diff --git a/docs/zig.mod.md b/docs/zig.mod.md
index 7b8fb47cff5a8d26b749b88db0a60a05c7148a61..d94a5145bd8571a968c77c4ee2963c135f25aa26 100644
--- a/docs/zig.mod.md
+++ b/docs/zig.mod.md
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ This is the object used in the top-level `dependencies` attribute and used to ad
 This is the base attribute used to reference external code for use in your project. `type` is an enum and only allows certain values. `path` is the URL or other identifier used to locate the contents of this package based on the `type`.
 
 The available `type`s are:
+- `local`
 - `system_lib`
 - `git`
 - `hg`
@@ -57,6 +58,8 @@ The available `type`s are:
 
 For the full details on `Dep` types, you can check out the source where the enum is defined: https://github.com/nektro/zigmod/blob/master/src/util/dep_type.zig.
 
+> Note: the `local` type modifies the input behavior to be shorthand for `<name> <main>` rather than `path version` since the latter fields don't make sense for local files.
+
 #### Dep `version`
 - Type: `string-string`
 - Example: `commit-2c21764`
diff --git a/src/common.zig b/src/common.zig
index beeb0e92eb557c2444fbc6b9e1b1b0111565bdf3..9950545e96b710b35b738ac3db56639b308b2255 100644
--- a/src/common.zig
+++ b/src/common.zig
@@ -82,6 +82,9 @@ fn get_moddir(basedir: []const u8, d: u.Dep, parent_name: []const u8, options: C
         u.print("fetch: {s}: {s}: {s}", .{ parent_name, @tagName(d.type), d.path });
     }
     switch (d.type) {
+        .local => {
+            return d.path;
+        },
         .system_lib => {
             // no op
             return "";
@@ -186,6 +189,10 @@ fn get_module_from_dep(list: *std.ArrayList(u.Module), d: u.Dep, dir: []const u8
             });
         },
         else => {
+            if (d.type == .local) {
+                try list.append(try u.Module.from(d));
+                return;
+            }
             var dd = try collect_deps(dir, try u.concat(&.{ moddir, "/zig.mod" }), options) catch |e| switch (e) {
                 error.FileNotFound => {
                     if (d.main.len > 0 or d.c_include_dirs.len > 0 or d.c_source_files.len > 0) {
diff --git a/src/util/dep.zig b/src/util/dep.zig
index 223234ecda4223219a2ae7423500b504e94057b9..65371463b04203507cce8f5b1fd053aaab3cac59 100644
--- a/src/util/dep.zig
+++ b/src/util/dep.zig
@@ -26,6 +26,9 @@ pub const Dep = struct {
     yaml: ?yaml.Mapping,
 
     pub fn clean_path(self: Dep) ![]const u8 {
+        if (self.type == .local) {
+            return if (self.path.len == 0) "../.." else self.path;
+        }
         var p = self.path;
         p = u.trim_prefix(p, "http://");
         p = u.trim_prefix(p, "https://");
diff --git a/src/util/dep_type.zig b/src/util/dep_type.zig
index 74c07338e51a9d90dc59b9e6f96b68ed5e432704..3243f6de71ead921fc1b82b8df65b41ef8a829f5 100644
--- a/src/util/dep_type.zig
+++ b/src/util/dep_type.zig
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ const u = @import("./index.zig");
 
 // zig fmt: off
 pub const DepType = enum {
+    local,      // A 'package' derived from files in the same repository.
     system_lib, // std.build.LibExeObjStep.linkSystemLibrary
     git,        // https://git-scm.com/
     hg,         // https://www.mercurial-scm.org/
@@ -32,6 +33,7 @@ pub const DepType = enum {
 
     pub fn pull(self: DepType, rpath: []const u8, dpath: []const u8) !void {
         switch (self) {
+            .local => {},
             .system_lib => {},
             .git => {
                 u.assert((try u.run_cmd(null, &.{ "git", "clone", "--recurse-submodules", rpath, dpath })) == 0, "git clone {s} failed", .{rpath});
@@ -55,6 +57,7 @@ pub const DepType = enum {
 
     pub fn update(self: DepType, dpath: []const u8, rpath: []const u8) !void {
         switch (self) {
+            .local => {},
             .system_lib => {},
             .git => {
                 u.assert((try u.run_cmd(dpath, &.{ "git", "fetch" })) == 0, "git fetch failed", .{});
diff --git a/src/util/modfile.zig b/src/util/modfile.zig
index 2188b4076e2140377c3ae262960fc7adb1936fca..9f516a40f3c40239fe51efec68f07aa58e050550 100644
--- a/src/util/modfile.zig
+++ b/src/util/modfile.zig
@@ -70,6 +70,8 @@ pub const ModFile = struct {
                     var dtype: []const u8 = undefined;
                     var path: []const u8 = undefined;
                     var version: ?[]const u8 = null;
+                    var name = item.mapping.get_string("name");
+                    var main = item.mapping.get_string("main");
                     if (item.mapping.get("src")) |val| {
                         var src_iter = std.mem.tokenize(val.string, " ");
                         dtype = src_iter.next().?;
@@ -88,13 +90,23 @@ pub const ModFile = struct {
                         version = "";
                     }
                     const dep_type = std.meta.stringToEnum(u.DepType, dtype).?;
+                    if (dep_type == .local) {
+                        if (path.len > 0) {
+                            name = path;
+                            path = "";
+                        }
+                        if (version.?.len > 0) {
+                            main = version.?;
+                            version = "";
+                        }
+                    }
 
                     try dep_list.append(u.Dep{
                         .type = dep_type,
                         .path = path,
                         .id = item.mapping.get_string("id"),
-                        .name = item.mapping.get_string("name"),
-                        .main = item.mapping.get_string("main"),
+                        .name = name,
+                        .main = main,
                         .version = version.?,
                         .c_include_dirs = try item.mapping.get_string_array(alloc, "c_include_dirs"),
                         .c_source_flags = try item.mapping.get_string_array(alloc, "c_source_flags"),