_LIBDIR}")
+endif()
+
 install(TARGETS _duckdb LIBRARY DESTINATION "${_DUCKDB_PY_INSTALL_DIR}")
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index c5cdd815..13e9569d 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -44,19 +44,27 @@ pip install 'duckdb[all]'
 
 ## Development
 
-### Building wheels and sdists
+### Cloning
 
-  To build a wheel and sdist for your system and the default Python version:
-```bash
-uv build
-````
+When you clone the repo or your fork, make sure you initialize the duckdb submodule:
+```shell
+git clone --recurse-submodules <repo>
+```
 
-  To build a wheel for a different Python version:
-```bash
-# E.g. for Python 3.9
-uv build -p 3.9
+... or, if  you already have the repo locally:
+```shell
+git clone <your-repo>
+cd <your-repo>
+git submodule update --init --recursive
+```
+
+If you'll be switching between branches that are have the submodule set to different refs, then make your life 
+easier and add the git hooks in the .githooks directory to your local config: 
+```shell
+git config --local core.hooksPath .githooks/
 ```
 
+
 ### Editable installs (general)
 
   It's good to be aware of the following when creating an editable install:
@@ -72,7 +80,7 @@ uv build -p 3.9
 # install all dev dependencies without building the project (needed once)
 uv sync -p 3.9 --no-install-project
 # build and install without build isolation
-uv sync  --no-build-isolation
+uv sync --no-build-isolation
 ```
 
 ### Editable installs (IDEs)
@@ -82,6 +90,28 @@ uv sync  --no-build-isolation
   compilation and editable rebuilds. This will skip scikit-build-core's build backend and all of uv's dependency 
   management, so for "real" builds you better revert to the CLI. However, this should work fine for coding and debugging.
 
+
+### Cleaning
+
+```shell
+uv cache clean
+rm -rf build .venv uv.lock
+```
+
+
+### Building wheels and sdists
+
+To build a wheel and sdist for your system and the default Python version:
+```bash
+uv build
+````
+
+To build a wheel for a different Python version:
+```bash
+# E.g. for Python 3.9
+uv build -p 3.9
+```
+
 ### Running tests
 
   Run all pytests:
diff --git a/duckdb_packaging/setuptools_scm_version.py b/duckdb_packaging/setuptools_scm_version.py
index f555e384..956cf38a 100644
--- a/duckdb_packaging/setuptools_scm_version.py
+++ b/duckdb_packaging/setuptools_scm_version.py
@@ -12,8 +12,8 @@
 # Import from our own versioning module to avoid duplication
 from ._versioning import parse_version, format_version
 
-# MAIN_BRANCH_VERSIONING default should be 'True' for main branch and feature branches
-MAIN_BRANCH_VERSIONING = True
+# MAIN_BRANCH_VERSIONING should be 'True' on main branch only
+MAIN_BRANCH_VERSIONING = False
 
 SCM_PRETEND_ENV_VAR = "SETUPTOOLS_SCM_PRETEND_VERSION_FOR_DUCKDB"
 SCM_GLOBAL_PRETEND_ENV_VAR = "SETUPTOOLS_SCM_PRETEND_VERSION"
diff --git a/external/README_GIT_SUBMODULE.md b/external/README_GIT_SUBMODULE.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 777bb495..00000000
--- a/external/README_GIT_SUBMODULE.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,36 +0,0 @@
-# DuckDB vendored as submodule
-
-The submodule has a relative path. Git resolves it against the super-project’s remote, so a clone of `git@github.com:alice/duckdb-python.git` will automatically look for `git@github.com:alice/duckdb.git`, while a clone of the canonical repo falls back to
-`https://github.com/duckdb/duckdb.git`.
-
-### Clone python repo
-
-From the main repo:
-```shell
-git clone --recurse-submodules git@github.com:duckdb/duckdb-python.git
-```
-
-Or from your fork (NOTE that you must also fork duckdb):
-```shell
-git clone --recurse-submodules git@github.com:<you>/duckdb-python.git
-```
-
-### Switch submodule to fork
-```shell
-git submodule set-url external/duckdb git@github.com:<you>/duckdb.git
-```
-
-### Work on a feature branch
-```shell
-git -C external/duckdb checkout my-branch
-```
-
-### Jump to latest DuckDB tag
-```shell
-git -C external/duckdb fetch --tags && git -C external/duckdb checkout v1.3.1 # Example
-```
-
-### Pull latest changes
-```shell
-git submodule update --remote --merge external/duckdb
-```
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 5532f41b..d0642b3b 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -112,6 +112,7 @@ if.state = "editable"
 if.env.COVERAGE = false
 build-dir = "build/debug/"
 editable.rebuild = true
+editable.mode = "redirect"
 cmake.build-type = "Debug"
 
 # Separate override because we have to append to cmake.define with `inherit` in order not to overwrite other defines.