diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 5d8214b2..a5ad27bd 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -259,11 +259,8 @@ If a valence of 3 is detected on carbon, the formal charge will be assigned to -
 
 # Plugins
 
-One can follow [a simple example](plugin_example/) to add their own format by creating and installing plugins. It's critical to add the [Format](dpdata/format.py) class to `entry_points['dpdata.plugins']` in `setup.py`:
-```py
-    entry_points={
-        'dpdata.plugins': [
-            'random=dpdata_random:RandomFormat'
-        ]
-    },
+One can follow [a simple example](plugin_example/) to add their own format by creating and installing plugins. It's critical to add the [Format](dpdata/format.py) class to `entry_points['dpdata.plugins']` in [`pyproject.toml`](plugin_example/pyproject.toml):
+```toml
+[project.entry-points.'dpdata.plugins']
+random = "dpdata_random:RandomFormat"
 ```
diff --git a/plugin_example/pyproject.toml b/plugin_example/pyproject.toml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..d8652bd2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugin_example/pyproject.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+[build-system]
+requires = ["setuptools>=45"]
+build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
+
+[project]
+name = "dpdata_random"
+version = "0.0.0"
+description = "An example for dpdata plugin"
+dependencies = [
+    'numpy',
+    'dpdata',
+]
+readme = "README.md"
+
+[project.entry-points.'dpdata.plugins']
+random = "dpdata_random:RandomFormat"
diff --git a/plugin_example/setup.py b/plugin_example/setup.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 031afb60..00000000
--- a/plugin_example/setup.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,12 +0,0 @@
-from setuptools import setup
-
-setup(
-    name="dpdata_random",
-    packages=['dpdata_random'],
-    entry_points={
-        'dpdata.plugins': [
-            'random=dpdata_random:RandomFormat'
-        ]
-    },
-    install_requires=['dpdata', 'numpy'],
-)
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..6cc28717
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+[build-system]
+requires = ["setuptools>=45", "setuptools_scm[toml]>=6.2"]
+build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
+
+[project]
+name = "dpdata"
+dynamic = ["version"]
+description = "Manipulating data formats of DeePMD-kit, VASP, QE, PWmat, and LAMMPS, etc."
+authors = [
+  {name = "DeepModeling"},
+  {name = "Han Wang", email = "wang_han@iapcm.ac.cn"},
+]
+license = {file = "LICENSE"}
+classifiers = [
+    "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.6",
+    "License :: OSI Approved :: GNU Lesser General Public License v3 (LGPLv3)",
+]
+dependencies = [
+    'numpy>=1.14.3',
+    'monty',
+    'scipy',
+    'h5py',
+    'wcmatch',
+    'importlib_metadata>=1.4; python_version < "3.8"',
+]
+requires-python = ">=3.6"
+readme = "README.md"
+keywords = ["lammps", "vasp", "deepmd-kit"]
+
+[project.urls]
+Homepage = "https://github.com/deepmodeling/dpdata"
+documentation = "https://docs.deepmodeling.com/projects/dpdata"
+repository = "https://github.com/deepmodeling/dpdata"
+
+[project.entry-points.console_scripts]
+dpdata = "dpdata.cli:dpdata_cli"
+
+[project.optional-dependencies]
+ase = ['ase']
+amber = ['parmed']
+pymatgen = ['pymatgen']
+docs = [
+    'sphinx',
+    'recommonmark',
+    'sphinx_rtd_theme>=1.0.0rc1',
+    'numpydoc',
+    'm2r2',
+    'deepmodeling-sphinx>=0.1.1',
+    'sphinx-argparse',
+]
+
+[tool.setuptools.packages.find]
+include = ["dpdata*"]
+
+[tool.setuptools.package-data]
+dpdata = ['*.json']
+
+[tool.setuptools_scm]
+write_to = "dpdata/_version.py"
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 4407c625..00000000
--- a/setup.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,69 +0,0 @@
-# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
-
-from os import path
-import setuptools
-
-readme_file = path.join(path.dirname(path.abspath(__file__)), 'README.md')
-try:
-    from m2r import parse_from_file
-    readme = parse_from_file(readme_file)
-except ImportError:
-    with open(readme_file) as f:
-        readme = f.read()
-
-# install_requires = ['xml']
-install_requires=['numpy>=1.14.3', 'monty', 'scipy', 'h5py', 'wcmatch', 'importlib_metadata>=1.4; python_version < "3.8"']
-
-setuptools.setup(
-    name="dpdata",
-    use_scm_version={'write_to': 'dpdata/_version.py'},
-    setup_requires=['setuptools_scm'],
-    author="Han Wang",
-    author_email="wang_han@iapcm.ac.cn",
-    description="Manipulating data formats of DeePMD-kit, VASP, QE, PWmat, and LAMMPS, etc.",
-    long_description=readme,
-    long_description_content_type="text/markdown",
-    url="https://github.com/deepmodeling/dpdata",
-    packages=['dpdata',
-              'dpdata/vasp', 
-              'dpdata/lammps', 
-              'dpdata/md', 
-              'dpdata/deepmd', 
-              'dpdata/qe', 
-              'dpdata/siesta', 
-              'dpdata/gaussian', 
-              'dpdata/cp2k',
-              'dpdata/xyz',
-              'dpdata/pwmat', 
-              'dpdata/amber',
-              'dpdata/fhi_aims',
-              'dpdata/gromacs',
-              'dpdata/abacus',
-              'dpdata/rdkit',
-              'dpdata/plugins',
-              'dpdata/pymatgen',
-    ],
-    package_data={'dpdata':['*.json']},
-    classifiers=[
-        "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.6",
-        "License :: OSI Approved :: GNU Lesser General Public License v3 (LGPLv3)",
-    ],
-    keywords='lammps vasp deepmd-kit',
-    install_requires=install_requires,
-    extras_require={
-        'ase': ['ase'],
-        'amber': ['parmed'],
-        'pymatgen': ['pymatgen'],
-        'docs': [
-            'sphinx',
-            'recommonmark',
-            'sphinx_rtd_theme>=1.0.0rc1',
-            'numpydoc',
-            'm2r2',
-            'deepmodeling-sphinx>=0.1.1',
-            'sphinx-argparse',
-            ],
-    },
-    entry_points={"console_scripts": ["dpdata = dpdata.cli:dpdata_cli"]},
-)
-